(Spelling?) rant on forums

Rick Stirling

I type like a spastic, and often make spelling mistakes. Thankfully the new preview option allows me to notice most of them.

Anyway, after trawling around forums for the last few weeks (end of project slackness) I have noticed that quite a lot of people dont know how to spell.

What they do is type an approximation of the word, then put (spelling?) after it.

This irks me more than someone who just doesnt know how to spell. These people have enough intelligence to consider for second that they don't know the spelling. Then they take the time to point out that they are unsure of the spelling.

Why don't they use the power of TEH INTERWEB to check the spelling? It wouldn't take much longer and then they would have increased their vocabulary. Hell, Google even has a spellchecker built in.

Ok, I'm calmer now. I'm off to play pool.

kleinluka

I like cows

MoP

I agree, Rick. It is just a general lack of effort, I think. It's acceptable for non-native English-speakers to do that, I reckon - but otherwise it's plain lazy.

www.dictionary.com

bearkub

I agree to an extent. I usually use the (sp?) on proper names or places and, more than likely, use it when I am in a hurry. So yah, I admit it is a bit lazy. What does annoy me is abbreviating words that are already only like 3-5 letters long. Just spend the extra couple seconds to hit the damn keys!

JBoskma

There are quiet a lot of foreign people on the forums too Rick

KDR_11k

What annoys me most is "u". When I read "u" instead of "you" somewhere I file that as childish.

As for spelling correction, especially with latin words some people are so far off that any attempt at autocorrecting their spelling would result in a completely different word...

bearkub

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There are quiet a lot of foreign people on the forums too Rick

[/ QUOTE ]

this is true too.


wht do u hav 2 say about that Rick!?1111!

Rick Stirling

On my recent forum excursions I would say that foreign people speak better english than many native english speakers.

Mojo2k

I have been speaking online to a Chinese girl for the past few weeks. She speaks much better english than i do! But its cool, She's awesometastic in almost every way.

I think most of my screwing up is due to accident, "teh" but i will freely admit i am no where near great at spelling or grammar.

ElysiumGX

My english and spellin ain't two good some times.
I should maybe do more readin of them books.

KDR_11k

Rule of thumb: Someone who tends to mix up phonetically similar or identical words (their/they're, for example) is most likely a native speaker.

Michael Knubben

[ QUOTE ]
On my recent forum excursions I would say that foreign people speak better english than many native english speakers.

[/ QUOTE ]
This is true, and also, most sad.
I've read some livejournals of native brits (and americans, to a lesser extent), and the mistakes they make (which, by the way, are not just a typo, because they do it ALL the time) make me cringe... and i'm not just talking about one or two persons, i'm talking about loads and loads of brits and americans that JUST CAN'T BLOODY SPELL.

They manage to misspell words like "library" and "honestly", but they also switch around than and then, which is perfectly acceptable for non-native speakers, but you'd think they'd have learned these things in - you know - school?

Kevin Johnstone

You are a sad frustrated little man now and then aren't you Rick ?

All the problems of the world and periodically you start ranting again because the thoughtless spelling of the majority is not as refined as it could be heh

I mean seriously, what will incur your ire next eh? ' If only more people would tuck their shirts into their pants, we'd all get colds less!' ?

Rick Stirling

Things irk me I'm just cranky cos we've had nowt to do for 3 weeks.

It wasnt the spelling that irked me, it was the fact that people knew they were spelling wrongly and pointed out that they were spelling wrongly. They were bothered enough to point out that they might be wrong without trying to fix it.

frosty

Spelling? Yes it is irritating. But hell to know you spelled it wrong and take the time to spell it out that it may be wrong, shakes head. I am guilty as charged in many instances of shortening a word, like attn. or other abbreviations/deviations. I also am completely stupid in some instances and plead ignorance to possessive nouns and shite like that.
To me MS Word has destroyed my abilities as well as regular brain damage. I was a pretty decent speller in my time, but I had to struggle in English Literature to get an A minus. What gets me is the obvious mistakes, like: teh raeson for this setnance is ot show hwo you can raed wierd words nad still correct htem.

Now did you see how you can still read that sentence? Really weird huh. The human mind can reconstruct flip-flops or dyslexic typing in seconds. I can deal more with the above sentence than that crap like: I like u 4 the 4 play -n- 4 the way u 8 last nite!
But Sal_Manilla still corrupted me on prolly, I hate writing: I remember so I use I recall.
And I promise to stop using cos instead of because.

Funny at the Silent Forums Rick, I think some of the best grammar students there are the members from Sweden or Canada. We all should try harder though, I agree with that.

adam

I make a mistake once in awhile - particularily on #md and its usually pointed out by IIID. Anyway, the mistakes I *hate* are when people say "you're" as YOUR... and use it in sentence like, "OMG YOUR STUPID!".

Twits.

EDIT: I try and type/spell to the best of my ability when on the internet as its where I spend most of my time putting sentences together. That way, when I go to write anything on paper I'm not using "U" for "you", etc.

Frankie

Frankie says; relax!

KDR_11k

frosty: The first and last letter have to be in place for that to work and even then, if the reader encounters a word he does not read often it can take a while to figure it out.

joolz8000

to, too, two
their, there, they're
your, you're

I don't mind bad spelling so much as these errors. Maybe we need a sticky thread.

Daz

Agreed. I too am often a sloppy speller. But there is simply nothing more annoying in this world than a lack of understanding of the difference between 'your' and 'you're', 'there' and 'their'. Technically speaking not spelling but grammatical errors of course.

I see it constantly and it irks the heck out of me.

Actually, people that whistle through their teeth. That's probably a bit more annoying.

sundance

fingernails on a blackboard is more annoying than a few people who can't spell.

i usually make a goof, realise and go back and change it.

KeyserSoze

[ QUOTE ]
frosty: The first and last letter have to be in place for that to work and even then, if the reader encounters a word he does not read often it can take a while to figure it out.

[/ QUOTE ]

And it's also possible for two words to have the same first and last letters while at the same time having the same middle letters; such as 'weird' and 'wired.'

Daz

While were at it, lets clear this up once and for all!

Poll: Plural 'polygons' = 'polys' or 'polies'?!

Now, arguably 'polies' is correct in the same way that 'doggies', 'titties' and 'lorries' is. But it just does not look right to me! I always read it as 'pole-ees' It just bugs me written that way!

vanilla

ctl+T (opens new tab), type D <insertwordyoudontknowhowtospellhere>, Enter.

Firefox keyword dictionary shortcut rules.

TomDunne

Traditional English grammar would require the -ie substitution for the plural of a noun ending in -y, but poly as we use it is atypical. Basically, it's not really a word as far as the 'official' language goes; it's generally a prefix. You won't find the word poly itself as a noun in the dictionary, but rather just the poly- prefix listing or as an abbreviation for other words (polymer, for instance). For us, poly also began as an abbreviation (polygon, obviously), but usage has more or less redefined the word as it's own entity beyond just abbreviating. Polygon literally just means "many angles", but we've recast the new word poly to specifically mean a virtual two-dimensional, three-sided plane. While it has an obvious origin, our creating this term via common usage also allows for us to determine what is the appropriate grammar. So, polys as the plural of poly is fine, since it's the way we've opted to create it. This sort of thing has happened all the time through the history of our language - it's the reason we don't have gooses and mouses and sheeps and any other oddball exception you can think off that defies the normal convention.

Goddamn, I'm a language nerd. In summary, polys is fine because we've made it that way as that usage is more commonly accepted than polies.

Daz

Yeah what he said

;-p

frosty

Vermilion you know a bunch of weird stuff.

Other deviations is like in the oilfield we had: Kickout Dogs, Catwalks, Catlines,
the Crow’s Nest, Frac Job, Doghouse (which is the sleeping quarters or break trailer)
Rod-Fingers, Hydraulic Tongs, Tubing tongs, Rod Tongs, CatsTail, Mousetraps.

Thanks for the rant Rick I am writing better already, even at work.

Ryno

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crap like: I like u 4 the 4 play -n- 4 the way u 8 last nite!


[/ QUOTE ]

Oh god. This just kills me when I see this garbage too. When did netslang gibberish become so frigging cool? The intentional disregard for the language is just juvenile and annoying.

The only time that anything of this sort is acceptable to me is if you are actively playing a game, and don't have time to spell things out because you need to keep shooting. So, while playing, things like "gg" for good game, "plz" for please, "gs" for good shot, etc. are just marginally acceptable, due to the circumstances. But otherwise, please spell correctly and try not to abbreviate excessively, or I'll just think that you are a little slow and ignorant. Of course if you really are slow and ignorant, then by all means abbreviate and massacre the language as much as you like.

frosty

I have always envisioned a future universal language based on macros or symbols and an elimination of repetitive sylables and double letters, like double l’s or two n in Glenn.
Gheez I am sounding almost as weird as Vermilion now.

oXYnary

For my defense. I usually mispell so bad, that dictionaries or autocheckers don't understand what I mean. Has nothing to do with "lazy".

TomDunne

[ QUOTE ]
Vermilion you know a bunch of weird stuff.

[/ QUOTE ]

Heh - you've no idea, you guys just get the tip of the iceberg here. I actually don't watch the television show Jeopardy anymore because I can't help screaming the answers at the screen. I don't know if information addiction is a legitimate condition, but I've been known to take random encyclopedia volumes with me into the bathroom to ride out a monster crap - never know what you might learn while grinding one out! Alas, most of the stuff I know isn't terribly useful for anything except handing people their asses in Trivial Pursuit, but if you need someone to tell you what year the Normans invaded England or when the attempted Mongol invasions of Japan occured, I'm your man

jack_blackSISCO

Certainly its understandable to be upset with this if the spelling errors are so bad you cannot under stand them but if is your simple "teh" and " adn" and "yuo" and crap like that, I think people here are smart enough to read between the line. Sure, we should not ahv eto, but complaining about the small parts of it are never going to change anything either. I am the Master of Spelling error. i am ragged on All the time here. Personally, Its mostly me just typing really fast while at work and getting back to work after the post. And, lazyness is definatly a factor of it, and sometimes i just don't even see it after a proof read.

Well if you got through this post with ease even omogst teh bad spelling then your A-okay. If you did not. then thats my sorry ass spelling at work and a prime example to this reasoning.

TomDunne

[ QUOTE ]
For my defense. I usually mispell so bad, that dictionaries or autocheckers don't understand what I mean. Has nothing to do with "lazy".

[/ QUOTE ]

In your defense, "mispell" is one of the most commonly misspelled words people write, so no points off for that one

jack_blackSISCO

pro3dartist24@hotmail.com Feel free to have a conversation with me on MSN. You have no idea had bed my spelling really is untill you talk to me.

Daz

Oh weve got an idea allright.

;-P

jack_blackSISCO

Daz......Noooo Idea

TomDunne

Well, since you've already admitted that laziness is a major reason your writing is so bad, I personally have very little inclination to talk to you. I don't want to slam you as has become sort of the trend, Tubboy - instead, I'm going to give you something in the nature of advice:

When you write a forum post, you're writing for others rather than yourself - these aren't notes scribbled on a Post-It with your grocery list, this is communication with other people, people who expect to be treated with a level of respect. But the implication to me is that you don't think we're worth the effort it would take you to even write clearly. If you value and respect other readers here, it's up to you to make that effort. Imagine trying to hold a conversation with someone who just sort of mumbles his replies while watching TV or playing a game, obviously not paying attention to you. Beyond disrespectful, it's damn near insulting and quite likely to piss you off that this someone doesn't feel you're worth looking up from his game to bother dealing with. That's what most of your posts look like to me, at least. If you make spelling errors sometimes, that's fine - I'm obviously a fanatic about proper English and the like, but I make typos I don't catch all the time. But I still make the effort to communicate clearly with others, and put the energy into communicating with them that I want them to put into it with me. If you just wanna quickly jot some shit down and throw it out there, so be it, but you can't act surprised when shit comes back at you in return. I don't think this one thing explains away all of how you're received here at Polycount, but it certainly doesn't help.

jack_blackSISCO

ah well, thanks for your advise man, I know you mean well. I'm just trying to vioce my opinion.
Thanks dude.

TomDunne

No problem. Just so you know, I'm not saying that you are deliberately being that way when you write, just that it can look that way, and what others see is often the only thing that matters with regards to how people treat each other.

KDR_11k

Information addiction <i>is</i> a legitimate condition. I don't know much about it since a friend told me about it but you can get addicted to the stuff released when you learn new information. I guess I got that, too.

TNSLB

What totally irks me is this lady I work with now. She's so ignorant, you can tell she's never read a book. She sent me an email yesterday about how we need to 'differ' the PO to Credit. I had to stare at it for a good 5 minutes before I figured out she meant defer. Which also wasn't the correct word, but was close enough that I got the gist. Which brings me to her favourite one - she says 'the just of the matter is this..'...not gist. JUST. Drives me nutso and I've only been there 2 weeks.

MoP

Tins: Secretly post her a dictionary through the mail. Then if she still says "just of the matter", secretly hit her on the head with a dictionary.

sundance

buy her that book 'eats, shoots and leaves'...

Daz

Thats funny TNSLB. My mum always says 'well, its part of the course'. I've never quite had the heart to tell her the correct meaning or wording since she's been saying it like that for about 10 years. Aw, bless

There's a 30 yr old character TD I know at EA UK that still says 'skellington'. I kid you not .

'Eats, shoots and leaves' is a great little book.

ElysiumGX

my misspelling is usually due to quick typing. my fingers automatically press the buttons that create a similar word. sometimes I replace whole words.

I'll be in the middle of typing a sentence such as "hey, man that character is great", just as my girlfriend is telling me to take out the garbage. You know where this is going.

spacemonkey

Does it really matter to people that words are misspelt?
I mean sure there are 'correct' definitions of spellings and grammar, but as long as what people post is comprehensible surely theres no need to get aggravated about it?
MAYBE we should make it clear if we are using Us English spellings rather than Uk English, by stating so before each post we make. That way the spelling police wont arrest people for misspelling colour/color.

Daz

spacemonkey, I keep all my extra u's in my e-mail at work, with the sole purpose of it annoying people :]

TomDunne

People don't have to spell words correctly if you don't want to. Similarly, they don't have to bathe, or cut their hair, or eat without pouring half their meal down the fronts of their shirts. One can volutarily ostracize himself from society in nearly any manner he likes, in fact. But life goes easier if you're not a stinking, unkempt slob and it goes easier if you're able to communicate in the same fashion that everyone else does. If someone fancies being misunderstood or thought a semi-literate idiot, I say have at it - the world can never have too much comedy.

MoP

I customise my colours with honour. Oh, and I'm a modeller!

Vermilion: Hahaha, right on! Oh, and I think you meant "voluntarily"...

Mishra

[ QUOTE ]
I customise my colors with honor. Oh, and I'm a modeller!



[/ QUOTE ]

fixed.

TomDunne

[ QUOTE ]
Vermilion: Hahaha, right on! Oh, and I think you meant "voluntarily"...

[/ QUOTE ]

d'oh! I guess this means I don't have to take a shower today after all.