Grammar and spelling police

[Easy 10]

As I have just sent a client an email finishing with the line "Thanks and retards" I'd better not comment.

Who the hell put the G so close to the T on a keyboard.

I've signed off with "Best retards" a few times meself.

 

[severnside gull]

We have a beautiful language which is always evolving and there is no issue with that. What I hate is when misuse makes the language sound ugly (the use of "of" for "have" being a case in point).

I care less about spelling errors - the concept of a singular spelling for any word is relatively new and transitory. Apostrophes will,in my view, never disappear entirely no matter what linguists may predict and some reference to punctuation will always help understanding.

Text speak outside of its proper context may appear lazy but no more so than many accepted attempts at a phonetic language and it will undoubtedly last so yes, we need to learn to live with it I guess.

 

[nwgull]

I'm a silent tutter, and although it's a shame to see the apparent decline in educational standards, I agree that on a footy forum it doesn't matter too much provided that the spelling or gramatical error doesn't make the post ambiguous.

 

[drew]

No. Just as NSC is a cross-section of Albion fans, it's also a melting pot of different levels of intelligence/education.

Poor spelling or grammer doesn't make an opinion any less valid.

Anyone who feels the need to pick on other contributors' language skills is a bit sad IMHO and usually means that person has nothing else to argue with.

I am afraid I don't agree with you. Just for the record, I have yet to trawl through other threads so may well find something else to argue with, I usually do.

Ive been in language education for 25 years and find that orthographical pedantry is the lowest form of intelligence. What matters is that we understand each other, not whether the message is appropriately made up.

And anyone who wants to draw attention to the missing punctuation in the first word...... Linguists will tell you that such punctuation (it's called an apostrophe) will have dissappeared from English completely in the next 10-15 years. SO GET USED TO IT! Language is organic and evolves, it is not fascist.

So, in your 25 years etc etc, do you think language should evolve to the lowest common denominator. Are you satisfied that white kids think it hip to mimic black gangland dialect and do you think that is how language evolves or is it more to do with education. Text speak is fine in the right place as it serves a purpose. But people need to know how to convey their message so that it is understood fully. I fear that, as the rest of the world seems to be accepting English as the international language and their youth are learning correct grammar, our own kids are abandoning it.

 

[Easy 10]

Those 140 characters for Twitter posts have got a LOT to answer for.

 

[essbee]

drew,

I tend to agree with you. The view from SULLY COULDN'T SHOOT is quite simply shocking.

 

[Pot noodles for everyone]

Orthographical pedantry is the lowest form of intelligence?

That's bollocks on 2 levels. Firstly you assume that it's mere pedantry that drives people to correct the fuckwits that can't tell the difference between, for example, 'have' and 'of'. Secondly grammatical pedantry, by it's very nature, requires a high level of understanding in the subject. I'd say the ability to wipe your arse is a lower form of intelligence.

 

[Wozza]

The word but should never be used after a full stop.

That's right - there should be a space between them.

 

[Soul Finger]

And anyone who wants to draw attention to the missing punctuation in the first word...... Linguists will tell you that such punctuation (it's called an apostrophe) will have dissappeared from English completely in the next 10-15 years. SO GET USED TO IT! Language is organic and evolves, it is not fascist.

Punctuation distinguishes meaning in many instances.

Are people supposed to assume what a sentence means?

 

[Barry Izbak]

Wares the choice for tho's of us that havant notised any spelling or grammaticall errers and dont no watt all the fuss is about?

 

[Nibble]

Bad spelling or grammar doesn't bother me really although I do like to see a nice, well constructed paragraph from time to time.

 

[Gordon Bennett]

Yes, definitely a silent tutter when it comes to the ‘of/have’ and ‘there/their’ confusion. I can’t claim to be perfect but put enough errors in a sentence and certainly the meaning is lost and I tend to think that if the poster can’t be bothered to write a coherent sentence then I can’t be bothered to read it. Some of it is laziness – what’s with the craze for putting (sp) after a word if you aren’t sure about its spelling, just look it up and you never know you might learn something!

It might be considered wrong in these enlightened times but if the sentence doesn’t make sense and is full of spelling and grammatical errors then it does leave me with the perception that the writer’s knuckles are slightly closer to the floor than those of us in our ivory towers!

Language may evolve but it does feel more like it is declining these days.

God, I feel old.

 

[The Large One]

Orthographical pedantry is the lowest form of intelligence?

That's bollocks on 2 levels. Firstly you assume that it's mere pedantry that drives people to correct the fuckwits that can't tell the difference between, for example, 'have' and 'of'. Secondly grammatical pedantry, by it's very nature, requires a high level of understanding in the subject. I'd say the ability to wipe your arse is a lower form of intelligence.

Quite right.

You shouldn't have used an apostrophe in 'its' in the third sentence of the second paragraph, for instance.

 

[bhaexpress]

As I have just sent a client an email finishing with the line "Thanks and retards" I'd better not comment.

Who the hell put the G so close to the T on a keyboard.

Probably some damned foreigner ! (Actually it was, Christopher Latham Sholes, an American who sold the patent to Remington in 1873. It was meant to reduce the number of type bar collisions on typewriters).

Now there's ten seconds of your life you won't get back.

 

[Wilko]

I'm a silent tutter, and although it's a shame to see the apparent decline in educational standards, I agree that on a footy forum it doesn't matter too much provided that the spelling or gramatical error doesn't make the post ambiguous.

Indeed, the one that is really annoying at the moment is posters using then instead of than, it makes the point of the post difficult to follow:

'I'd rather go to London then Manchester'

Do you mean you would rather go to London thAn Manchester or do you mean you want to go to London before you go to Manchester. The change in one letter makes the whole statement completley different.

 

[bhaexpress]

We have a beautiful language which is always evolving and there is no issue with that. What I hate is when misuse makes the language sound ugly (the use of "of" for "have" being a case in point).

I care less about spelling errors - the concept of a singular spelling for any word is relatively new and transitory. Apostrophes will,in my view, never disappear entirely no matter what linguists may predict and some reference to punctuation will always help understanding.

Text speak outside of its proper context may appear lazy but no more so than many accepted attempts at a phonetic language and it will undoubtedly last so yes, we need to learn to live with it I guess.

Language is constantly evolving, I am so glad we don't use Shakespearian English for a start.

 

[Pot noodles for everyone]

Quite right.

You shouldn't have used an apostrophe in 'its' in the third sentence of the second paragraph, for instance.

Quite right. That was laziness on my part not correcting the iPhone word predictor.

 

[essbee]

Pot Noodles

You've let the side down big time.

 

[philsussex]

I wonder how many people on this thread are carefully rereading their posts before hitting the send button.

 

[bhaexpress]

I wonder how many people on this thread are carefully rereading their posts before hitting the send button.

I usually do anyway just because if the handful of pedants.