Spelling

[perfect_fat]

U defanknitly kneed to masterbait dude.

[themanwithsauce]

I'm close to turning homicidal because no one seems to care that words are spelled incorrectly on important documents and papers. What if the U.S. Constitution had incorrect spelling- "We them people of the United States of America. So wes could form a more perfict Uniun...". Well, you get the idea. We as a cuntry would be looked down upon due to our stupidity. SPELLCHECK ISN"T GRAMMARCHECK! Oh, and for those of you who write things out by hand- THERE"S SOMETHING CALLED A DICTIONARY! D-I-C-T-I-O-N-A-R-Y. You won't believe how many people don't even have one dictionary in their household.

[RobbyZero]

k so leik

go to da thred cuz i think dat dey say stuf bout speling and iz good to no to spel and a werd pepl dont spell dat good iz pectoantibrachialis n da supracondyloid foramen i h8 when pplz spell dat wrong.

Say his paragraph in a french accent,it's exactly how they speak.

[banditcom]

...Well, you get the idea. We as a cuntry would be looked down upon due to our stupidity. SPELLCHECK ISN"T GRAMMARCHECK!...

[altairian]

speechless...

[87x]

ok themanwithsauce.. you have officially been shut up.. the biggest ownage of the week goes to banditcom...

Themanwithsauce, you have lost your permission to speak on this forum for 24 hours.. please go think about what just happened..


hm©

[Squeek]

Owned.

Occasional typos are OK, but the things mentioned in this topic are not. If you (person reading this) are one of these offenders, change your ways immediately. Altarian doesn't necessarily want to go on a killing spree (or so I think).

Another one I've been seeing a bunch of is the "it's / its" "their / they're / there" epidemic. It is very simple.

It's = contraction for it is. "It's just easier this way."
Its = possessive word. "He ripped out its pages."

They're = contraction for they are. "They're going to the mall."
Their = possessive word referring to they. "That is their book collection."
There = location that isn't here. "It's over there."

Once again, LEARN.

~Squeek

[87x]

Im no all about the bolds but Where, were, and we're are other ones that people like to confuse...

Where = location... "Where is the mall"

We're = contraction meaning we are... "We're heading to the mall"

were = Second person singular and plural and first and third person plural past indicative of be.

I couldn't think of a sentence to go with were, but read this... it helps a lot..

Our Living Language Although many irregular verbs in English once had different singular and plural forms in the past tense, only one still does todaybe, which uses the form was with singular subjects and the form were with plural subjects, as well as with singular you. The relative simplicity in the forms of most verbs reflects the long-standing tendency of English speakers to make irregular verbs more regular by reducing the number of forms used with different persons, numbers, and tenses. Since past be is so irregular, speakers of different vernacular dialects have regularized it in several ways. In the United States, most vernacular speakers regularize past be by using was with all subjects, whether singular or plural. This pattern is most common in Southern-based dialects, particularly African American Vernacular English (AAVE). Some speakers use were with both singular and plural subjects; thus, one may hear she were alongside we were. However, this usage has been much less widespread than the use of was with plural subjects and appears to be fading. · In some scattered regions in the South, particularly in coastal areas of North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland, vernacular speakers may regularize past be as was in positive contexts and regularize it as weren't in negative contexts, as in He was a good man, weren't he? or They sure was nice people, weren't they? At first glance, the was/weren't pattern appears to come from England, where it is fairly commonplace. However, in-depth study of the was/weren't pattern in coastal North Carolina indicates that it may have developed independently, for it is found to a greater extent in the speech of younger speakers than in that of older coastal residents. ·Other forms of negative past be include warn't, common in American folk speech in the 18th and 19th centuries, and wont, as in It wont me or They wont home. Wont, which often sounds just like the contraction won't, historically has been concentrated in New England and is also found in scattered areas of the South.


hm©

[Chrissi]

cuntry?

[perfect_fat]

...Well, you get the idea. We as a cuntry would be looked down upon due to our stupidity. SPELLCHECK ISN"T GRAMMARCHECK!...

Spelling nazis are still considered grammar police.

[Specforces]

The standards for proper English (or American, if you want to pick nits) are much lower on the internet. Given the power to communicate more efficiently, and with more people, many of us can't be bothered to worry that much about spelling and grammar. With more and more words to read, most of us can't be bothered to point out all the little errors here and there. So, the poor spelling and grammar get overlooked, and improper English spreads like a contagious disease.

Do we need a grammar police? I know I've posted numerous errors. I correct many of them, usually after I've already posted. But sometimes I'd rather let a misspelled word go than put an "edited by . . . " at the bottom of a post which was, all other things being equal, a good post. That's just vanity, I suppose. But I digress . . .

Do we have a responsibility to point out spelling errors and other improper uses of language? Is there a stigma against it, as if correcting other people's English is somehow rude and insulting?

I could see somebody taking offense, if, for example, they are fully aware of their spelling error, but just didn't care enough to correct it. They might think, "what, you don't think I know how to spell 'puddle?'" Indeed, who doesn't know how to spell "puddle?" (Just a hypothetical example, off course).

This seems like such a trivial dilemma. Yet, so often I see spelling errors, and I want to say something. I stop myself, thinking how obnoxious it is to be the self-appointed grammar police. Maybe if we all agreed to be grammar police, it wouldn't be a problem? Or should we just let spelling and grammar go down the toilet?

Specforces

[GuidoHunter]

Please not the toilet...

Good spelling and grammar is so important if you want people (not everyone, but many) to take your point completely seriously and be convinced by your ideas. It's almost embarassing to agree with the ideas of someone who types "u" instead of "you".

--Guido

http://andy.mikee385.com/

[alainbryden]

People should make a general effort, and if they misspell difficult words, for their own personal knowledge, the could be corrected, providing the post is not solely dedicated to correction of one's spelling, but who cares much about typos. I think it's safe to say that we can assume everyone here can spell at a basic grade 10 level like specforces said.

As for retarded msn speak, that should be flamed like there's no tomorrow, unless of course you are doing it to mock them, ie: i r teh win lolOLOLOLolololL!!!11

[Squeek]

I agree with the point being made that pointing out small foibles is probably not the way to go. Pointing out what is now dubbed "AOLer speak" is what we need to fix and fix quickly. That would include your flagrant misuse of the words "you, you're, you are, two, too, to, be, for, four, why, late, great, skate" and so on. I made a few points to follow.

A) Replacing words with numbers is a huge no-no. "gr8" or "l8" just looks stupid and only works on license plates where a limit is in place on the amount of letters. Two, too, to, for, and four aren't even similar, so replacing all those with singular numbers means you are representing the number versions "two" and "four". Which would make you grammatically incorrect.

B) Acronyms kept to a minimum and used properly. First of all, remove "lol" from your list of typeable things. It's not a word first of all, yet most people use it like one. Acronyms cannot be used in the middle of a sentence as is so commonly seen. "It was such a funny joke lol I loved it." would translate to "It was such a funny joke laughing out loud I loved it." Does that makes sense? Nope. Nor do any other stupid acronyms in its place.

Another such annoying acronym is "kthxbie". I can point out so many things wrong with that. First, you can't attach "words" onto an acronym because it's an ACRONYM. Each letter stands for something. "Kthxbie" would translate to "Ok, t___ h___ x___ b___ i___ e___" with words in place of every blank starting with the shown letter. I'm done with acronyms now.

C) If you're not going to punctuate, at least line break. Paragraphs are a must. Putting one long thought into a huge page-long paragraph is hard to read and extremely irritating to try. Use the enter key when switching ideas after a couple of lines. Also, end your sentences to allow the reader a break in between each sentence.

That's all I could think of within 5 minutes. Hope it helps the unlearned.

~Squeek

[Chrissi]

it pisses me off when people type like this especially its hard to read i dont know where their sentences end sometimes it feels like i have no idea what they are saying its pretty stupid if you ask me i mean can you really read this comfortably i thought not