Spell Check

Originally posted by Gseven

More excuses as to why everyone is so comfortable with being sub-standard with their communication. Victorian peasant??

Clearly, you've not read Victorian literature. And excuse me, but the proper spelling of words and their proper usage are not evolving. Let's stay on topic, shall we?

Considering the English language is little more than modified German, well, you're just wrong ain't ya. The meaning of words is always changing and the fact you deny that only goes to show your high horse is little more than a Shetland Pony. This is all very much on topic. Who designated you the forum's resident grammar nazi come language police? Your life that dull is it? Woe is you.

reply to post by quackers

Considering the English language is little more than modified German, well, you're just wrong ain't ya. The meaning of words is always changing and the fact you deny that only goes to show your high horse is little more than a Shetland Pony. This is all very much on topic. Who designated you the forum's resident grammar nazi come language police? You're life that dull is it? Woe is you.

Now Quacker, that is NOT the correct use of the word You're...
For the offence of using you're instead of the proper YOUR, I sentence you to 3 years of hard labour..

reply to post by backinblack


Well caught. No doubt it will give the cry babies some fuel for their fire.

Originally posted by backinblack
reply to post by quackers

 

Considering the English language is little more than modified German, well, you're just wrong ain't ya. The meaning of words is always changing and the fact you deny that only goes to show your high horse is little more than a Shetland Pony. This is all very much on topic. Who designated you the forum's resident grammar nazi come language police? You're life that dull is it? Woe is you.

Now Quacker, that is NOT the correct use of the word You're...
For the offence of using you're instead of the proper YOUR, I sentence you to 3 years of hard labour..

*Applause*

However! It is spelled offense, so you must partake in the watching and understanding of every episode of the hit TV show, Glee!.

Yeah, the English language, like any language, will evolve, but it will also retain understandable communication properties. When people are using words that are very commonly wrong, then they are still wrong, not new addendums on the language. Things that change are the usage of the word yo, for example, or google. It is also considered normal to say 'sup, though it is not formal at all.

It's not just the spelling, it can also be the grammar or the lay out. Sometimes I'll click on a thread and I'll see one massive block of writing that is say 50 odd lines long; most of the time I'll skip reading that thread because it would give me a headache to read it all. Whereas if that 50 lines was divided up into 5 or maybe 6 paragraphs I would be more inclined to read it all the way through.

The thing is, most browsers have built in spell checkers or at least have the ability to add one on, so it's not really an excuse to be spelling words wrong. If anyone is using Firefox, here's a link for the dictionary add on

Dictionaries & language packs

reply to post by Varemia


I'd rather the 3 years labour thanks..

But then I'm in Australia and "offence" is actually the correct spelling..
One of the quirks of language is that many words have different spelling in different countries..
Makes it even more confusing on a site like this..

Definitions of offence on the Web:
* crime: (criminal law) an act punishable by law; usually considered an evil act; "a long record of crimes"

www.google.com.au...ffence&sa=X&ei=5ahrTafECYS3rAe07enCCw&ved=0CBgQkAE

reply to post by backinblack


I am corrected then. Good show. Personally, I'm only familiar with American and British spellings, like color and colour.

Originally posted by Varemia
reply to post by backinblack

 

I am corrected then. Good show. Personally, I'm only familiar with American and British spellings, like color and colour.

I think we follow the UK spelling more..
Like colour and labour..
Not sure why the US refuses to speak english..

But then they also refuse to go metric so what can I say..

reply to post by Varemia


I always thought offence was the correct spelling in proper English. It's the same with paedophile and pedophile, or foetus and fetus though

reply to post by The Sword


Well , ok, but if you want a spell checker, go ahead and get a UK standard one. Then everyone can speak actual English! I tell you what though, I would not wish to be forced to spell in American English as a rule. Its one thing a word here or there sneaking an Americanism through, but to be forced to type all words in the American format would be pretty annoying.

Originally posted by TrueBrit
reply to post by The Sword

 

Well , ok, but if you want a spell checker, go ahead and get a UK standard one. Then everyone can speak actual English! I tell you what though, I would not wish to be forced to spell in American English as a rule. Its one thing a word here or there sneaking an Americanism through, but to be forced to type all words in the American format would be pretty annoying.

Varied English spellings are fine. I am always distracted by people misusing the words to and too, and the forms of there/their/they're. Often I'll be reading their post and then see that they said something along the lines of "and there is to much evidence to ignore." It just looks silly, though missing an 'o' can be forgiven due to the nature of keyboards and fingers. It just gets me when the same typo is consistently repeated through a post, meaning that person actually thinks they are using it correctly.

Can you read this?

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too. Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.
i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg.

The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.

The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

I think the important thing is that you understand the intent of the author - unless the post is utterly unintelligible who cares about errors.

Its been said here already but its worth repeating. Using Firefox as a browser will give you spell check on the forums and even in ATS chat. I would be lost without it.

reply to post by Golf66


Still, that only works when all the proper letters are contained in each word, and it is often easier than reading some typos because it is expected to have to understand it with an unscrambling mindset. I believe that has to simply do with the fact that the brain doesn't necessarily read left to right or right to left.

Originally posted by captaintyinknots
Did you ever think that a lot of people on here are NOT native english speakers, and thus may not have quite the mastery of the language of some?

I'm not a native English speaker myself, but I do have a tendency to get annoyed by grave misspellings, in English as well as other languages.
I've learned to let go though, since annoyance isn't going to help me in any way. Still, it's hard to ignore textual language mistakes, they distract from the actual content.

Spelling and online spell checkers are a big pain for me..

For years i had got along, rather well, spelling words the good old fashioned English way..

Then suddenly, along came the internet and the use of many American words.. Now, after years of computer use, I sometimes struggle to remember how to spell words and am constantly finding the internet trying to correct my errors with a red zig-zag line....

Drives me insane at times..

So just to clear the issue up for those of us on both sides of the pond, check this lot out;

color colour
favorite favourite
honor honour
jewelry jewellery
draft draught
pajamas pyjamas
plow plough
program programme
tire tyre

www2.gsu.edu...

Should anyone need even further assistance then please have a good read of this little lot;
en.wikipedia.org...

I kinda hope it will help to solve the issue, but I doubt it

I've often thought about how wonderful it would be to have spell check on ats, so I for one would appreciate it.

Non native English speakers are usually easy to spot, and especially for them I think it would be wonderful to correct the words. Not for the grammar police, but for their own education, to learn the correct spelling I just think it would highly useful.

Now, when I reply, if I misspell a word a red line appears under said word and if I genuinely do not know or can not think of the correct spelling I'll type it into the google bar and it will correct it for me .

Unfortunately, even that doesn't correct my unclear thoughts or if I throw in a random word, if it's spelled correctly it still makes me look like an idiot.

To enable spellcheck in Firefox: type about:config at address bar. Click the box that say you understand the risks, and then type, in the search box at the top:
layout.spellcheckDefault. By default this is set at 1, click and change the value to 2.

While you are in there, may as well tweak up your browser while you are at it. Here is a few more tips:

Location Bar (Set number Auto Complete URL at Address Bar)
browser.urlbar.maxRichResults = I make this "0" because I hate all of those addresses coming down.

Disable Prefetch (Helpful for frequent Google searcher, low-speed internet connection or low RAM)
network.prefetch-next = Make this False, Firefox will run faster.

Stop Displaying Website Icon (Favicon) in Address bar & On Tab
browser.chrome.site_icons = Make thisFalse.

Speed Tweaks
network.http.pipelining false to true
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests 16
network.http.max-connections 40
network.http.max-connections-per-server 16
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server 16
network.http.pipelining.ssl false to true
network.http.proxy.pipelining false to true

Disable Delay Time While Installing Firefox Add-on
security.dialog_enable_delay = Make this 0

Enable Single Click Select URL of address bar:
browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll = Make this True .

reply to post by searching4truth


It would be a marvelous grammar checker indeed, that could hope to untangle some of the more curious textual conundrums that have occured during my time here.
I believe that sometimes the most important thing that posters, no matter where they are from , need to remember is that it is important to slowly read your post once you have completed it, to see if it is readable, to ensure that word follows word in a way that is not displeasing to the eye, or the mind. All to often a good point can be lost entirely due to a simple error, like forgetting to type the awesome sentence you just thought up, but proceeding to write the following sentence as if you had. A simple (if somewhat beefheaded) mistake, which leads to catastrophic failiure to communicate effectively (but which can, in certain circumstances, be quite funny).
Just taking the time to examine your posts thoroughly before posting them can save you time, embarrassment, confusion and , most importantly, means you will have better communication with the other posters on the thread.

Thank you for posting this subject of spelling and grammar.
I am new to ATS and the first thing I looked for was a spell check.
I was surprised to find that none existed. I agree that some kind
of check should be in place. How um doin so fer?