The Spelling and Grammar Police patrolling ATS

reply to post by Juston


In a thread about grammar, I have had to edit two posts for grammar mistakes and now I am busted for breaking the rule that I pointed out to begin with. This stuff is hard.

Originally posted by getreadyalready
reply to post by Juston

 

In a thread about grammar, I have had to edit two posts for grammar mistakes and now I am busted for breaking the rule that I pointed out to begin with.

This stuff is hard.

Whos grammar mistakes? the Sussex dialect transposes i and e so their is correctly spelt thier.. and lots of other rules.. so while you correctly use one version you break the rules of another.. very confusing

We also used a reduplicated plural which has always left me smiling.. the word Pharisees means fairies as it is a reduplicated plural of the singular phari or fairy. now that puts a whole new slant on the bible

As long as I can understand it I have no issue with anyones spelling, I often think I've checked the spelling on somthing thouroughly only to find some glaring mistake after I've published it.

The ones that confuse me are when people come out with things like

tptb

potus

imo

I usually work out what they're talking about by the context of the thread but, it still irks me as I spend the next few days trying to work out what they stand for

Everyone of you are correct in this insight of speaking in words. I'm at fault at time's, fingers don't move as quick as my thought process.. I get going on thought.. express what I feel and not even look at what I wrote and send it without reviewing any of it... More so if I get White Hot regarding the topic...
I'm just glad I can speak without written flaws... I would be Fired

But as long as you realize my point, don't argue on how I told you! Just the point of agruement is enough on subjuct! Hell, it's a cheap way of getting a laugh by not expecting it... it might be the most activity you get today..Laughing!!
Not going to edit anything here.. other threads to go to in order to make the same m=istake as noted..
Damn did it again!
Enjoy your Day!

Good insight OP.

Jesse

reply to post by monkofmimir


Same here hehe.

tptb = The powers that be, took me about 3 months of ATS before i knew what it meant.
imo = In my opinion
potus = I actually have no idea what this means haha, i thought it was a organisation or something?

And it took me ages to figure out what tshtf meant.

reply to post by Haydn_17


potus = President of the United States. "flotus" is the wife of the former. (Originally, secret codes words, for the Secret Service, in case communications overheard. But, not so secret anymore, so they use others, changing daily I believe).

For that "other" acronym? This might be helpful:

www.acronymfinder.com...

The T & Cs are (I think) accepting of some, not of others...As GRAR (getreadyalready) mentioned, it is "hard" sometimes!

This is a treasure trove (for we older folks) of up-to-date slang references:

www.urbandictionary.com...


I use the Google online SpellChecker....I have a terrible tendency towards "DTS" (Dyslexic Typing Syndrome"....I made that one up). ...."teh" instead of "the", "ot" instead of "to", etc..... is one bane of my online existence.....aaarrrrgh!


Oh, and for those long-time members? The "preview" button (I used to avoid it, in the past) works a LOT better now, since the "2010re-vamp"!!!

Sloppy thread titles (more than posts) full of misspellings and grammatical errors don't only make the OP look bad, they also make ATS look dumb and dull and uneducated as a whole. And should the title of said thread somehow show up as a result to a search someone does on Google et al about a serious subject or news, it makes this whole place seem like less of a standard bearer. You may not like it, but spelling and grammar do still count in some places in the world and are pet peeves of many people. Just saying.

Some of what we've been seeing around here recently is truly cringe-worthy—even if no one says anything. Deal with the "police." It's not that prevalent anyway, in my opinion. Rarely see it her to be honest. No one's perfect every time, but some people don't seem to even care to try.

As someone else said, it is easy to take a somewhat childish satisfaction to point out spelling and grammar errors to people who are being obnoxious and superior.

I occasionally point out errors to people outside of that, but only when they repeatedly use the same misspelling, and so it is clearly not a mistype (and when it isn't a case of UK English vs US English). I do it because if it was me, I would like to know that I am spelling something wrong, especially if English was not my first language. Surely if you are speaking another language then you want to speak/write it as accurately as possible? I know I would and so I would appreciate the quick note on the spelling. That said, it all depends on the delivery.

I think the thing that gets on my nerves the most is people getting they're, there and their wrong, or your/you're. It is usually pure laziness - people know that anyone reading will know which iteration they mean and so don't bother to type the correct one.

Of course, there is no reason to correct anyone maliciously (including, really, my opening example) - apart from anything else, we all will make a spelling mistake at some point; and we certainly will make a grammar mistake. That said, we choose whether or not to take offence - especially from strangers.

While I don't feel the need to correct people, unless it's blatantly obvious...
I will definitely exit out of a thread if there are 4th grade spelling errors.
But if it's just an occasional error, no big deal.

Seems to me if you put good quality time into a thread, you should have good spelling.
Then again I am not a judge.
And I try not to correct people.

Like I said, unless the poster is purposely mis-spelling words.
Or using shorthand.

Other than that, Haydn, you shouldn't let the one-line-grammer-police bother you.
Could be worse. They could just flame everything you type.
Never putting in a good reply, or arguement.

English is not my native language and am rusty at it as only use it here at ats... Ive no problem understanding what the native english speakers post .. The language police should stuff it - all they do is discourage people from wanting to post with their petty tirades on grammar.. which serves only to lessen the quality of the board and even limit topics as not everyone has their grandiose grasp of a language that any linguist will tell you is the hardest language to learn... Its more important to be understood than to have perfect bloody english.. ( A limited language that is in itself a mixture of words / ideas / concepts stolen from other languages )

I have to say, for the most part, it's not THAT you point out that something is grammatically incorrect or misspelled, it's HOW you do it that makes it offensive.

I am very particular about Thread titles only because that is, in my opinion, the "face" of the OP. It is relatively rare that one has to be corrected, but when it does, I can only hope the members ego isn't so weak as to take it as a personal attack.

Unfortunately, some seize such errors as an opportunity to attack the member or the OP, which is kind of weak.

I usually overlook other errors as long as the meaning of the sentiment is clearly understandable; if it is not, many will be quick to say, "Did you mean....?" or the more presumptuous (though not necessarily offensive) "I think you may have meant to say..." correction.

I can't stress enough that we as a community (and this is primarily directed at people for whom English is their native language) suffer from a diminished educational process when it comes to expressing ourselves, especially in written form. Why this is may not be germane to this discussion, but it is evidently there.

I have often been the subject of light-hearted jokes regarding how I express myself (verbose to a fault, I suppose); but I never want to fall short of saying what I mean... and when you have a community of some of the brightest minds on the Internet, along side some of the most genuine seekers of knowledge and truth, I don't feel comfortable expressing myself in shorthand....

On the other hand, sometimes I am so passionate about what I feel and think that my fat fingers get ahead of me, and despite previewing the post, I miss the most basic errors I have made...

Ultimately, grammar and spelling are simply part of the message, not it's totality. I have said it before, and I still think it's fair to say, you can't judge someone by any single post; whether it be full of errors or not. Those who stumble with self-expression are not less worthy of respect than the most fluent and erudite writers who are just as likely to be wrong about something as anyone else....

Anyway... my $.02 on this topic.... thanks for listening.

I think intent is important. Is it a goofball trying to type in textspeak/being lazy or someone who is a a hurry, undereducated, non-English speaker, or a learning disability. On message boards you can see the folks with dyslexia easily and Ive seen then picked at. Undereducated folks have the same right to post here and many times have valid and informative posts. People who English is not their first language are easy to see as well, yet they are bashed. For me, I really dont understand it. The differences are easy to see, but its as if the "nazi" gets off on it or gets a little jolt of self-esteem by putting another down.

Im with the others, if I can understand the post, Im okay with it. If its an intelligent on topic response that isnt perfect I dont see the problem. Im on a netbook and the keyboard is slightly skewed for room... Im making mistakes left and right! Fatfinger is my middle name. However, I do go back and try to make it look like I havent been typing with me feet.

In the real world and workplace I DO see a HUGE problem with it. My oldest daughter has a high IQ but processing issues and I'm picking at her all the time over this exact issue because she WILL be judged, and I believe rightly so. She does a lot of online play and to be honest, I see how training yourself online to be mindful of spelling and grammar will translate into real world benefit. For us adults and older folks... you all may be stuck with us. I know a VERY intelligent man on here that just started using a computer maybe 3 yrs ago and cant type very well at all!

I have purposely made numerous mistakes in this post.. .can you understand it? If you can yet still want to whine about it, shaddup.

reply to post by Advantage


I'm a little confused at the last two paragraphs of your post. You seem to say in the second-last that it's right to pick out when your daughter makes mistakes, and that we should get things right online, thus ultimately helping ourselves in the real world too.

Then the last paragraph - in fact the rest of the post - you say that it doesn't matter so long as the content is intelligible.

Originally posted by Haydn_17
The Human brain is very clever at reading, it picks up what the word is without reading the middle part, the brain only usually reads the first and last letter of a word and knows what the word is, i put an example at the top, i bet everyone can read what it's supposed to say.

There isn't one simple answer to this. There are a number of factors to consider. I've only pointed out a handful of spelling errors out of thousands of posts, and in at least one of those cases the poster's first language was something other than English and had requested the help.

One place where I think spelling should be correct, and should be corrected, is in a thread title. The thread title says something about the poster and unless the poster wants the message to be "I'm a moron who can't be bothered to spell correctly even in my thread title" then the poster would WANT to spell the title correctly. Reasonable people appreciate corrections to the spelling of their thread title. Unreasonable people I suppose like spreading the message that not only are they inattentive to accuracy in something as important as a thread title, but even reject efforts by others to help them by suggesting they correct the spelling in the title.

In the body of the thread it's more understandable that spelling errors can happen. Sometimes I don't push the "y" key hard enough and when I mean to type "they" it comes out "the" because it's missing the "y". Unfortunately the built-in firefox spell checker won't find this type of error, and sometimes they do slip through. But I do try to review the firefox underlined words before I click "reply" to at least address the spelling issues that firefox pointed out.

Originally posted by Haydn_17
The most annoying one liner i have had directed at me was;

"It's you're, not your

"

I was fuming.

I don't understand this reaction at all. Id someone said this to me, first I'd be complimented that they didn't have any better argument to make about my post, so I'd consider it a victory if that's their only criticism. And secondly, if I'm wrong, I'm wrong. Either I didn't know the correct usage in which case I just received some free education from another member which I can only appreciate, or else I did know the correct usage and slipped up and used the wrong form anyway, in which case I suppose I earned a little dig for doing that. I completely fail to understand why I should get upset in either case?? That seems like a totally illogical and inappropriate response.

A few more thoughts:

I do tend to be more tolerant and understanding of spelling and grammar issues for ESL (English as Second Language) posters, especially since my spelling and grammar in my second languages leaves much to be desired. And even in this case I'd think the poster would want to spell the title correctly, and would appreciate any feedback to help achieve that.

Also, at times I've used a U2U to point out spelling errors in a thread title. That way the author can make the correction with no permanent record in the thread that there was ever a problem. Smart people appreciate this. If someone WANTs to have a mis-spelled thread title, either they aren't too smart, or they want to broadcast their inattention to detail so loudly that they are trying to advertise that you should also doubt that they checked their facts in their post if they won't bother to check something as simple as a proper spelling in a place as important as a thread title.

I believe this has a lot to do with age. Older members, such as myself, remember a time when poor grammar and poor spelling took away from the "value" of an argument or statement. Somehow discussing the technicalities of weaponry, having an in-depth discussion regarding foreign policy, etc., doesn't have the same power coming from a person that doesn't know how to spell anything they are talking about or can't form complete sentences.

Poor grammar and poor spelling lead people to question the intelligence of the person speaking. I believe it is a question of credibility in my opinion.

Further, there is a difference between a simple typo and an entire post that is practically unreadable. The latter being something that seems to have grown legs on ATS throughout the last 4 - 6 months or so.

Lastly, the younger generation that grew up using "LOL" right from the start are more tolerant since they have been talking in abbreviations and slang -- whatever enables them to get their message across as quickly as possible -- from the start.

The rest of us however remember the ruler slaps when incorrectly using "good" when it should have been "well".

Originally posted by lpowell0627
The rest of us however remember the ruler slaps when incorrectly using "good" when it should have been "well".

Oh yeah..... that was a biggie. Also, "can I" versus "may I."

reply to post by Arbitrageur
I agree with you completely. If there is mis-spelling in the thread title I usually steer clear. When I see mistakes in someones text It tells me that either they didn't re-read it, or after reading awhile longer I conclude that stupid is as stupid does. Also, correcting someones grammar is the epitome of arrogance. ,

Originally posted by ShadowArcher
reply to post by Advantage

 

I'm a little confused at the last two paragraphs of your post. You seem to say in the second-last that it's right to pick out when your daughter makes mistakes, and that we should get things right online, thus ultimately helping ourselves in the real world too.

Then the last paragraph - in fact the rest of the post - you say that it doesn't matter so long as the content is intelligible.

I pick out her mistakes when she is writing... as in her lessons. She is young so with the young it makes sense to try to get her to make it a habit when she is online as well. I seriously doubt that the majority of us here are in 10th grade. The majority are well past doing school work and having a parent training us to post properly on a message board.

For those of us who are adults and older, its going be a matter of not having perfect typing skills, grammar, and spelling on a message board.

Originally posted by Maxmars

Originally posted by lpowell0627
The rest of us however remember the ruler slaps when incorrectly using "good" when it should have been "well".

Oh yeah..... that was a biggie. Also, "can I" versus "may I."

You know so many people got the ruler for that, that I now find myself correcting people when they say "well" and it should have been "good." ("Well" is not an adjective, unless it is describing a burnt steak.)

Or they say "may I," and my response is opposite of the old teachers. I say, "I do not have the authority to tell a grown person what they may or may not do, do you feel as if you can do it?"

reply to post by Haydn_17


I don't think that anyway gets upset when it's a non-native English speaker making mistakes, but rather, those that are native English speakers. Of course, the occasional typo or wrong word will slip in here and there, but when one is reading a really long post and it's full of errors, it just becomes painful to read.

As for those who don't speak English as their first language feeling "humiliated" when they get corrected, maybe they shouldn't if they do. I speak English as my first language and have had to learn German since I live in Germany. I actually appreciate it when people correct me when I make a mistake. It's only through being corrected that my skills will improve.