General Internet Question

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slavekal -> General Internet Question (12/23/2007 6:24:28 AM)
What is the deal with spelling on the internet? I don't mean typos. Anyone can accidentally hit a wrong key. I have seen several posts about people not knowing too/two/to or your from you're, and I have seen dominate instead of dominant about a million times. And using an apostrophe for plurals. That's bad, but I think those are things people just don't know they're getting wrong. But when someone doesn't know how to spell a word, they KNOW they don't know how to spell it. Why not use spell check or look it up? PER SAY? TORCHER? And what is the deal with the word DEFINITELY? I have seen it spelled so many ridiculous ways, I've lost count. I have even seen DEFIANTLY. Why don't people use dictionaries anymore? By the way, A LOT is two words.

Sexynmentalinkc -> RE: General Internet Question (12/23/2007 6:27:40 AM)
~ Fast Reply ~ Apathy....that's the deal.

MaamJay -> RE: General Internet Question (12/23/2007 6:35:51 AM)
I happen to agree with you slavekal ... I hate the abuse of the language ... I have tried to become a little more tolerant but I still find that a post or message that is really well written will grab My attention every time over those that aren't! It's the teacher in Me ... Maam Jay aka violet[A]

Gardenista -> RE: General Internet Question (12/23/2007 6:36:00 AM)
Laziness, probably. Or hasty posting. Unless the errors are so bad the post is unreadable, I wouldn't get hung up on them and instead focus on what the poster is trying to convey.

TMaster2 -> RE: General Internet Question (12/23/2007 6:59:44 AM)
lol, yeah, misspellers and other language illiterati now have a large peer group, and the barkers are no longer authority figures, so no restraint and even acceptance, eh? Was that long-winded? oh well, I'm a comma criminal ;)

MidMichCowboy -> RE: General Internet Question (12/23/2007 7:09:07 AM)
When a person reads a post or a profile, you have to judge the context of the poster to understand the ideas expressed. I do this by looking at the person's profile and other posts. I admit, how a profile is written and how posts are written (both spelling and grammar) does influence my judgment of that person and the content of their posts. There are very few ideas that stand on their own. Even today, we analyze the Declaration of Independence by the words written and what we know of the author. When a person expresses an opinion or judgment or asks a question, we all must judge the source to see what merits that which is written has. So, I do judge by spelling and grammar, but I also judge by what else a person has written. On-line, that is the only context that I have, so its what I use.

slavekal -> RE: General Internet Question (12/23/2007 7:14:51 AM)
Speech is a big one for me, as well. I am in the Detroit area, where English is almost a foreign language. There have been several occasions where I met attractive women who blew it when they said they were going to AX me a question, or they said, "you was". Makes me cringe.

Gardenista -> RE: General Internet Question (12/23/2007 7:33:02 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: slavekal Speech is a big one for me, as well. I am in the Detroit area, where English is almost a foreign language. There have been several occasions where I met attractive women who blew it when they said they were going to AX me a question, or they said, "you was". Makes me cringe. I've conversed with several linguists that consider common slang and patois a viable form of language. I'm not suggesting that it be taught in schools ( like the whole ebonics fiasco), but the evolution of language does include street talk. Using slang and typing mistakes are two different issues to me, though...

Level -> RE: General Internet Question (12/23/2007 7:40:39 AM)
Lazy spellers.

PlayfulGoddess -> RE: General Internet Question (12/23/2007 7:45:28 AM)
I have noticed that since the internet (and reading the instant messages from people who aren't a spelling whiz) that I HAVE BEGUN TO TYPE/SPELL more poorly myself. I have near photographic memory and BEFORE when text was edited and found in books, journals, periodicals, RARELY were there mistakes; and when I came across them I could spot them instantly. NOW, it seems that poor spelling seems to be the NORM, and there are times when I actually have to THINK about the spelling of a word--'cause of soooooo many mis-types out there. The their/there/they're thingy-- along with the to/too/two, and a few others are ones that will always stand out. THE ONE THAT SEEMS TO BLOW ME AWAY THOUGH ARE THE 'DOMINATE' Woman/Man ones on this site-- c'mon people can you NOT tell that it is SUPPOSED to be a Dominant? [sm=ofcourse.gif]

PsyVamp -> RE: General Internet Question (12/23/2007 7:51:49 AM)
I love my spell check program.... but I am one to use ellipses a lot. Then again, I tend to pause when speaking if trying to gain attention or prove a point, so I do write how I speak. Spelling still counts, welcome! Lady Jag

TMaster2 -> RE: General Internet Question (12/23/2007 7:55:44 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Gardenista I've conversed with several linguists that ... One of my pet peeves -- you and your linquists all know people are "whos" not "thats." "I've conversed with several linguists WHO..." In fact, if you dispense with the word "that" almost completely, most sentences will read better. Try it. But hey, this thread is about just such peeves, so I really try to not let it bother me. As "they" say, don't sweat the small stuff ;)

CalifChick -> RE: General Internet Question (12/23/2007 8:01:54 AM)
Wayyyyy back (when dirt was new), in my first office job as a clerk/secretary, my boss told me something I have never forgotten. She said, "When the presentation is flawless, the message shines through. When the presentation is flawed, the message is lost." What she meant was, when you compose a letter that is rife with misspellings, white-out, erasures, etc., whatever message you are trying to get across fades to the background because the reader becomes focused on the errors. In the years since, I have been in the position to interview people now and then. When resumes cross my desk, those with misspellings go into the "not going to be considered" pile. Is it judgmental of me? You betcha. (Yes, I'm pretty sure "betcha" is not a word) Do I consider it somewhat situational? Yes. There are "shorthand" words that I think convey a message of their own, and that message is not "I am too lazy to give the time to communicate with you correctly", but are more used to convey a tone, a playfulness, etc. Like when I say "you betcha" or something similar. Cali (who proofread this very, very carefully, but is sure that there has to be an error that was overlooked, just 'cuz')

TMaster2 -> RE: General Internet Question (12/23/2007 8:07:05 AM)
lol CaliChick, very well said ;)

Gardenista -> RE: General Internet Question (12/23/2007 8:15:42 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: TMaster2 One of my pet peeves -- you and your linquists all know people are "whos" not "thats." "I've conversed with several linguists WHO..." In fact, if you dispense with the word "that" almost completely, most sentences will read better. Try it. But hey, this thread is about just such peeves, so I really try to not let it bother me. As "they" say, don't sweat the small stuff ;) Right, lol

MistressNoName -> RE: General Internet Question (12/23/2007 8:25:15 AM)
slavekal, Good points. Except spell check won't catch the types of errors you're pointing out because they are all proper words, albeit used incorrectly. But I think you're probably correct in suggesting that some people use words incorrectly and simply do not realize they're doing so. And someone else proposed laziness...well, I tend to agree with that one too. There are just a lot of people out there who are poor spellers and who don't have a strong enough grasp on written English grammar, even if they have perfect speech. Regarding the usage of slang, that's a whole `nutha thread. And there are tried and true ways of using slang within the confines of proper grammatical structure. And there are good times and places for everything. MNN

SirDominic -> RE: General Internet Question (12/23/2007 8:26:37 AM)
This has been an interesting subject to me for a long time (maybe I need to get out more). There is the camp, as you mentioned, where sloppy spelling, grammar is taken as a negative. The other side says that as long as the intent of the statement is clear, what the frac is the difference. The latter set points out that language is constantly changing. So what if the adverb has become practically dead. Does anyone really not understand if one uses "abrupt" when "abruptly" is the traditionally accepted word? I see the logic in that, yet it still bothers me like crazy. Yea, I am a traditionalist when it comes to language. It is how I speak and (mostly) how I write. Part of me feels that sloppy grammar/spelling is laziness for a lot of people, but then there are those afflicted with dyslexia to consider, too. Overall, though, it shows the dumbing down of society at large, something I consider a very real problem today.

neph -> RE: General Internet Question (12/23/2007 8:31:00 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: slavekal What is the deal with spelling on the internet? This made the rest of the post sound like a Seinfeld bit in my head. Man, I hate Seinfeld.

BloodLuna -> RE: General Internet Question (12/23/2007 8:37:19 AM)
Here is where luna drives all of you crazy with third person because she is under orders to speak this way. [:D] luna believes that there a level of intellictual laziness that has become rather rife with the birth of text messages. Many people go from the text message and IM short hand and then incorporate it into their writing patterns and speaking patterns, often times subconsciously. This girl has lost count of the number of times she has to give her 10 year old um that "look" when he responds to a question with IDK instead of I don't know. Also, there is a level of education that was sorely lacking when our current 18-25 set was in gradeschool/high school that luna believes may have contributed to the problem. However, luna wants to point out something she thinks others may be missing . . . Spell check isn't the end all be all of editors. Many spell check programs cannot tell the difference between the gramatical use of two/too/to or they're/their/there. It may be spelled properly, but not used in a gramatically correct manner and the computer program is only able to check spelling. As an author, luna has a peculiar habit of reading the message for context first. Context means more to luna than a few gramatical errors. Some of our classical authors of the past - Ben Franklin for one - had the worst spelling habits you could imagine. (and Franklin owned a newspaper!) People like Franklin employed editors to catch their mistakes. Imagine how much wisdom we would miss if we refused to read something Franklin wrote because he mispelled a few words? luna edited for spelling [:(]

slavekal -> RE: General Internet Question (12/23/2007 8:42:13 AM)
I love Seinfeld. I do understand shorthand and informal speech and writing. I use them myself. I'm gonna do it now. But when people just make up a semi phonetic spelling for a word they know they don't know how to spell, it makes me nuts. If you are unsure, just look it up. Takes about two seconds.

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