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Does it bother you when people make spelling and punctuation errors in posts that criticize the spelling and punctuation of others?
LOL, I just posted on another thread about this. I was saying how I posted about being a copy editor and the next poster pointed out my mistakes. Oh how the mighty have fallen (multiple times in my case). I don't, however, point out other posters mistakes. I just try to muddle through their never ending sentences and try to take in the content and not the grammer (or lack thereof). I also know that "it is" is "it's." Now, as for "punctuation," I don't know what happened there. Wow, how did I screw that up so bad (twice!). Unfortunately for me, it's late and I've been drinking and apparently, I've managed to make an ass of myself. Like I said, I may not like the sloppy posts, but I wouldn't call anyone out on it.
Last edited by kjg1963; 02-07-2009 at 10:18 PM..
Reason: whoops, used context instead of content, my bad.
I edited for enough years to know that many times, if you proof your own stuff, you will read "over" your mistakes,and see what you intended, versus what you typed. Kind of like the "Paris in the the Spring" thing ( O4-02.HTML ). We generally see what we expect to see, i.e. what we intended to type. That's why for years, I would have another writer proof my copy and I would proof hers. Fresh eyes. There's also a difference between making a typo and not catching it in time, and not actually knowing the proper word/grammar/spelling. For the most part, I forgive newspapers, because I've been there, done that, and know the time crunch and staffing shortage. Stuff will always slip through; basically, it's collateral damage.
As I said earlier, I try my best to ignore construction and read for meaning. At least in terms of message boards, I try to cut the writer some slack. This is particularly true if it seems as if the poster's native language isn't English. I have deep respect for anyone who is capable of posting in a foreign language.
If a post proves too difficult to read, however, I will often skip it. Wall-o'-text posts tend to fall into that category.
When reading forums, I try to be mindful of a scene from a movie I saw once (was it Up the Down Staircase?). High school student is showing signs of depression. During a period of distress, desperate student writes a suicide note and gives it to a teacher. Teacher corrects the note and returns it to student, all marked up in red .
I don't want to be that teacher. I'm not a teacher, but I hope you understand what I'm saying.
I agree with you. It's annoying, to say the least! I used to accept applications from potential employees when I worked in a dental office, and I'm sad to report that misuse of spelling and grammar is not only limited to message boards. I do think that extreme cases are a form of functional illiteracy. I believe it's an edcuation issue. It's not harder to use the correct form of to/too/two, and once you learn that affect is a verb and effect is a noun, it's not difficult to use the words properly. There/their/they're and its/it's and your/you're are things I'm working with my second grader on... he still makes a lot of mistakes, but I can't imagine he still will be in 10+ years! (I will say that I am a very visual person, and that spelling comes easily to me... I know it's not as easy for everyone, but these are adults we're talking about!)
Well, I'm with you guys, but then I think maybe I'm a little too fussy about it, and I take so much time that could be better spent elsewhere and I'm a little envious of those who can post and not worry about it as long as you can understand what they're saying. But when I got a letter from someone on a computer dating site and could barely comprehend what he was trying to say, and even though he was gorgeous, I gave him a pass--I want a man who is educated and intelligent. It probably wasn't his picture anyway.
My biggest pet peeve though, is with the words "lead" and "led." "Led" is the past tense of "lead", not "lead." I'm seeing that in books and newspapers, and even recently caught that one in a book for English teachers! (Whew, I proofread that one carefully. See if you can catch any mistakes.)
I try to ignore it although its hard. I was a copy editor and I noticed that even the most educated (PhDs) were the least literate (at least with the written word). I think some people have a knack for words and others don't. I have also gotten resumes that made me think some people only had a third grade education. Never in a million years would I hire someone (Administrative Assistant) that couldn't spell or use punctiation. Unfortunately, I see it more and more. The other day, I read a post on here with no capitalization; no punction; and, unbelievably, no periods to indicate the end of one sentence and the start of the next. It was painful to read (and confusing).
I've not noticed any striking deficit in literacy amoung PhDs. It's blog posters who tend to have grammar-illiteracy.
Some of it is just that people post quickly. We tend to think of posts as conversations. In a conversation, I'd pronounce "they're" and "their" the same. The other person would know which I meant by context. I think people tend to do that in posts. I've caught myself doing it and I know the difference between "they're" and "their" and "your" and "you're".
I wouldn't say laziness. You, probably, wouldn't see the same mistake in a written paper or a letter. We just tend to type what we say when posting on BB's and we don't think about the difference between these words when we're speaking them.
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See if you can catch any mistakes.)
