Hey folks, I'm a bit new here in the forum part but I've been checking out the articles that have been posted, the jokes and assorted other items, and it just amazes me just how bad the spelling; grammar and general english is that is being used!
Didn't anyone really pay attention in school, or is that just another sign that our country/language and all the rest are slowly but surely going down the shitter?
What is the general opinion or in regard to such "trivia", isn't there one?

 

"..and it just amazes me just how bad the spelling; grammar and general english is that is being used..."

The second "just" is repetitive and unnecessary, the semicolon should be a comma, "English" should be capitalized, and "is that is being used" is very awkward syntax. Other than that you did all right.

You have to allow for the possibility that some people here do not speak English as their first language. But apart from that, I too am a bit shocked at some of the things people write online, and it makes me wonder what has become of the public school system. Maybe they were home schooled.

 

Personally, I've been generally pleased by the grammar and spelling on this forum. I've been on newsgroups and mailing lists since 1989, and if you think the grammar and spelling are bad here, you can't have much experience with the normal contents of lists like these.

Now, I apply a different standard to the stories (which, strangely enough, actually seem to have more spelling and grammar problems than the forums), but for just plain talking I think the people on the forum do very well.

 

Oh, and your last paragraph is a run-on sentence with an ambiguous meaning. Isn't there one what?

 

Well, at least we're not plagued by "instant-message-ese". Like, "How R U? I M fine, & U?"

 

I tend to put those folks on "instant ignore".

I try not to judge people by (not buy) what they type but sometimes it's hard not to (not too). The whole (or is it hole?) there, their, they're and your/you're thing really amazes me. I can't help but to think with most English speakers it's (not its) just plain laziness.

For those that care, I've found this site (not cite) to be very useful for proper word usage:

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html

 

guilty.....I use your for you're since it types faster. I also tend to not use any apostrophes. I do know (no) better. The other problem that I think is common to most people is that the computer keyboards will either leave out a letter you type, or add extra letters. I find that frequently the first letter of a sword )(word, sdee what I mean) is left off. never usually comes out nevef. I try to check gthem (see, kthemm, again, them) but sometimes miss them. For an excellent typist, which I am, (100+ word per minute....someone put 60rpm on an application once!!!... it is very frustrating to me. I think my Hewlett Packard keyboard is better than the one on this computer.

 

I totally agree

 

Dont get me started!

I have a college level vocabulary, and a 5th grade level spelling!

This I blame squarely on two things: My lack of motovation in school and the serious lack of motovation COMMING from the schools.

I can post, (and have elsewhere) numerous paragraphs and pages on this subject. My feelings are very strong for several reasons, but the sharpest of these is the inability of the public education system to want to deal with the problem. This is due to tenure, entitlement by certian school boads, bad teachers, spineless administrators along with the constant influx of lawyers and activists constantly injecting thier own 'brand' of ideology (indoctranation) they force on the schools.

Many people I know are now consiering home schooling because of the VERY serious nature of this issue.

 

I doubt that it's because they were home schooled. My peers are horrible spellers. They often use "They, their and they're" wrong, or any of those other fancy little quirks with the English language. I hate it. I know I'm not the perfect English student, but I have the basics down pretty well. Better than half of my peers. That disgusts me.

 

Most people don't have computers as shitty as yours. That type of mistake is very uncommon elsewhere.

 

This is just what crossed my mind as well. For being so critical, travelingman2628 left quite a mess.

 

That's why I don't bother to correct people anymore, unless I feel like being a shit. Pretty much every single time I've ever mentioned grammatical or spelling mistakes, I made at least one in the comment. I just avoid it altogether.

-S-

 

I usually don't mind. I don't like it when the "instant message text" appears in a forum, especially one that is based writing stories like this one, but I use LOL a lot. Comes from using the IM systems.

In my opinion, we're all talking, we're using a forum instead of actually speaking, and shortcuts are a part of that. The bad grammar, spelling all got started back in the usenet days and have just carried over. As long as I can read it and understand what the poster is saying, I don't really care.

 

I'm just on a short break here, but since I've faced this argument before I'd just say I've ever hired out as a guard for the English Language. My goal is to cummunicate and if that makes me a good talker that writes it down that's OK with me.

 

I have been called (The Great Raper of the Kings English.)

 

I'm guilty of some of these mistakes, too, but it's mostly because I get in too big a hurry and forget to edit my posts. So I'm willing to let a few "you're/your" mistakes slip by.

And I've been known to use things like "LOL", but now that we have emoticons...

 

We've been down this road before.
Yes there are typos and then there is just horrible grammar.

TITLE: "Why Can't the English
Teach their Children how to Speak!"
[My Fair Lady]

[ G#dim7 = ]

Professor Higgins: Look at her a prisoner of the gutter
Condemned by every syllable she utters
By rights she should be taken out and hung
For the cold-blooded murder of the English tongue
Liza: Aw!
Professor Higgins: Aw! Heavens what a sound!
This is what the British population
Calls an elementary education
Pickery: Oh come sir, I think you picked a poor example!
Professor Higgins:Did I?



Hear them down in Soho square
Dropping h's everywhere
Speaking English any way they like
You sir, did you go to school?
What do you tike me for, a fool?
No one taught him take instead of tike


Hear a Yorkishman or worse
Hear a Cornishman converse
I'd rather hear a choir singing flat
Chickens cackling in a barn, just like this one
Liza: G'on!
Professor Higgins: G'on! I ask you sir, what sort of word is that?
It's aw and g'on that keep her in her place
Not her wretched clothes and dirty face


Why can't the English
Teach their children how to speak
This verbal class distinction
By now should be antique
If you spoke as she does, sir
Instead of the way you do
Why you might be out selling flowers too
Pickery:I beg your pardon, sir!


Professor Higgins: An Englishman's way of speaking
Absolutely classifies him
The moment he talks
He makes some other Englishmen despise him
One common language I'm afraid we'll never get
Oh why can't the English learn to

Set a good example
To people whose English is painful to your ears
The Scots and the Irish leave you close to tears
There even are places where English completely disappears
In America they haven't used it for years


Why can't the English
Teach their children how to speak
Norwegians learn Norwegian
The Greeks are taught their Greek
In France every Frenchman
Knows his language from A to Zed
(The French don't care what they do actually
As long as they pronounce it properly.)


Arabians learn Arabian
With the speed of summer lightning
And the Hebrews learn it backwards
Which is absolutely frightening
But use proper English, you're regarded as a freak
Oh why can't the English
Why can't the English
Learn to speak!

 

That's cool. Of course I do take issue with the American comment. American English is just as valid as British English. I get this all the time being a teacher here in Korea. It only counts if a Canadian or a Brit says it. If an American says it it's all wrong. Somehow I'm deficient because I say Zee instead of Zed or schedule (sKedule) instead of schedule (shhedule).

-S-

 

The accidental spelling errors are something I notice and have gotten over (for the most part). Especially because I'm guilty of it. It's the people who can't take the time to write a word that frustrate me. Wot r u n2? Trying to decipher that kind of shorthand just make me realize how far removed I can be from today's teens. At least, I think and hope they're teens.