Posting on gun boards... Spelling and Grammer count!

[TamThompson]

TechBrute,
Liked your post. I'm a freelance and fiction writer, and I *do* tend to make judgments about people I've never met based on how they use the English language, especially in e-mail. (Well, think about it, if I've never met them, what they say in print is all I have to go on.)

I have a good friend who's an expert white water paddler. He sends out e-mails to the rest of us, and usually the spelling and grammar are atrocious. I mentioned it once, and told him, "I know you used to teach math and science, but would it have killed you to have fooled around with an English teacher once in a while?"

 

[J Miller]

I do my best to use reasonable grammar and punctuation. But I have suffered from digital dislexia all my life. (You should see me try to keyboard this) I transpose letters all the time, and have fits with double letter words. Either I add to many, or I don't put in enough. Never can get it right.

But for the most part I'm understood.

Now for the anti- gun people, forget 'em. They can't type, speek, spell, or read any better than we can.

Joe


Edited to insert the forgotten word " should". Did I spell forgotten right? One t or two t's, or is it ts?

 

[Hardtarget]

I've noticed some of this while reading posts. I've laughed at some...I've even had a good laugh at some of my own posts. Truthfully, I never thought I'd see four pages of posted comments about this topic. I really figured it just didn't bother others and I was just being silly even thinking about it. Just goes to show you.
Mark.

 

[M67]

Given that some of us may not have english as a first or even second language

Hey, that just means that some of us have an excuse. The rest of you guys have no option but to be ashamed of yourselves.

Seriously, I think THR is head and shoulders above many other internet forums out there. The paucity of articulate Americans in cyber-land is notable.

I don't know if there is some irony in there somewhere, but the fact is that this foreigner enjoys your company partly because y'all are able to express yourselves in your own language. That and the fact that you're such great people, of course.

I don't think a few spelling mistakes and grammatical errors make a huge difference. We all make those all the time. But if we want to take the high road, shouldn't we at least try? I think it's easier to travel the high road if we make an effort to watch our language. If you make a little effort to communicate in a clear and understandable way, you also show some respect for the people you communicate with. Not to mention that it's not quite as easy to call someone a $¤%& if you take the time to express that sentiment in a grammatically correct sentence.

Finally, regarding Samuel Clemens:




A Plan for the Improvement of English Spelling

by Mark Twain

For example, in Year 1 that useless letter "c" would be dropped to be replased either by "k" or "s", and likewise "x" would no longer be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which "c" would be retained would be the "ch" formation, which will be dealt with later.

Year 2 might reform "w" spelling, so that "which" and "one" would take the same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish "y" replasing it with "i" and Iear 4 might fiks the "g/j" anomali wonse and for all.

Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear with Iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and Iears 6-12 or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konsonants.

Bai Iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi ridandant letez "c", "y" and "x" - bai now jast a memori in the maindz ov ould doderez - tu riplais "ch", "sh", and "th" rispektivli.

Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.

 

[Andrew Rothman]

One further piece of advice. If you have the time and the suspicion to write "(sp?)" after a word...

LOOK IT UP!!!!

I feel much better now.

 

[Mastrogiacomo]

I have a B.A. in English and a M.Ed. in Teaching English as a Second Language. I'm also learning disabled, so sometimes my writing doesn't reflect my education. There's no spell check for forums or I'm sure most people would use it. I sincerely hope people will forgive my flaws and pay more attention to what I'm saying rather than how I say it. The only thing I look for in others is that your posts are in standard English and not street lingo. As someone here has stated, not everyone using these boards speaks English as their native language, just as not all of us are from the same generation, or listen to the same music. What might make sense to you is confusing for someone else so use common sense. After all, if you want a response we have to know what you're talking about first. Other than that -- I say school's out so just speak your mind in a polite way and have fun.

 

[dischord]

I have a BA in English, and I've made my career in writing (16+ years, including a seven year stint as an editor with about a dozen writers under me). I've probably written tens of thousands of pages and edited even more. I take correct spelling and grammar with the utmost professional seriousness.

Nonetheless, I think it is silly at best to judge people for making spelling errors or typos on a friggin' internet bulletin board. Remember, you are reading quickly-typed, never-proofed copy. People make mistakes. They <gasp> sometimes confuse homonyms!

Get over yourselves all you would-be schoolmarms!

Actually, deprogram yourselves. All you are doing is projecting your fear that your second grade teacher might scold you.

 

[Bullet Bob]

My (usually silent) pet peeve is when people, usually gun sellers on internet sites, use "ware" for wear, as in blue wear on the end of the barrel, and "break" for brake, as in muzzle brakes.

 

[Iron Mike]

Just remember a preposition is a word you never end a sentence with.

 

[Ironbarr]

I figure communication is an art, not a science - not set in cement, so to speak. It is a matter of getting a message from one brain to another without a loss of understanding. A standard language is nice - easier - but not necessarily mandatory; there are work-arounds in most everything.

Now, if only I were artistically endowed.

-Andy

 

[tex_n_cal]

Iron Mike, you mean perhaps a phrase like, "...I will as soon as I figure out where I'm at."

(My West Texas roots showing off)

When I said that last month, I was in China talking to our translator, an intelligent young woman who spoke English quite well. She looked at me completely, utterly, positively baffled as to what I had said.

************

There's too many people who go to their computers and run all kinds of wonderful, brilliant software to check their writing, but still have too many errors, because spelling checkers alone won't catch the inappropriate use of "to" the preposition, when they mean "too" the modifier.

************

I am kinda casual in my speech, sometimes in writing as well (like now). What I write here isn't the format I'd use in a business letter. Still, I go by the theory that what we write could theoretically be read by folks for the next thousand years. I like to think that I'm leaving behind things of value, so I try to write well

 

[Iron Mike]

Thats right Tex, thats not where at should be

 

[Harry Tuttle]

* Sentences usually start with a capital letter and end with a period, question mark or exclamation point.

unless you are e.e. cummings



communication systems evolve

web based and phone based communication systems are evolving new rules for writing

Girl writes English essay in phone text shorthand
By Auslan Cramb, Scottish Correspondent
(Filed: 03/03/2003)

Education experts warned yesterday of the potentially damaging effect on literacy of mobile phone text messaging after a pupil handed in an essay written in text shorthand.

The 13-year-old girl submitted the essay to a teacher in a state secondary school in the west of Scotland and explained that she found it "easier than standard English".

Her teacher, who asked not to be named, said: "I could not believe what I was seeing. The page was riddled with hieroglyphics, many of which I simply could not translate."

The Scottish Qualifications Authority has expressed concern about the problem in its report on last year's Standard Grade exams, and revealed that "text messaging language was inappropriately used" in the English exam.

Judith Gillespie, of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council, said a decline in standards of grammar and written language was partly linked to the craze. "There must be rigorous efforts from all quarters of the education system to stamp out the use of texting as a form of written language so far as English study is concerned.

"There has been a trend in recent years to emphasise spoken English. Pupils think orally and write phonetically. You would be shocked at the numbers of senior secondary pupils who cannot distinguish between their and there. The problem is that there is a feeling in some schools that pupils' freedom of expression should not be inhibited."

Dr Cynthia McVey, a psychology lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University, said texting was second nature to a generation of young people. "They don't write letters, so sitting down to write or type an essay is unusual and difficult. They revert to what they feel comfortable with - texting is attractive and uncomplicated."

The teenager's essay began: "My smmr hols wr CWOT. B4, we usd 2go2 NY 2C my bro, his GF & thr 3 :- kds FTF. ILNY, it's a gr8 plc." Translation: "My summer holidays were a complete waste of time. Before, we used to go to New York to see my brother, his girlfriend and their three screaming kids face to face. I love New York, it's a great place."

 

[Sean Cloherty]

Being the son of an English teacher, I am doomed to be irritated by bad grammar.

Many on this forum and others involved in 2A organizations go to great lengths to promote us as other than the caricature of the toothless, quick on the trigger, white, homophobic, racist, ignorant, fat, slovenly, knuckle-dragging, wife beaters (did I miss any?) that is common. Good posting can only help overcome this perception.

Trying to excuse poor spelling and grammar by pointing out the same faults in posts at MMM or DU is lame.

I agree that some people can be over the top in their quest for perfection, but I think most of us can agree that there are some people on the opposite end of the spectrum who just don't even try.

 

[MaterDei]

unless you are e.e. cummings

Who??? Do you mean ee cummings?

 

[TonyB]

How on God's green earth is this thread gun related?????
I can't believe it went this long........:banghead:

 

[Andrew Rothman]

Nonetheless, I think it is silly at best to judge people for making spelling errors or typos on a friggin' internet bulletin board. Remember, you are reading quickly-typed, never-proofed copy. People make mistakes. They <gasp> sometimes confuse homonyms!

Get over yourselves all you would-be schoolmarms!

Hit a nerve?

I'm not asking for literery perfection, just the courtesy to others of trying to be comprehensible.

If you would rather appear to be an ignorant cretin, don't be surprised if people regard you that way.