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There's only one thing I despise more than furries, and that's poor english. I go on a forum or imageboard and I see messy spelling, lack of grammar, and 1337sp34k!!!!one!!eleven! everywhere. I don't know why, but it's just one of those things that riles me up. Maybe I'm just anal about spelling and grammar because I've had literature hammered into my brain since I could read (and I started reading at 3).

Does anyone else get angry over the godawful standard of literacy on the internet?

Not really. So long as I can understand someone that's all that really matters. I'll admit sometimes it does look a little bit silly to me but I don't really like to hold it against anyone.

I do not claim to have the highest standards of grammar for my postings, or even my writing in general, but at least try and keep it somewhat coherent. That is all I ask. I will say this: my boss sends e-mails that look like my blind, dim-witted dog typed after running into a parked car. He also chews with his mouth open as he eats constantly all day. To hell with it! Its not just grammar, you should be mad about having poor manners as well!

As a rule of thumb one should only get upset ones own typos.

This means I get upset a lot, because of low standards of schooling or dyslexia, not a chance, but because I reply in full sentences to people and try and do a proper job. This means the odd letter gets out of place, once or twice a sentence.
Fortunately most of these typos are forgivable, and no-one pulls me up over them or has yet accused me of illiteracy or poor spelling. Though I still get some words wrong even now.

This is exasperated by the phenomenon that you cannot find the errors in the input box, even th last one in POST REPLY, but see them plain as day after you post the thread. I really dont know why that is. Anyone else have the same problem.


Secondly, dispite my acceptance of typos I have a very low tolerance for deliberate txt speak. Every now and then a new poster turns up and writes a post as if he were inputing it on his mobile phone. I like to be first to reply when I find these types of posts, preferably before anyone answers or responds to th post. My input is always the same, namely:

"If you cannot be bothered to type out a question, why should we be bothered to type out an answer?"

This usually works, so long as i get in there before someone actually does respond to the post. Nine times out of ten it gets rewritten in at least passable English.

Otherwise I completely ignore such posts unless directly addressed or they are quoted by someone else. Besides I have never met a txt'er who isnt an ignoramus anyway.

The next thing to consider are people for whom English is not their native tongue. Some leeway must be given for those board members.

All in all forgive the little mistakes, even if they occur frequently, but if you are living on some planet 'l33t txt'where numbers are free and vowels are outlawed expect to be sneered at.

Smaller errors like spelling mistakes I can forgive, mainly becuase I make such 'polotical' mistakes myself.
It's when people forget capitals and full stops in a forum where coherency is important that I get irked, I don't really get nicked about it if on MSN or Facebook, but even then I type normally.

Not particularly as I'm sure I make more than enough myself. Not everybody took several years of college english and many have to fall back on the lackluster pulbic school systems. I just do what I can and hope people understand what I'm getting at. Also when your on a forum for a hobby played across the globe english isn't going to be everybodies first language.

Can't say it bothers me at all.

My grammar is pretty average and my spelling is getting worse every year, so I try not to get on my high horse when someone else makes a mistake. Sometimes bits of leetspeak bug me, but that's about it.

That said, I do think there is a lot to be said for the effort put into writing with decent grammar. Even with a mistake or two spending the time to format your ideas into sentences and to properly seperate those sentences will not only make it easier to read, it'll generally take the idea from being a stream of consciousness to being a more fully realised argument.

Poor english doesn't usually bother me unless it reaches garret-level density.

And so it begins...

*grabs popcorn*

No not really, because i can't spell! (I love spell check ) As long as you can read it, I don't mind...

The Dreadnote wrote:Poor english doesn't usually bother me unless it reaches garret-level density.

I have to agree with Dreadnote.

Garrets posts are really starting to bug me and I don't want to use the Ignore button for the first time over bad grammar!



I wouldn't mind so much If his spelling was a tad better, but It's getting irritating.

Orlanth wrote:living on some planet 'l33t txt'where numbers are free and vowels are outlawed expect to be sneered at.

It's called the Internet.

1 0wnz Y0u N00bz pl0x 1 1z 1337!!!!1!!11!! 7x7 14ngu4g3 ftw Pl0x.

If you understand that then you spend too much time on the Internet.
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The only thing that really gets to me is nonexistent punctuation. Bad spelling isn't an issue, as its fairly easy for me to cope with the error. But a dearth of commas makes it difficult for me to read quickly, and that bothers me in this format.

I'm not going to lie - it bothers me. This is mostly because I have a mild learning difficulty which causes my concentration to lapse from time-to-time. I am aware of this, and so usually correct any mistakes that I might make. This means it sometimes takes me a little longer to construct my posts.
When I read a poorly-spelt post with non-existent grammar, I usually think 'ugh, moron' and skip over it or mock it, if I'm in 'that' sort of mood. Which is often. I don't want people to think that about me, because I am far from being unintelligent, so I take the time.

So should other people. It's not difficult.

@Orlanth - To be fair mate, most of your posts are fairly long - I think most people would understand if you don't go back and correct EVERY mistake. It certainly doesn't bother me when I read your posts. But there ARE limits, and some people cross those limits to a heinous degree.

Nope not even alittle

Not a twink. And I'm a proofreader.

It does, in Spanish. When I'm reading or listening English I'm not able to know if it's some kind of slang or just an error, most of times.

If you want to experience grammar hell, I recommend the Grade 1 Numeracy book I'm working on. Note, the following has been copied and pasted as-is:

Activity: Counting objects (selection of objects):
Count 4 pencils from the box of pencils, 5 counters from the jar of counters, etc. Teacher fills a big box with different objects and balls. Take out 2/3/4/5 balls from the box. Take out all the balls from the box. Sort the balls into big balls and small balls.

It only really bothers me when there is little/no punctuation in a post; then it becomes impossible to tell what the writer is actually talking about.

My three favourite authors (Donaldson, Banks, Dick) all have very different approaches to punctuation and grammar which just goes to show that there is no real 'right' way of putting the English language into words.

Besides, if you can read the 'Bascule' bits from Iain M Bank's Feersum Endjinn, you should have no trouble with even the most dyslexic of posts:

Bascule wrote:Woak up. Got dresd. Had brekfast. Spoke wif Ergates thi ant who sed itz juss been wurk wurk wurk 4 you lately master Bascule, Y dont you ½ a holiday? & I agreed & that woz how we decided we otter go 2 c Mr Zoliparia in thi I-ball ov thi gargoyle Rosbrith.

It depends on the reason behind it. If it's laziness or ignorance, yes it bugs me. If it's a typo or dyslexia (which is often claimed) I'm cool with it.

I think it just reflects poorly on the poster and invalidates your post on a graduated scale. Most of the time I just picture some kid typing amidst their Justin Bieber posters and Twilight dolls.

I try and proof my posts, before and after posting. It definitely shows up better after it's posted though for some reason...lol

I don't get particularly wound up over it,if I can understand what the poster is attempting to convey, I tend to over look the occasional spelling/gramatical error.
Besides,I've been known to make my share of mistakes whilst banging out some "incrediably important" piece of internet corespondence.

I made this function for the forums to show my love of poor spelling and grammar. There is no place for it on dakka and if you see any that are really bad, use the mod alert button and then we can use the red triangle of doom to send massive warning PMs and eventually instigate automatic temporary bans based on people's inability to improve.

I try not to be overly critical of peoples sentence structure and spelling. Im bad at spelling and rely on the awesome powers of google chromes spell checker. But there is a point you reach where you just cant take it anymore and you want to punch the monitor in hopes that it reaches through the internets, and punches the person in question

legoburner wrote:I made this function for the forums to show my love of poor spelling and grammar. There is no place for it on dakka and if you see any that are really bad, use the mod alert button and then we can use the red triangle of doom to send massive warning PMs and eventually instigate automatic temporary bans based on people's inability to improve.

There is a god!

I dont mind as long as it looks like an effort was made.
I for one cant spell to save my life, and am not that good in the grammar/English dept. Had to take that damn class twice in college >=(

As long as it looks like they tried, and got their point across i dont mind.

If its one long ass unpunctuated block of text, yeah thats annoying.

I have atrocious spelling but am easily annoyed by the misuse of words such as 'there, their, they're' and suchlike. Really it's just because I have to double-take to understand the sentence. I gave up calling people on it long ago and I'm sure one day they will be interchangeable.

Orky-Kowboy wrote:Not a twink. And I'm a proofreader.

The more the better for your job, I suppose.

It annoys me when I see it in the supposedly "quality" newspapers and on the BBC, that sort of thing. if you've been educated to degree level in writing English, you really ought to be able to string a sentence together.

It's a bit sad that people are incapable of using the built-in spell-checker -- so much for modern IT education.

At least it makes my job easier when I come to annual recruitment time. I simply reject all the mis-spelled applications as a first step to reducing the task to manageable proportions.

I notice it, but it doesn't bother me. The one exception is when someone is being holier than thou and lording their knowledge of the English language over someone else. At that point, it is always amusing to use extremely elevated vocabulary and sinister syntax to correct their errors.

Language ought to be about communication. As long as someone is sincerely trying to communicate their thoughts I wouldn't dream of nitpicking any typos.

Gitzbitah wrote:The one exception is when someone is being holier than thou and lording their knowledge of the English language over someone else.

I think you meant to say 'Whom-one else".

i dont mind if its like this

I do rather like it proper, though.

Bu7 1 H8 wh3n p03pl3 74lk l1k3 7h1s