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    Why is it that many internet forum contributors are unable to spell or master rudimentary grammar?

    0  Views: 6014 Answers: 12 Posted: 13 years ago

    12 Answers

    Ugh. Unintelligible sentences should be automatically deleted by the program that shows when you've misspelled a word. Ever notice the little red squiggly line that appears under words when you're typing? That's there to let you know you've misspelled a word. You're on the internet with the web at your disposal. Dot com has made searching for things on the web so easy. Want to find something on the web? Type it into your browser and add .com. That's it. SpellChecker.com Here's one you don't have to add to your tool bar (for the computer challenged) http://www.spellchecker.net/spellcheck/ Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/ put the word, misspelled even, into the search box. The program will spell the word correctly for you. Misspelling on the computer to me is a sign of laziness and disrespect for oneself in how they present themselves to others. Learning challenges are understandable. Not being a native of the language you are conversing in, understandable. Being smart enough to learn but choosing not to educate yourself, choosing instead to say, so what, who cares, is not excusable. Some people do care because they are the ones trying to decipher your near unintelligible postings. I am not talking about the posts with one or two grammatical errors here either. I'm talking about the complete atrocities I've seen in all discussion forums. Spelling, sentence structure, punctuation, commas, proper word usage and apostrophes all matter. If they didn't, they wouldn't exist.


    (edited to fix spellchecker link for those who may want to click on it)

    Coach

    Colleen, I love your answer! Thank you from a teacher! I hate doing this, but you misspelled dam. It's dam. "A" for effort though and a thumbs up!

    Coach

    Colleen, as a teacher I appreciate your answer...thanks. I hate to do this though...you misspelled dam. I believe it's dam. Oh well, "A" for effort my dear and a thumbs up!

    Colleen

    Moderator

    It's very easy to tell the difference between those who make an honest effort to try and those who just don't give a da*m. I have little to no respect for their opinions because their opinion of themselves stands out more to me than anything they could ever say.

    Colleen

    Moderator

    Actually it should be dam*(n) with the asterisk in place of the n. I've gotten use to not spelling out what some consider to be swear words because of my time on Facebook and the fact that so many adults let their preteen children hang out there. Thank you for critiquing my post. I'm assuming you found it legible in spite of the missing n? 1 thumb up to you for the grade ; )

    Headless Man

    I agree, I'm a bad speller but I try to get it right. Sometimes I can spend 5 min. trying to get a word spelled right, not proud determined.

    ole hipster

    thanks for the info Colleen!

    perhaps to deny the overwhelming exuberance of their own verbosity .....

    Maybe people that don't spell very well did not program very well and are looking for truth and answers because they did not get the proper dose of programming that says this is true, while people that programmed well and paid for their confidence and have degrees that say so already know it all so they are not around ?

    IF YOU WERE TO TALK TO SOMEONE FACE TO FACE YOU COULD HAVE A VERY INTELLECTUAL CONVERSATION,PERHAPS THEY ONLY HAVE A 9TH GRADE EDUCATION. WHAT DOES IT MATTER!! YOU WOULD NOT KNOW ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, I THINK WHATS IMPORTANT HERE IS THE QUALITY OF THE CONTEXT THAT REALLY MATTERS. I HAD TO PAUSE 3 TIMES TO CORRECT MY OWN SPELLING, "WOUT DU IT AGIN"

    I have posted this answer before... I am dyselxic, and cant spell worth a toot. But I do enjoy the conversation. I don't think I am stupid. Just a terrible speller. Sorry if my responces are hard to read.

    Some people type fast make mistakes; no spell ck here; nevertheless it not the spelling you should be so focused upon but the intent of the words.

    Who cares! It's a forum not a spelling bee. Half these people come here to just let loose and express their opinion. It's irritating that you're being picky about spelling.

    Ashligh16

    I just think forums are a place for people to come and express their opinions, for a lot of people it's a way of letting loose and relaxing. I don’t think anyone with English as their second language should expect forums to live up to spelling and grammar rules. Plus there are a lot of people on here who are dyslexic or just have bad grammar skills in general which I don’t think we should be judging them for. If I put myself in their shoes I certainly wouldn't want to come on here if I had to go back and check for errors every couple of words.

    Ashligh16

    My response to that would be to laugh a little, re-read it and then try and understand what they were trying to say. I just don’t see the frustration some people are experiencing with some peoples grammar skills. To each their own I guess :)

    Ashligh16

    hahaha! see, I did it myself! "Toe ach their own I guess" ... maybe it's karma :p

    Colleen

    Moderator

    Some people have English as their second language. Amer. English is a difficult language to learn on it's own with all the words that sound the same but mean something different. Imagine the person trying to read what was posted & trying to translate it into their own language when it's filled with spelling errors or any other grammatical errors. These discussion forums have people from all over the world. I do not speak a second language so I respect the ones who do & do my best to make my posts legible even for them. I agree with 99% of what you post but this one I have to disagree with.

    In my case, it's because I'm 71yrs old and I wasnt brought up on computers, unlike most of you, and recently "BING" downloaded unknown to me, "untill I switched on last week", and totaly confused me, it took away my tool bar, and all the icons I used, including, spell check, CNN, BBC and many more I used for my enjoyment, now no doubt it will cost me to have it re-programed back to normal, with Google as my home page along with my tool bar, I may sound like a usless user to many of you, but as I said I'm 71 and dont understand computers like you younger folks.

    Headless Man

    I'm 63, but can't see well and type with one finger, But I see your problem.

    ole hipster

    I can sympathize with you Old Fella, I'm 61 and holding. I can type like the wind and spell most everything BUT not real computer literate. My kids amaze me with what they know about computers!

    I teach college, and you would be alarmed at the number of students who can't use proper grammar or spell words. The texting generation has a vocabulary all their own as well which frequently ends up in their formal writing. I think the most egregious item of late was the student who wrote that she had "tooken" Exam 1 but couldn't get the next chapter to open online. So sad, but so true . . .

    There are some very interesting responses to my original question. Some have made me think again because they clearly represent an alternative view, such as the contention that those with English as a second language are being quite brave even to attempt it. Perhaps for the latter, and those with dyslexia, if one is being charitable there is some excuse for poorly written English. But for those individuals who seem to glory in illiteracy, perhaps even seeing it as part of their identity, they are marking themselves down as a willing member of an under-class.


    A projectile vomit of capital-lettered, incoherent, badly spelt and aggressively worded illiterate remarks will not persuade anyone of your argument, just convince them you are not worth listening to or reading. I suspect that this is the desired result as we aren't talking about communication here but the violent imposition of ideas that attempts to crush debate with its sheer witless vandalism of the language.

    ARE YOU BEING PENDANTIC ? CUCUMBER

    Colleen

    Moderator

    Here in America, we would spell GREATET this way >> GREATEST. (humour/humor, just messing with ya, lol)


    In America, we speak and spell American English. On your side of the pond, you speak and spell the Queen's English. Our tire and color are correct for us ; )

    PEOPLELOVER

    DAREN YOU LEAVE OUR CUCUMBER ALONE> I GUESS YOU ARE FROM THE USA SO YOU CAN`T SPELL COLOUR< TYRE< AND A WHOLE HEAP OF ENGLISH WORDS> IN ADDITION PICKING ON CUCUMBER WHO COMES FROM THE GREATET LAND ON EARTH IS BEING A NAUGHTY NAUGHTY CHRISTIAN.

    cucumber

    perhaps! daren1 but not overly ostentatious,is that misspelling designed for your own indulgence?

    It goes to show how many people out there are in fact illiterate..you only have to read of employers who are saying that most people they interview cannot even spell their own name..i think its a sad state of affairs when young people of today have no interest in learning their ABC`s or even basic arithmetic.



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