I am so sick of seeing such horrible spelling and word usage. (money, meaning)

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by annika08

"Discusting" for "disgusting"

"Toliet" for "toilet" (everybody, and I mean everybody I work with spells it like this. I work in a hotel so it's word written a lot)

"Recieve" for "receive" and other "ei" words

Oh yes, I've seen "discusting" from a few and that one drives me nuts. This is another example of a word that would be spelled correctly if pronounced correctly.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by Trimac20

I think it's because people don't read much anymore, apart from internet forums, blogs and other poorly written stuff.?

Yes, I think that's a big part of it.

Originally Posted by Trimac20

If you read enough you'll never make such obvious spelling mistakes as 'loose' for 'lose.' Hell, I'd never even KNEW people made this mistake until I came on CD. I knew how to spell 'lose' when I was 7, same with words like 'lying' (instead of lieing, I can't imagine someone doesn't notice this in print enough to know it).?

Right. That's what I was trying to get at in my original post. I'm talking about stuff people should have learned in elementary school.

Originally Posted by Trimac20

Do people even take NOTE of how things are spelt or do they just spell it how it sounds to them?

I think we already know the answer to your question. They don't take note and they just spell it how it sounds to them. They never bother to look things up on sites like www.dictionary.com.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by nimchimpsky

I am tired of people going apesh*t over such minor spelling/grammatical errors. The reality is that on these forums, for the most part, people write in full-blown English. What minor errors there are are occasional and don't really interfere with comprehension. If people were going all out with text speak to the point of unintelligibility, I could understand the frustration. But the fact is that even if someone writes "advise" instead of "advice" or "then" instead of "than," the meaning of the post still comes through fine. If writing "truely" instead of "truly" is enough to throw you off, honestly, you're the one with the problem. We're on forums. We're not writing for school or for work. I think we can all afford to be a little flexible online.

I think the problem is where you draw the line between being a little flexible and just plain sloppy and lazy. Your "flexible" is my "lazy".

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801

Well, I don't correct people's spelling in their posts because on forums like these it isn't really that important, but at least in this forum those of us who do care about how badly the use of language is going downhill can have a place to go and complain about it..

Yes, I agree. I gave up on correcting people in their posts unless they really p*ss me off with a high and mighty attitude about something. For example, a poster might be going off in the Politics Forum about how dumb some other group of people are, but the poster himself can't even spell at a fifth grade level--those people get some heat from me. Otherwise, I normally don't say anything.

Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801

There definitely seems to be a correlation with how well people spell and how much they read, though. That's likely why you get the dumbass things like "persay". They've heard it, but haven't read it and/or don't seem to grasp that there is Latin involved. That may be what disturbs me the most personally--that people don't read anymore. There's definitely been a dumbing-down in the US due to excess TV watching, etc., and not enough reading..

I agree with all your points here. By the way, for those who don't know, the correct spelling is "per se"

Per se | Define Per se at Dictionary.com

Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801

But I still grit my teeth at certain common errors for which there seem to be no rhyme or reason. For example, why is it that so many people who otherwise seem to write and spell fairly well have so much trouble with advise/advice and lose/loose? That is just being lazy. They are obviously common words and they are differences that we were all taught in elementary school. Perhaps seeing them misspelled and misused so often leads people to believe that they are using the correct version. I don't know.

If I use the wrong word or spell something wrong--and I have--I want someone to correct me.

I agree on all points. I forget how to spell words, too. I don't mind if someone points out bad spelling. When I see I've spelled something in my posts but can't correct it, it drives me nuts! But it seems other people don't give a sh*t about it and make me the *sshole for asking them to be able to spell at least at an 8th grade level before posting. Even some of the posters on this thread are like that. "Oh, I'm so sorry we're not all perfect like YOU". Well, um, no, I don't expect perfection. But come on folks! Some people who post on here shouldn't have made it out of elementary school, although I suspect most of them have high school diplomas.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by Tek_Freek

I haven't read the all the posts, just the first few. Mainly because this has been beat to death and I am as guilty as anyone else.

What the OP is missing (be nice!) is that the majority of the problems they are complaining about have little or nothing to do with the lack of spelling acumen and more with the inability to hit the correct keys on a keyboard. Most then press the submit key and move on. They are not concerned with correct spelling, nor do they have a spell checker set up to catch errors.

Your post is pointed at the wrong end of the problem. Mostly.

Well, if they don't know how to type, they should learn to do that while they're learning to spell. My point is, bad typing and bad spelling can be corrected with a moderate amount of effort for most people, if they bother to care.

[Copanut]

Irregardless, all this arguing is a mute point since most people could care less about spilling/grammer.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by Reziac

And I just saw this on some large company's major product's packaging -- not once, but twice on the same box. Which demonstrates that even today's copyeditors (who do the final check on almost everything you see in professional print) leave something to be desired -- despite that their PAID JOB is to be the grammar nazis of the publishing world!!

Yes, I agee here. I also see this in the "real" world outside of online forums. One thing that drives me nuts at the grocery store is when I see signs that say "can goods" instead of "cannED goods".

People can say "Oh it's just an online forum"; but bad spelling and grammar know no bounds. I see slop in online newspapers, at the grocery store, etc. If you're in the habit of being a bad speller, and no one calls you on it, you'll keep doing it, regardless of the setting.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801

I agree with you. My mother, 82, is a good writer. She has excellent grammar and spelling skills. not to mention beautiful cursive handwriting. She's written speeches to give at her American Legion or church functions and always asks me to proofread them. Rarely do I find an error. She dropped out of high school in tenth grade.

I wonder if it's because your mother's generation was taught the importance of grammar and spelling in the schools. As other posters have noted, young people today watch TV instead of reading. Your mom's generation didn't have TV. I think that's mostly a good thing for a lot of different reasons.

Today, people don't really care about proper grammar and spelling. I remember being taught in college in my freshman writing class in the late 1980s that small spelling and grammatical errors were not that important as long as the content the essays we wrote was good. I disagreed with that philosophy then and I still do today. It's that whole "dumbing down" thing that others have mentioned.

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

I wonder if it's because your mother's generation was taught the importance of grammar and spelling in the schools. As other posters have noted, young people today watch TV instead of reading. Your mom's generation didn't have TV. I think that's mostly a good thing for a lot of different reasons.

Today, people don't really care about proper grammar and spelling. I remember being taught in college in my freshman writing class in the late 1980s that small spelling and grammatical errors were not that important as long as the content the essays we wrote was good. I disagreed with that philosophy then and I still do today. It's that whole "dumbing down" thing that others have mentioned.

My mother was pretty much the same, left high school to work as a secretary, greet writing skills.

As to college, if you couldn't pass a pre-Freshman writing test or scored less than 500 on the English side of the SAT, you took a year of remedial English. Thanks, Mom!

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by nitram

Well let me jump in here as a late comer too. This article can explain alot about the education system in the US today. It may have been discussed before, I'm not sure, so bear with me...
SHOCKING: Nearly 1 In 4 High School Graduates Can't Pass Military Entrance Exam

Thank you for posting. I wonder what would happen if we just flunked people who couldn't read. Maybe a high school diploma would mean something and then people wouldn't have to go to college to have the equivalent of what a high school diplome should be.

Oh, and here's a quote from the article demonstrating one of my biggetst peeves:

"This study really refutes that. We have a lot of kids that graduate from high school who have not mastered basic skills."

The person should have said "We have a lot of kids WHO graduate...."

Human beings should NEVER be referred to as "that". It's a human rights issue