To all the spelling "hall monitors" on DU

The best argument against using all caps.

(on edit: proper spelling and punctuation suggests one put some time and thought into the effort. That can't be faked, or reduced to a nifty parlor trick.)

Slovenly crap, but cute.

Give it a C+ for cleverness.

It's the strongest evidence and a constant reminder of the lousy education many Americans receive. Just yesterday I saw a handwritten sign outside a little local eatery - "meat lofe".

Sure I know what they meant, and the food will taste the same no matter how you spell it - but can I trust that they can figure out how to run my credit card, or make change, or understand and follow instructions to safely prepare food? Sloppy spelling is just a turnoff.

be taught the phonics method or whole word learning method. It is a big debate in many schools.

I posted this b/c I thought it an amazing demonstration of the human mind. I like to believe that my spelling is quite good. That being said, I am happy for the spell-checker.

People who correct others' grammar and spelling on DU can be annoying b/c they divert attention from the thread topic as well as make other DU'ers feel less of their post. Sometimes poor spellers have very good additions to the thread; pointing out their errors rather than crediting them for the value that they have brought is a more grievous error.

I think it discourages some people from posting.

can the writing of someone illiterate enough to be misspelling common, everyday words be trusted? Can they get their point across effectively enough to be taken seriously? I find that the occasional typo is easy enough to forgive, but if someone keeps posting with obviously major mistakes in their use of the English language, that they can not and most likely will not, be respected enough to get their point across. Of course, that could be only my educational background speaking, but I think that many of us hold those who can state their opinions more eloquently in higher regard.

:eyes:

;)

:hi: but my eyes are tired this morning. I used to find many transposed letters in my early emails because my brain did the corrections that spell check didn't catch just as you discussed.

Helps that the letters were a bit larger than normal, but that is still quite amazing... Who'd a thunk??

Like when people are shouting it's harder to hear what they're saying.

compare to - I've never seen that type of mental excercise before...

:D

Your head might explode trying to read that.

very interesting excerise ...

I wonder if someone who doesn't have appropriate spelling skills would be able to read this as quickly and easily as one who does?

Just wondering . .

the second line of your post, "aulacity" -- i still have no clue.

pray tell, what is the word?

oops I'm wrong. :o

because it should have 2 "L"s instead of one. Please see post #22. :)

;-)

zorry

very crafty and clever doesn't mean that correct spelling doesn't matter. The two are almost entirely unrelated.

For one thing, while we can puzzle out the meaning of the post, it's terribly inefficient to read (and I'm still working on "aulacity" in line 2). And the recognize-the-first-and-last-letter trick works only if you've already been taught the word in question.

Additionally, sloppiness as a policy is just a bad idea. Sloppy spelling *ALMOST ALWAYS* means sloppy thinking. Why do we make such fun of FReepers? For one reason, because so many of them can't spell (or are so arrogantly anti-intellectual that they refuse to spell correctly). And because their no-opposable-thumb approach to discourse is so contemptible we (rightly) hold them in contempt.

These things are all tied together. Making a cogent argument is a craft. We have pride in our craft and should have pride in our craftsmanship.

Now I'm an editor (in one incarnation) so I'm a bit anal about these sorts of things. But I still say spelling matters.

as it is actually missing an "L". Also, the very last word in it is "awslel", which I think is translated "as well"... but you see, "as well" is two words, not one.

Not a convincing argument in my book (the dictionary) LOL!

Also, on another post someone was talking about Pat Boone's little play on words between Joan of Arc being guilty of "heresy" and Terri Schiavo the victim of "HERESAY"... YEP, that's how they spelled it. The word is, of course HEARSAY. This misspelling just ruined the sense of the message, in that it was a "pun" or "double-entendre". The power of proper spelling can never be "misunderestimated". :)

When you Misspell, you catch Hell! That's just an unwritten law on DU. HAH!!

ON EDIT: To correct a "typo".. had 3 Ts in "unwritten". Sorry! <egg on face>

...My dictionary shows it as "phoanmneal". ;-)

and intelligence. While I appreciate the use of the spell=checker, it isn't essntial; save that for your bedraggled professors.

However, if you think "alot" is a word meaning "a great deal," we may have trouble. It's a particular pet peeve of mine.

I know I will use bad grammar sometimes, and I will misspell a word and not use spell checker. I caught myself today putting there instead of their.

If I can get the gist of the post, I'm okay. Plus, I know that my mind works faster than my poor fingers can keep up with, that's what causes most of my mistakes.

I'm much more likely to be annoyed with misspellings and bad punctuation in a book or pamphlet than anything else. I mean, how many people are supposed to be editing those and then there's a mistake.

See I'm an English major and even I can't write half the time.

Without doubt the most common error I see - even some of my professors have made it on their syllabi. I really don't see how people can make such a mistake so often.

180

NT!

I really don't like spelling-nitpickers either. The funniest is when someone posts correcting another's spelling, and that poster him/herself winds up making errors. Hee hee. B-)

Everyone should be using the English language correctly here; it's not that hard, and I think it sucks that all those geniuses and scholars created this incredible lexicon for us to use, and we can't even be bothered to apply it correctly in our daily lives because we're too lazy. That sucks...we don't take the same liberties with numbers, do we? Imagine if we just decided not to come up with the correct result of 2+2 because it just took so much effort to come up with 4. Would 4 and a half be acceptable?

That being said, I'm as guilty of spelling and grammar errors as anyone; at least I try to do better, though. Typos are one thing; willingly pissing all over the language is another.

The musings of someone who can't take the time to spell correctly usually aren't worth reading.

If the only goal of writing were comprehension, then I'd agree with you.

However, we've known since Aristotle (and probably before) that one of the key factors in persuasiveness is ethos, or the credibility or character of the writer/speaker (see Aristotle's Art of Rhetoric). The problem with lax spelling is an ethos problem: many audiences will take what you say less seriously if your writing is filled with spelling "errors." This also shows us that the very notion of a spelling error is context dependent. A spelling error in a quick email is not that big of a deal, while a spelling error on a resume could cost you a job. Why? People expect that emails will be produced rapidly (like DU posts, so I don't think spelling is important in such posts either!), and the functionality of most emails requires basic comprehesnion only. A resume, on the other hand, has other requirements. As an employer, I'm not only looking at your experience/ qualifications, but also trying to make a fast judgment on the type of person you are. If you can't take the time to thoroughly spellcheck your own resume - that is, your one shot at making a good impression - how much more lax might you be with your work for me? A spelling error in that case says something about your character and credibility as a prospective employee. A similar case could be made about reports for clients. And, of course, as another poster has said, many audiences see spelling errors as a symptom of poor education: would you be more willing to believe somebody with a poor education or a good education? Spelling errors tend to cost you more than they buy you, in terms of rhetorical effectivness. is this ethically right? Should people discount those who can't spell? Probably not - but that is the reality of the situation, and rhetoric is oncerned with real audiences, not what audiences should be.

Of course, English spelling was only standardized fairly recently (400 years ago, or so).

who would be subjected to that mess!

As adults, this is true--most of learned enough in school to be able to understand misspelled words in a certain context. But I firmly believe that the children in the past twenty years have not had the same rigorous lessons in spelling and grammar to be able to comprehend and utilize the English language as it is meant to be. With the current generations opting to use slang, shorthand and acronyms throughout their internet usage, it becomes an appalling and chaotic disaster to even teach them the basics of the language.

Even twenty years ago, I recall someone I knew who wanted to be a writer, whose use of English was rather short of acceptance. He would glibly say that's "what editors are for" in the context of correcting manuscript errors. I told him then, and I'm sure he would eventually learn, that a manuscript with such heinous errors would never be accepted by a publisher or an editor. Today's kids will never be able to learn the language if they are not taught it correctly, and it's becoming one of the casualties of education.

Mybae Siknenr can tkae aawy Slepl Cehck.

will send this off to my son in college.

And yes, It would be nice if you could properly spell the words you use.

After all, we might have visitors here ....

start shitting on the sidewalks, or in stores, wherever, it doesn't matter

fuckit