Spelling - does it matter on The Forum?

[Lee]

No
No
No
No
No
No
No

I do this while at work and do it quckly adn wiv out cheking vot i wright

So NO

Anyone that does care can bogger ofF, hehe

Lee

[Clive Long]

OK 'satrarmase' !! Where are the spelling mistakes ??


Heather.

Hmmmmm ....

I'll build on that.

What do I mean when I write the word "confusculate"?


CRL

[Msfab]

Life is too short to worry about incorrect spelling.

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it denos't mtater in waht oredr the ltetres in a wrod are, the olny iprnoatmt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.
Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

[David Bailey]

OK 'satrarmase' !! Where are the spelling mistakes ??


Heather.

Well, Stewart didn't specify spelling mistakes, just mistakes. If I were reviewing this text:

Reading this totally irritates me!!!!!
What a pile of 'sihte' to utilise the above example of bad spelling
I agree with Mr McGregor spelling is important.
Grammar is important.
Those primary children on 'The Hard Spell' or whatever it was called, on TV during the holidays would put many a Forum member to shame.

Heather,
x

I'd say you had four extraneous exclamation marks, one missing full-stop after "spelling", one missing "that" after McGregor, the deliberate "sihte", one missing comma after holidays, and one extraneous comma after "Heather", makes 6. If you count each extra "!" as 1, that in fact works out as 9. And I'm still waiting for my prize.

The point I'm trying to make is that anyone can find errors in any post, given a sufficiently-high level of pedantry.

The only significant errors are those which lead to ineffective communications.
And yes, spelling mistakes can lead to significant errors of this type, but so can a lot of other things.

And focussing on spelling to the exclusion of effectiveness is taking the easy way out - as judging effectiveness requires, well, judgement.

[Andy McGregor]

I'd say you had four extraneous exclamation marks, one missing full-stop after "spelling", one missing "that" after McGregor, the deliberate "sihte", one missing comma after holidays, and one extraneous comma after "Heather", makes 6. If you count each extra "!" as 1, that in fact works out as 9. And I'm still waiting for my prize.

The point I'm trying to make is that anyone can find errors in any post, given a sufficiently-high level of pedantry.

The only significant errors are those which lead to ineffective communications.
And yes, spelling mistakes can lead to significant errors of this type, but so can a lot of other things.

And focussing on spelling to the exclusion of effectiveness is taking the easy way out - as judging effectiveness requires, well, judgement.

I believe that the spelling mistakes of Gadget are due to lazyness and a little bit of his belief that his spelling shows his particular character

Spelling mistakes show you make mistakes with your spelling. They can result in ineffective communication and, in these days of spelcheck etc, they can be avoided. Therefore it in nobody's fault but your own if your spelling is incorrect. And it is nobody's fault but your own if people notice your bad spelling ...

[ducasi]

The point I'm trying to make is that anyone can find errors in any post, given a sufficiently-high level of pedantry.

I disagree.

[ducasi]

I disagree.

[David Bailey]

I disagree.

There should be a small "h" in the first "Here" of your sig.

[ducasi]

There should be a small "h" in the first "Hear" of your sig.

First it says "Here", not "Hear", the first "h" is small, and the part in brackets is the next line in the lyrics, and so will usually start with a capital letter...

[David Bailey]

First it says "Here", not "Hear"

See - easy, isn't it?

I win!

[ducasi]

See - easy, isn't it?

I win!

So you can find errors, but it doesn't matter if they are imagined? OK...

[Heather]

It's obviously OK for people like Stewart 38 to criticize people for mistakes that he himself has made in his own posts. Notably, the use of two exclamation marks in post #42 of this very thread.
A case of the pot calling the kettle black, perhaps?


Heather

[bigdjiver]

I am interested in ideas and opinions. The quality of presentation is a very secondary consideration. Language evolves, and error is one component of evolution. Txt speak is going to happen.

[Gadget]

Cor, lots of discussion.

A few things I would like to point out about my initial post...
- I wrote and posted about the topic in question, then gave my views on it as my own views. "Spelling" was posted as the topic to discuss and debate - Not my spelling in particular: apologies if I was unclear on that.

- I am not the only "sinner" (and only rated as the 'worst' due to long term exposure). I stand and take the flack because however unjustified I feel it may be, I cannot deny the truth behind the fact that my spelling is... more 'creative' than most

- The post and poll options were intended to be ironic and humorous (They made me smile anyway)

Since my views on it seem to have became target for public chastisement, I feel some further explanation should be forthcoming on why I have come to my stance on the topic:
Andy was partially correct in his analysis of the psyche behind my attitude to spelling - I don't really care about it. {shhh... he never reads past the first paragraph of my posts, so if you don't tell him he'll never know }
The story begins in early childhood...

Reading in school came quite easily to me. Forming the letters and joining them all up was just drawing, and I was good at that. Getting them in the right order was a nightmare. All my school books were a mass of red pen correcting spelling errors. Secondary school was the same, no matter what the subject. I am neither proud or ashamed of this: it was a fact. I transposed letters and digits all the time (especially in maths - and that made it really hard)
My higher english teacher told me something that lifted a huge burden: "Spelling is not that important; what examiners are looking for is how you construct sentences, how you present your text, the way you use the language and what you have to say. " I could do that. And did. And it worked.

What most folks fail to realise is that I do actually catch the majority of spelling errors before they are posted. But some I simply cannot see. Some I miss. Some I am sure are wrong, but turn out to be correct. I miss-read things easily {These vans with "shoplifter" on the side of them had me worried for a while } and often missread an incorrect spelling as if it is correct. It is part of me.
As I have said before: the forum is chatting in the pub with some mates about something we are all passionate about. There are no posh hats, cloth napkins and raised pinkeys - Here I can kick back, relax, have fun and join in some friendly banter. I like to think of everyone here are friends, and I would hope for their tollerance and forgiveness. After all, that's what friends do... otherwise Shreck is a meaningless film

My not using a spell check is about as far from being a 'slur' or 'dissrespectfull' to any reader as you can get. I am comfortable and confident enough in everyone's company that I feel no pressure to be anything other than myself. to all the contributers and long may it continue.

[ducasi]

The story begins in early childhood...

Reading in school came quite easily to me. Forming the letters and joining them all up was just drawing, and I was good at that. Getting them in the right order was a nightmare. All my school books were a mass of red pen correcting spelling errors. Secondary school was the same, no matter what the subject. I am neither proud or ashamed of this: it was a fact. I transposed letters and digits all the time (especially in maths - and that made it really hard)
My higher english teacher told me something that lifted a huge burden: "Spelling is not that important; what examiners are looking for is how you construct sentences, how you present your text, the way you use the language and what you have to say. " I could do that. And did. And it worked.

What most folks fail to realise is that I do actually catch the majority of spelling errors before they are posted. But some I simply cannot see. Some I miss. Some I am sure are wrong, but turn out to be correct. I miss-read things easily {These vans with "shoplifter" on the side of them had me worried for a while } and often missread an incorrect spelling as if it is correct. It is part of me.

This is screaming out "dyslexia" to me...

So, Gadget, are you dyslexic?

[David Franklin]

Andy was partially correct in his analysis of the psyche behind my attitude to spelling - I don't really care about it.

In which case, the question I have to ask is why is your spelling (typing) so much better than it used to be? Two years ago, you often appeared to be DiCoaK (Drunk in Charge of a Keyboard) - it didn't look like you couldn't spell - it looked like you couldn't type. If yuio kown waht I meam? Whereas I rarely notice you make a mistake these days.

{shhh... he never reads past the first paragraph of my posts, so if you don't tell him he'll never know }

If I can suggest something: I think the forum isn't the easiest place to read long posts. Something I find helps is using lots of white space. When you put your paragraphs immediately below each other (as you did in your previous post), it all starts looking like one long meandering stream of consciousness with nowhere obvious to take a breath.

As I have said before: the forum is chatting in the pub with some mates about something we are all passionate about. Here I can kick back, relax, have fun and join in some friendly banter.

People use the pub analogy, but it is only an analogy. In the pub, do you often stand up and make a 10 minute speech to the entire audience? And if you did, and you wanted people to pay attention, do you think it would work better if you planned what you wanted to say before hand and spoke clearly, or if you rambled and slurred your words?

Obviously different writing styles can be appropiate, depending on what you have to say. If you only write a sentence in txt spk, it may irritate me, but it's not a big deal. But if you write a full page in txt spk, there is very little chance I'm going to read past the first line or two.

[MartinHarper]

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. (etc)

Another way of showing respect for others is to read their posts before posting your own pearls of wisdom.

[Lee]

Another way of showing respect for others is to read their posts before posting your own pearls of wisdom.

I think another way of showing respect for others is to read their posts before posting your own pearls of wisdom.

Lee

[LMC]

Oh good, that means I can save myself loads of time if I want to say something stupid as usual

[Rachel]

Not adding a huge amount to the debate, but just my opinion ...

Bad spelling, grammar and punctuation really bug me in work or formal situations but, like TiggsTours, I know I'm rather too anal on this.

Informally, such as on the forum, it doesn't bother me so much - and I rather like some of the Gadgetisms I see ...

However, I can only read the forum at work and have to skim read threads quickly. So if something is not immediately clear because of the way it's written, it means I just don't bother to read it at all.

Rachel

Edited to correct my spelling of TiggsTours - sorry!