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heyitsthatguy 
Forum Senior Member
Joined: April 17 2006
Location: Washington Hgts
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Points: 10094
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 Posted: September 10 2006 at 11:57 |
Way? 
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VanderGraafKommandöh
Prog Reviewer
Joined: July 04 2005
Location: Malaria
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Points: 89372
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Posted: September 11 2006 at 01:00 |
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Well my English teacher used to always go on about the word "finite", when remembering the word "definite" and it's always stuck in my head. Having said that, I could speel "definite" correctly before he ever taught me English.
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KoS
Forum Senior Member
Joined: May 17 2005
Location: Los Angeles
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Points: 16310
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Posted: September 11 2006 at 01:06 |
 Geck0 wrote:
Well my English teacher used to always go on about the word "finite", when remembering the word "definite" and it's always stuck in my head. Having said that, I could speel "definite" correctly before he ever taught me English.
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Padraic
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Joined: February 16 2006
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Posted: September 11 2006 at 07:42 |
Fassbinder wrote:
(by the way, what is the formal English word for "typo"?) |
Typographical error.
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Fassbinder
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Joined: May 27 2006
Location: My world
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Posted: September 11 2006 at 10:14 |
NaturalScience wrote:
Fassbinder wrote:
(by the way, what is the formal English word for "typo"?) |
Typographical error.
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Thanks.
Well, I wonder now, why such a clip as "ortho" (for orthographical error) isn't in use?
Edit: probably, in order to avoid confusion with "orthodox"-related terms...
Edited by Fassbinder - September 11 2006 at 10:17
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Phil
Forum Senior Member
Joined: June 17 2005
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 1881
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Posted: September 12 2006 at 12:24 |
The trouble with Spell Check is, unless you're careful you get American English instead of "proper" English as spoken by the Queen.
How about a Slade spell checker......"Cum on feel the noize"!!! 
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Falling Flower
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Joined: June 14 2006
Location: Belgium
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Points: 1079
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Posted: September 24 2006 at 06:48 |
I learned my English of crappy American soaps on television so you can't really expect me to write all sophisticated and spell every word correct, because I can't.
In school here we get 1 hour of English per week, and if I learned only that, I would now know how to give directions in English and not much more.
And I'm sure that there are more people like me, so does that make us stupid?
And I find myself rather smart actually, tho I may look stupid to you because I don't use big words and make spelling mistakes.
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Tool makes the butterflies in my tumybox go woooooooosh
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mystic fred
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Posted: September 24 2006 at 07:16 |
Falling Flower wrote:
I learned my English of crappy American soaps on television so you can't really expect me to write all sophisticated and spell every word correct, because I can't.
In school here we get 1 hour of English per week, and if I learned only that, I would now know how to give directions in English and not much more.
And I'm sure that there are more people like me, so does that make us stupid?
And I find myself rather smart actually, tho I may look stupid to you because I don't use big words and make spelling mistakes. |
you will learn more English by participating in this forum than anywhere, FF !! You are definitely not stupid, full credit to you for coming on this site and conversing in English so well  , as to all members who come on here whose first language is not English. Some of the reviews are a bit difficult to follow sometimes but most are very good indeed. Personally i feel ashamed sometimes as i can only speak one language, i would like to learn German, as everybody should learn to speak at least two. when visiting foreign countries i have always taken the trouble to learn SOME of the language of the country i am visiting, if only to show respect.
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 Prog Archives Tour Van 
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Peter
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Posted: September 24 2006 at 11:21 |
Falling Flower wrote:
I learned my English of crappy American soaps on television so you can't really expect me to write all sophisticated and spell every word correct, because I can't.
In school here we get 1 hour of English per week, and if I learned only that, I would now know how to give directions in English and not much more.
And I'm sure that there are more people like me, so does that make us stupid?
And I find myself rather smart actually, tho I may look stupid to you because I don't use big words and make spelling mistakes. |
Sigh.
This poll was written "to the moment," that is, as a response to some very bad spelling in posts by an individual with English as a first language. (To be more specific would perhaps be cruel.) The poll has nothing to do with the use of "big" words.
Obviously, if English is not your first language, then you will struggle more with English spelling and grammar than one born to the language would. This poll is NOT aimed at such people -- don't be so sensitive! 
This is a joke poll (but with an underlying serious message).
BTW, if you think you sometimes struggle with English, you should hear me try to speak Walloon -- or even French! 
Edited by Peter Rideout - September 24 2006 at 11:24
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"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
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Raff
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Joined: July 29 2005
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Posted: September 24 2006 at 11:51 |
Peter Rideout wrote:
This poll was written "to the moment," that is, as a response to some very bad spelling in posts by an individual with English as a first language. (To be more specific would perhaps be cruel.) The poll has nothing to do with the use of "big" words.
Obviously, if English is not your first language, then you will struggle more with English spelling and grammar than one born to the language would. This poll is NOT aimed at such people -- don't be so sensitive!
This is a joke poll (but with an underlying serious message).
BTW, if you think you sometimes struggle with English, you should hear me try to speak Walloon -- or even French! |
My command of English spelling and grammar are probably better than many native speakers' (or at least so I have been told in the past - you can be a better judge than I am, Peter! ), but then I've put a lot of work into that. Moreover, there's something in my nature that makes me dislike sloppy spelling and grammar, even in my own language. I always correct myself when I type, and here I edit posts if I find I've made even a tiny mistake. Perhaps I'm a control freak, but that's the way I've always been.
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condor
Forum Senior Member
Joined: May 24 2005
Location: Norwich
Status: Offline
Points: 1069
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Posted: September 24 2006 at 12:20 |
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Convention for convention's sake restricts any progress or individuality. I only use this outdated, debased, organic grammar & spelling because it is the only system you know and can use. A debate amongst ordinary people and academics is vitally required to plan and restructure the English language. However, like most other important institutions, it will probably be left to the suffocating vagaries of tradition and its assorted outdated meaning.
Even if I wanted to spell correctly (in the real sense), our contemptible alphabet and keyboards do not allow me. And anyone who thinks English spelling is quaint or charming is the kind of person who thinks Chinese girls looked pretty with feet bound so tight they became gangrenous. Our current language is just one of many ways of communicating. Language's popularity has more to do with economic and military power than any intrinsic advantages.
Lastly, the dictionary may have been a regressive invention. It tried to set in stone what always changes: the pronunciation of words.
Edited by condor - September 24 2006 at 12:23
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Peter
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Posted: September 24 2006 at 12:24 |
Ghost Rider wrote:
Peter Rideout wrote:
This poll was written "to the moment," that is, as a response to some very bad spelling in posts by an individual with English as a first language. (To be more specific would perhaps be cruel.) The poll has nothing to do with the use of "big" words.
Obviously, if English is not your first language, then you will struggle more with English spelling and grammar than one born to the language would. This poll is NOT aimed at such people -- don't be so sensitive!
This is a joke poll (but with an underlying serious message).
BTW, if you think you sometimes struggle with English, you should hear me try to speak Walloon -- or even French! |
My command of English spelling and grammar are probably better than many native speakers' (or at least so I have been told in the past - you can be a better judge than I am, Peter!), but then I've put a lot of work into that. Moreover, there's something in my nature that makes me dislike sloppy spelling and grammar, even in my own language. I always correct myself when I type, and here I edit posts if I find I've made even a tiny mistake. Perhaps I'm a control freak, but that's the way I've always been.
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Me too -- and an indication of how poor a typist I am is that few of my posts are without the "edited by Peter Rideout on...." at the bottom. 
Being a perfectionist in this regard was obviously important to my success in university, and remains so for me as an English teacher.
I do think that the web (chat rooms, email, etc.) is eroding spelling and grammatical abilities, by the way. 
I have a Google tool-bar with spell check for when I write here on the forum (for my reviews, I use Word), and I generally use it. It's a free download.
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"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
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Peter
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: January 31 2004
Location: Canada
Status: Offline
Points: 9669
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Posted: September 24 2006 at 21:35 |
condor wrote:
Convention for convention's sake restricts any progress or individuality. I only use this outdated, debased, organic grammar & spelling because it is the only system you know and can use. A debate amongst ordinary people and academics is vitally required to plan and restructure the English language. However, like most other important institutions, it will probably be left to the suffocating vagaries of tradition and its assorted outdated meaning.
Even if I wanted to spell correctly (in the real sense), our contemptible alphabet and keyboards do not allow me. And anyone who thinks English spelling is quaint or charming is the kind of person who thinks Chinese girls looked pretty with feet bound so tight they became gangrenous. Our current language is just one of many ways of communicating. Language's popularity has more to do with economic and military power than any intrinsic advantages.
Lastly, the dictionary may have been a regressive invention. It tried to set in stone what always changes: the pronunciation of words.
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wel sed! ^ th revolushun!
an u'd b suprizd wat i cn rd! 
Pronunciation and meaning have changed, & are changing. It it spelling that is more fixed. There is no urgent "restructuring" needed -- language changes over time anyway.
The word "knight" was formerly pronounced "ki - nig - it," for example.
Sorry if I suffocated you. 
Edited by Peter Rideout - September 24 2006 at 21:37
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"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
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Leningrad
Forum Senior Member
Joined: August 15 2006
Location: Canada
Status: Offline
Points: 7991
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Posted: September 25 2006 at 00:07 |
Peter Rideout wrote:
Pronunciation and meaning have changed, & are changing. It it spelling that is more fixed. There is no urgent "restructuring" needed -- language changes over time anyway.
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I can see wizzy you mean so you betta run and grab yo glock. wittall tha lame new playa out, tha language may, sadly, be sum-m sum-m like...well, this.
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tardis
Forum Senior Member
Joined: October 02 2005
Location: Victoria, BC
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Points: 14378
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Posted: September 25 2006 at 00:13 |
My vote: Did you do lots of acid back in the day, sir?
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Jim Garten
Special Collaborator
Retired Admin & Razor Guru
Joined: February 02 2004
Location: South England
Status: Offline
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Posted: September 25 2006 at 07:56 |
Further to previous posts regarding spell checking systems, I thought I'd share this little nugget with you from the (relatively) early days of the computerised office:
One company I worked for had a computer system with an inbuilt spell-check facility for letter writing/note taking; this function was automatic, and led to our having to refrain from using one of our most common abbreviations - the word "customer" used to be shortened to "cust"... which the system automatically changed to a similar 4 letter word which was in its dictionary, and correct in the context of a sentence.
Although we may have agreed upon occasion with the 'corrected' word, we had to be damned careful at times
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Jon Lord 1941 - 2012
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Peter
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Joined: January 31 2004
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Posted: September 25 2006 at 09:04 |
tardis wrote:
My vote: Did you do lots of acid back in the day, sir?
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Yeah, a kid actually asked me that in the middle of a class on Romeo and Juliet. He raised his hand, I thought "wow -- I've inspired one of them to ask a question!" and he asked that. I did not "dignify it with an answer." (Of course, they all took that as a "yes.")
All of those silly questions are real, & from my HS teaching days. 
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"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
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Visitor13
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Location: Poland
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Posted: September 25 2006 at 14:25 |
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Poor spelling certainly made Yeats, Einstein, Da Vinci, Agatha Christie and Richard Branson look stupid.
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Peter
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Posted: September 25 2006 at 19:17 |
^ Well, Yeats, Einstein and Christie would have had editors. (A human forerunner of spell check software.)
Branson I don't know -- Virgin Records? He'd have a secretary.
Da Vinci? Hadn't heard that of him, perhaps so -- but I can't read medieval Italian.
Anyway, the poll targets consistently "really poor spelling" (sic), and some particular posts I've read here from some seeming English speakers -- one in particular.
More than anything though, it's a cry for the simple use of spell check by those who post consistently garbled, near-unintelligible stuff here.
It's not targeting the average Joe or Jane, or any who weren't born into the language.
Plus, it's meant to make you chuckle....
Edited by Peter Rideout - September 25 2006 at 19:19
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"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
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Fassbinder
Forum Senior Member
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Joined: May 27 2006
Location: My world
Status: Offline
Points: 3497
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Posted: September 25 2006 at 19:31 |
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I have a huge problem. Honestly, I can hardly stand any error, especially orthographical ones (of course, I'm speaking here about the native language use). But let us imagine the text full of "orthos" but still readable and understandable. In such cases I just fail to find arguments against those who say: "Hey, what do you want? Can you understand the text (or the message)? That's enough!!!" I'm "boiling" but the only sensible objection I can made is the aesthetical one... which is, obviously, not sufficient...
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