Or do all those "rulz" suk?

 

 

Just wondering, BTW -- no particular reason....

 

I can't use a keyboard for sh*t -- it's "hunt and peck," for me. Of course, that forces me to go slowly, but I almost always read over what I've written, before I post it. Then I read it again. (To a large extent, I guess, that just reflects my education & training, my personality, and likely my generation. Plus, my real name is up there, for all to see -- that also likely makes me care more than some. If you Google my name, you get my writing!) 

 

I am a bit less careful in PMs, though.

 Your "french" needs a capital "F," oh proud Quebecois brother!

 

(There's one grammar mistake too -- but you write and spell English excellently overall, Bern!)

 

 

 

 

It can sometimes be very hard to spell check what you've written. For example, there's no spell checker here but on my emails it underlines words that are wrong even in Greek. Being English, my Greek spelling is not so good but I am learning a lot from the automatic spell checkers and AltaVista translation tools.

 

 

(If you install it, you can check your posts here.)

 

 

 

SLADE <- green slade

 

 (Whereas we horrible people spell well....)

 

I know that, of course! (I was not equating spelling ability with morality, but referring to the first impression it gives.)

 

Like it or not, consistently poor spelling (not a mere typo here and there) creates a negative impression in most readers. (Though I think that concern for spelling is diminishing among the young, thanks to the hurried mode of communication on the web, and the seeming decline in reading as a past-time, in favour of computers and TV.)

 

Imagine a piece of advertising, a resume, or a newspaper that was full of basic spelling errors -- it would hardly lend an air of trustworthiness, attention to detail or credibility to the source!

 

It's sort of like habitual swearing, manners and dress, I think -- it makes an impression, like it or not.

 

 

Doh! 

 

Still, you could try the 6th or 7th choice....

Spelling rules are a tool of the fascist, castrating oppressors, and serve no useful purpose, anyway.

 

cya

 

 

But really, I've grown to hate people that type like that on a regular basis. It's really hard to have a decent conversation on MSN, because after I say "How's it going?", they reply "i m gr8 hw r u???"

 

 

 

It's not cool to be smart anymore.

Nobody's perfect.

But its no big deal, as long as I can understand it, it's alright.

 

Books don't really get a lot of ads, as opposed to movies and TV that get advertised everywhere. People are stupid? Quite possibly.

 

On TV, everything is already done for you -- you just passively "receive." When you read, however -- whether it's  Jackie Collins, Stephen King, Dickens, or Shakespeare -- your brain is very active, and working hard to come up with mental images to accompany the text-- which you have to decode. Even if you're reading stuff with pictures (Archie comics, a motorcycle mag, fashion mag, whatever), you are still being exposed to (generally) proper spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. Whether you are aware of it or not, you are thus becoming a better writer every time you read, and also expanding your vocabulary.

 

Reading, in short, is simply very good for the brain, and very good for your language skills.

 The hurried/lazy "who cares about spelling and grammar" approach to writing on forums and in chat rooms (where most of today's youth do the vast majority of their writing) starts to affect how you write in other, more important places (school, work, etc.) where spelling and grammar, etc., really matter. After seeing or writing it online a hundred times, you start to believe that "alot" is a word, that "the" is spelled "teh," that "u" and "pwnd" are words, and that written language conventions just don't really matter. Used to tossing out knee-jerk, glib, one line responses as quickly as you can type, I also believe you start to lose the ability to converse on a deeper, more careful level. When you don't read much properly-written or challenging stuff, you get a stunted vocabulary, and with limited vocabulary comes limited thinking/problem-solving abilities, and overall poorer communication skills. Poor communication abilities will negatively affect all of your relationships: marital, personal, work, etc.

 

I soooo type like that sometimes

 

O RLY? m33 2!!!11!!1one!!1!!1eleven!!!1!11!1shift+1!!

 

Once again, Peter, you're absolutely right !

 

Still, there is a problem there. When I was in school, I don't remember myself making orthographical mistakes. I'm sure it was because the vast exposure to the books in earlier years (as well as the continuation of reading). Nowadays I begin to feel some uncertaincies in difficult cases in the language, but still, the percentage of mistakes is very low (I hope so...). Of course, I'm speaking of my native language. The problem is that now there are many recently (re)-edited books with enormous number of both typos (by the way, what is the formal English word for "typo"?) and orthographical mistakes, caused by the lack of education of I don't know whom. It means that: a) in order to find a trustful source for the normal language one needs to read only the books edited about 50-25 years ago, not more recent ones; and b) whether you want or you don't, you buy books, and hence you're exposed to this awful text full of mistakes...

 

And, back to the question from my first post: seriously, what is the reason that many people write "definately"? It is strange, because they as if derive this word from "defination", where the problematic(?) syllable is stressed... Why just this word? Why just this way?..

 

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...

 

How about a Slade spell checker......"Cum on feel the noize"!!!

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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!

 

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.

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

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.

 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.

 

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.

 

 Yes I know that, of course, but it was worth stressing.   Note, though that I took care to say look stupid, not just "stupid." (When you translate my spelling, that is!)

 

There are many types of intelligence. English skills would be pretty useless in an open boat on a stormy sea, or lost in the fog -- give me the illiterate, experienced fisherman at the helm every time!