Spelling - does it matter on The Forum?

[Gadget]

Recently there have been several digs about my spelling (or lack thereof) and the view has been expressed that it is just lazy, rude and disrespectful to miss-spell, use incorrect grammar and bad punctuation. There is no excuse for it and it shows a lack of thoughtfulness towards every other forum member.

My view is that if you are intelligent enough to recognise a spelling error, then you know the word that was intended. If you know the word that was intended, then syntax, content, meaning and communication remain intact.
Does the transposition of two letters or the use of the incorrect vowel or a slop of the fingers {} detract from the content?

When posting on this forum, you are talking to friends. (and some fiends ) Think on how your voice and language change when you are answering the phone - the "posh voice" is soon replaced by a more relaxed and 'sloppy' way of speaking. You're not writing a thesis, doctrine, speech, report, book, ... or any other formal document. You are chatting among friends.

When talking, do you never slur, make Freudian slaps, trip over your own tongue, have to repeat yourself, mumble, stutter...And this is going from brain to mouth at the speed of thought! On here you have to go from thought to words to letters to position on keyboard to hitting the right keys - and while doing that, be thinking on the next word. Lots of places to screw up.


{BTW the 'no' options above assume that meaning is not lost by inappropriate use of spelling, grammar, punctuation or smlilies. It's a multiple tic - but please don't tick both the yes and no options for the same thing.}

[pjay]

{BTW the 'no' options above assume that meaning is not lost by inappropriate use of spelling, grammar, punctuation or smlilies. It's a multiple tic - but please don't tick both the yes and no options for the same thing.}

Given this assumption, I vote no to all...

I think that the purpose of spelling is to communication a meaning, and if that meaning is communicated regardless of spelling then the spelling is not important.

In saying this I do think that spelling, grammar and so forth are important and if one were to watch the way that I type and the number of corrections that I make, then you'd probably believe this (I think the delete key is the most used on my keyboard, or at least a close second to the spacebar).

So I think it's worth putting in effort to spelling and I think it does show respect - in the same way that arriving on time shows respect. But I also recognise that writing a post on this sort of forum is a more social interaction than some other forms of writing, so I'm not going to get upset about people making small mistakes here and there.

I think the spelling becomes vital when it changes the meaning... I once saw a person accidentally swap an 'u' for an 'a'.... in this particular case the implications where huge. The person was a project manager and he had inadvertantly changed a required delivery date from "Jan" to "Jun" (I'm not convinced the customer would be very happy about this).

[Heather]

Recently there have been several digs about my spelling (or lack thereof) and the view has been expressed that it is just lazy, rude and disrespectful to miss-spell, use incorrect grammar and bad punctuation. There is no excuse for it and it shows a lack of thoughtfulness towards every other forum member.

My view is that if you are intelligent enough to recognise a spelling error, then you know the word that was intended. If you know the word that was intended, then syntax, content, meaning and communication remain intact.
Does the transposition of two letters or the use of the incorrect vowel or a slop of the fingers {} detract from the content?

When posting on this forum, you are talking to friends. (and some fiends ) Think on how your voice and language change when you are answering the phone - the "posh voice" is soon replaced by a more relaxed and 'sloppy' way of speaking. You're not writing a thesis, doctrine, speech, report, book, ... or any other formal document. You are chatting among friends.

When talking, do you never slur, make Freudian slaps, trip over your own tongue, have to repeat yourself, mumble, stutter...And this is going from brain to mouth at the speed of thought! On here you have to go from thought to words to letters to position on keyboard to hitting the right keys - and while doing that, be thinking on the next word. Lots of places to screw up.


{BTW the 'no' options above assume that meaning is not lost by inappropriate use of spelling, grammar, punctuation or smlilies. It's a multiple tic - but please don't tick both the yes and no options for the same thing.}

I'm getting used to your bad spelling Gadget!! Or maybe I'm becoming more 'tolerant'
My pet hate at the moment is 'textspeak'. I can't make head nor tail of it!
I can excuse the occasional misspelt word , because as you say in your post, I do know the word that was intended.
However, texting is a completely different thing altogether, it's purpose is for sending text messages, not for writing or replying to theads !!
It is extremely difficult to read, and in my opinion ( which may or may not be that of anyone else) just means that the person is too lazy, or can't be bothered to make the effort to write out a proper message!!!!
I also hate the abbreviations ie: IMHO etc as I usually haven't a clue what they mean and this often means I don't get the correct intention/meaning of what the writer intended!
After that rant, I am now off to work to teach primary 5 some SPELLING and GRAMMAR !!! ( At which some of them are infinitely better than some of the people on this Forum)


Heather,
X

[Andy McGregor]

This poll is emotionally charged and Gadget is making it difficult to vote yes without it being insulting. I've fixed that in this poll.

[Andy McGregor]

In his post at the top of this thread Gadget has proved to us that he can spell. So why doesn't he.

As I've said before. Correct spelling and punctuation are there to aid effective communication. If something is spelt badly or written badly it requires a great deal of effort to decipher the authors intended meaning. And many people will give up. Especially if the post is a very long one. Gadget writes very long posts and they contain many spelling errors. This means his posts are hard work to read. He's asking us to tolerate is spelling. I'm asking him to make his posts easier for us to read.

[David Franklin]

On here you have to go from thought to words to letters to position on keyboard to hitting the right keys - and while doing that, be thinking on the next word. Lots of places to screw up.

Which is why God invented the backspace key.

For any but the most trivial posts, I check and edit what I've written before I post. I figure if I'm expecting other people to read it, the least I can do is read it through myself.

Now the odd typo or misspelling in a post really doesn't bother me (as long as it's not in the title ), but when it starts feeling like I'm solving one of those puzzles from the Da Vinci code it does get a little irritating.

To be fair, I don't find your posts particularly bad on the spelling front these days - I think you've improved a lot since a couple of years ago. Your reputation for innovative speeling stems mainly from that time, I think.

[Missy D]

Me and Sister Dees spelling, grammar etc I know is really bad. I blame it on the weird way we were taught english in school. We learnt a method called ITA. Not sure what the purpose of this was but, it certainly buggered up our education. I went to 5 different primary schools in which all taught english in very different ways. The spelling of my name even varied. Dawn in some schools (especially the ITA learning school) was spelt 'Dorn'. What chance did i have of making an english professor.

I do try my hardest and despite my spelling etc I hope that i do get my point across.

[Lory]

Bad spelling doesn't really bother me, I can find it highly amusing sometimes but bad punctuation is another thing entirely, it can change the whole meaning of a post.

There are times, when I've had to read something through several times, before I can get the gist of it.

But, as long as I can understand what the person 'means,' I'm OK with it.

[Barry Shnikov]

Which is why God invented the backspace key.

Wow. You have to admire His attention to detail.

[philsmove]

......
My view is that if you are intelligent enough to recognise a spelling error, then you know the word that was intended. If you know the word that was intended, then syntax, content, meaning and communication remain intact.

[David Franklin]

Wow. You have to admire His attention to detail.

What more proof do you need for Intelligent Design?

[El Salsero Gringo]

Hey, if bad spelling winds up Andy McGeggor, I'm going to tri it.

[LMC]

BOTH my parents were English teachers, I'm a trained proof-reader and a PA.

So I tend to forget about all that or I'd go nuts. As long as I can understand what's being communicated, that's the important thing, although some "constant" errors get to me on occasion (see Pedants' Corner if you really care - I can't even be a*sed to link to it because I'm in a good and non-picky mood today).

Textspeak or ALL CAPS should be avoided because they are difficult to read.

I don't care about smilies really, but sometimes wince at very large and bright fonts (mainly because it makes it blindingly obvious that I'm not working).

Actually, cancel that about my mood... I can't believe I've just spent three minutes typing this message on something which I normally consider really really trivial - I'm off to get a cup of tea and have a nice little sulk.

[MartinHarper]

Does the transposition of two letters or the use of the incorrect vowel or a slop of the fingers {} detract from the content?

Errors make posts harder to read, which detracts from the content.
If someone cares about her readers, she should write clear posts.

[Whitebeard]

If someone cares about her readers, she should write clear posts.

What about we (or even wee) fellers; or are we a lost cause.

[Whitebeard]

In his post at the top of this thread Gadget has proved to us that he can spell. So why doesn't he.

He obviously put his post through the spell-checker; which no doubt vastly improved on his draft. But a few words which are valid in their spelling, but wrong in their context, betray his secret.

[pjay]

So what about this research then????

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is that the frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe

I've also come across research that suggested that the first letter followed by a series of verticle lines to an appropriate height was also enough for people to read - but I don't have any links for this...

[Andy McGregor]

So what about this research then????



I've also come across research that suggested that the first letter followed by a series of verticle lines to an appropriate height was also enough for people to read - but I don't have any links for this...

This proves it important to get the first and last letters correct. Maybe Gadget could start to do that

[MartinHarper]

I've also come across research that suggested that the first letter followed by a series of verticle lines to an appropriate height was also enough for people to read - but I don't have any links for this...

Txhxexrxex ixsx ax dxixfxfxexrxexnxcxex bxextxwxexexnx ax pxoxsxtx txhxaxtx ixtx ixsx pxoxsxsxixbxlxex txox dxexcxoxdxex, axnxdx oxnxex txhxaxtx ixsx cxlxexaxrx axnxdx exaxsxyx txox rxexaxdx.

Wouldn't you agree?

[pjay]

Txhxexrxex ixsx ax dxixfxfxexrxexnxcxex bxextxwxexexnx ax pxoxsxtx txhxaxtx ixtx ixsx pxoxsxsxixbxlxex txox dxexcxoxdxex, axnxdx oxnxex txhxaxtx ixsx cxlxexaxrx axnxdx exaxsxyx txox rxexaxdx.

Wouldn't you agree?

Actually I found that that one wasn't too bad really... yes it is slower to read, but then sometimes I think we'd benefit from slowing down a touch..

Ieneteeereeeseteienegeleye Ie teheieneke iefe yeoeue weaenete teoe meaekeee iete heaerede teoe reeeaede tereye peueteteienege iene seoemeee meoereee ceoememeoene leeeteteeerese.

I found that witin about half the sentence my mind was skipping the x's or perhaps I was just assuming that I knew what the rest of the sentence said.