Illiterate number in Ireland - must be high given some posts!

smokingman

Am I the only one in thinking that illiteracy in Ireland is growing. I'm not simply talking about people who can't read and write - I'm talking about people who can't spell normal words.

I'm asking due to the surprising number of posts I've seen on boards from what can only be described as monkeys with access to a keyboard.

Can anyone spell properly anymore? Are people getting more stupid? Is it just the young 18 year olds who think text-speak is in some way a language and therefore couldn't be arsed even try to be anything other than thick?

God it gets on my wick.....

TerrorFirmer

I don't and never will get text speak. My sister is a very bright girl who gets top grades in school and is hoping to do medicine. Yet everytime I get a message from her it's like somebody sat on their phone and sent a message by mistake. I mean, you have to actually go to more effort to deliberately misspell these words, or shorten them in ways that the t9 won't recognise it - why? Just, why do it? It makes you look like a gimp, it truly does, I despise people who use text speak.

I'm 19, by the way. Some of us young ones also adhere to the laws of grammar.

smokingman

Nice to hear someone is keeping the faith there Havok.

I personally don't use predictive text because I prefer to spend time on a text - too much communication these days, no matter how brief, is without any real meaning or thought.

User45701

well i don't like t9 text thing i have never used it its a load of shight
the only words id shorten in a text are things like u for you and 2morrow instead of tomorrow and thats about it i do use lol in a txt if something is very funny

on boards my spelling is either wrong or firefox has corrupted me to spelling things the american way

Rabies

I would agree that text messaging is part of the blame. I'm 26 (*sigh* nearly 27) and I would be the first to admit that my spelling and grammer at times is terrible.

Text speak makes Jesus drown baby kittens.

tuxy

I seen this post. Then i done this reply.

[CrimsonGhost]

I think you mean illiteracy (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/illiteracy) not illiterate.

smokingman

tuxy wrote:

I seen this post. Then i done this reply.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Someone get me a shotgun!

By the way, anther thing that annoys me is the over-use of exclamation marks; one will do perfectly well thank you.

Padraig Mor

smokingman wrote:

God it get's on my wick.....

/pedant

It's "gets"

/end pedant

scojones

Click on the flag in my signature. It's a warm, happy and joyful place.

Don't be so quick to jump down everyone's throat. Some people are dyslexic, and some of those people don't use the Firefox spell checker extension (probably because they don't use Firefox).

Typos don't bother me either; but blatant spelling mistakes make the poster look like a gimp.

tuxy

sjones wrote:

Click on the flag in my signature. It's a warm, happy and joyful place.

How can i get access?

simu

Surveys have suggested that the illiteracy rate (being unable to carry out basic tasks such as reading instructions and so on) is around 20% afaik. Can't find any sure sources online, though.

Smellyirishman

smokingman wrote:

anther thing that annoys me is the over-use of exclamation marks; one will do perfectly well thank you.

No wai!!!!

One exclamation mark could not possibly have expressed my shock at that statement.

I maintain a relatively respectable grammar when texting but would omit commas and apostrophies (sp?) and the little things like that. I give it a decent effort online but I am no poet.

smokingman

Padraig Mor wrote:

/pedant

It's "gets"

/end pedant

Edited just for you Padraig

Like sjones said, typos - no problem: blatent spelling mistakes - annoying.

Ste.phen

[CrimsonGhost] wrote:

I think you mean illiteracy (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/illiteracy) not illiterate.

That's exactly the comment I was going to make, haha

skywalker

smokingman wrote:

By the way, anther thing that annoys me is the over-use of exclamation marks; one will do perfectly well thank you.

That actually bothers me more than text speak.

monkeyfudge

smokingman wrote:

Am I the only one in thinking that the lliteracy in Ireland is growing.

I'm still not sure what 'lliteracy' means.

Dutchology

sjones wrote:

Click on the flag in my signature. It's a warm, happy and joyful place.

*Clicks on the flag and sits on the edge of the seat in anticipation*

Dutchology, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

1. Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
2. If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.

This could be described as a warm, happy and joyful place, as there are no spelling or grammar mistakes...

*Requests access*

JoeSchmoe

Oh lighten up, it's a message board, people are usually having a laugh or involves in some discussion to while away the work day, you can't expect people to spellcheck and proof read everything they write, it's not a job application letter or a university dissertation. I would of taught dat wuz obvious, your jus been overly pedantic

smokingman

Yes, maybe my standards are too high but it annoys me to think that Ireland is becoming a land full of 15-year-old-american type morons.

shane86

Too much 3rd level education grr....

When I was younger I read plenty. Got a B2 honours English in the LC withoutn even looking at the stuff, I was just great at essay writing etc. When I got to college, there was an exam around the corner the whole time, and so I got out of the habit of reading. Id get a book, read half, then a big rake of exams would prevent me finishing. My standard of written English has certainly declined slightly since I left school and therefore stopped reading regularly, my vocab aint what it was when it comes to writing a letter.

Even in music, early 90s well read vocab armed lyricists like Biggie and Nas have been replaced by semi literate dopes from the durrty south :rolleyes:

joe_chicken

shane86 wrote:

Even in music, early 90s well read vocab armed lyricists like Biggie and Nas have been replaced by semi literate dopes from the durrty south :rolleyes:

The early nineties also had 2 unlimited.

nuff said!!!!

And as far as text speak goes, I'd say there's probably only one in ten people on these boards who have attempted to try text speak, and invariably it ends up with them being called an idiot and everybody chiming in with how much they hate text speak.

So no, I don't think illiteracy numbers are growing... If anything texting is making people take up reading who wouldn't have before.

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

stovelid

Are you suggesting dyslexic people should be banned from posting?

Posts only annoy me if the bad spelling is really excessive or hinders my understanding. Sometimes the thread requires a fast reply and people can make mistakes.

Intentional text speak is another thing entirely, but as long as I can understand what somebody is saying, I don't make a fuss.

smokingman wrote:

Am I the only one in thinking that illiteracy in Ireland is growing. I'm not simply talking about people who can't read and write - I'm talking about people who can't spell normal words.

I'm asking due to the surprising number of posts I've seen on boards from what can only be described as monkeys with access to a keyboard.

Can anyone spell properly anymore? Are people getting more stupid? Is it just the young 18 year olds who think text-speak is in some way a language and therefore couldn't be arsed even try to be anything other than thick?

God it gets on my wick.....

Lump

I think, especially online, it's more to do with laziness, and to a degree typos. People trying to type too fast and then not reading back what they have typed before hitting "Submit". I think most people can spell when they put the effort in, lots of us rely on spell check and such! It's easy to hit F7 before sending an e-mail. Pity it's not as easy to do when posting.

John

Sarky

JoeSchmoe wrote:

you can't expect people to spellcheck and proof read everything they write,

Why not? Why should my eyes suffer because someone else is too lazy to spell correctly and prove that they're worth having a conversation with? If you type like a fool, you'll be considered a fool. I make absolutely no apologies for that.

It is mostly down to laziness that people don't correct their own spelling mistakes. Even worse now considering the fact that Mozilla now has an in-built spellchecker (that being said, it is a bit silly at times). Txt talk is one thing that annoys the hell out of me -- though be happy that it's not as bad here as in other places i.e. isn't there some country which is considering to allow it as part of their school curriculum (can't think of the country off the top of my head but I do remember reading an article on it somewhere).

What's even more frightening is the fact that txt talk is very much like Newspeak in George Orwell's 1984.

joebhoy1916

Deleted User wrote:

isn't there some country which is considering to allow it as part of their school curriculum (can't think of the country off the top of my head but I do remember reading an article on it somewhere).

Think Its America. They can send a word to google sends them back the meaning of the word.

csk

smokingman wrote:

Like sjones said, typos - no problem: blatent spelling mistakes - annoying.

You're taking the p!ss, right?

r3nu4l

smokingman wrote:

Like sjones said, typos - no problem: blatent spelling mistakes - annoying.

Was that a joke? (if so...:D, if not...:eek:)

I don't have a problem with it on a medium like boards.ie per se. Certain errors are however symptomatic of an inability of the user to spell or differentiate between similar sounding words. Take for example use of the words 'their', 'there' and 'they're', There are a huge number of users who do not seem to know or care about the differences and that is worrying to me.

phantom_lord

Text speak annoys the hell out of me, I'm probably the only teenager that uses apostrophes in texts...

It's crazy how many people have little understanding of basic grammar and punctuation, it makes reading alot easier, who wants to read a huge post without paragraphs?

Hobbes

smokingman wrote:

Am I the only one in thinking that illiteracy in Ireland is growing. I'm not simply talking about people who can't read and write - I'm talking about people who can't spell normal words.

What you are seeing is language evolution. To give an example try to find a text from say 50 years and then 100 years ago. You will see language changes in the text.

Your just getting old.

Terry

Phantom Lord wrote:

Text speak annoys the hell out of me, I'm probably the only teenager that uses apostrophes in texts...

It's crazy how many people have little understanding of basic grammar and punctuation, it makes reading alot easier, who wants to read a huge post without paragraphs?

Hobbes wrote:

What you are seeing is language evolution. To give an example try to find a text from say 50 years and then 100 years ago. You will see language changes in the text.

"alot" is still not a word. however, a lot of people seem to think it is.

Pherekydes

smokingman wrote:

Am I the only one in thinking that illiteracy in Ireland is growing. I'm not simply talking about people who can't read and write - I'm talking about people who can't spell normal words.

I'm asking due to the surprising number of posts I've seen on boards from what can only be described as monkeys with access to a keyboard.

Can anyone spell properly anymore? Are people getting more stupid? Is it just the young 18 year olds who think text-speak is in some way a language and therefore couldn't be arsed even try to be anything other than thick?

God it gets on my wick.....

Your first sentence is a question and should have a question mark after it. Your last sentence is missing a comma after 'God', and an ellipsis has only three dots.

Spelling: Excellent
Grammar: V Good
Punctuation: V Good
Style: Good

Overall mark: 75%

Well done, smokingman. Keep up the good work.

P.S. As regards the question regarding 18 year-olds and text speak, have a look at this. It's from a 40 year-old:

Hi again! Sor bout all the txts, just hav 2 send when i tink of sumthing! This time 'leinster'! Entries hav 2 b in by 31st. Its €25 4 ops and €5 reg 4 either pre ops r figs. So most of u wil b €30 r just €5 if doing pre ops & figs. Timetble, syl on the net. Entries this wk r nxt pls.

You say's tomato, I say's TUH-MAH-to

Or something along those lines. It's even stranger now to see words like "lol" appearing in the Oxford english dictionary.

Dutchology

If we say poe-tay-toe, why do we not say toe-may-toe?

That has always bugged me...

Text speak - In a text message, in order to avoid sending two messages instead of one, it's acceptable - to an extent. Abbreviations, 2 instead of to, too or two... That sort of thing.

Here on Boards however, it is nice to be able to read a post in English, with paragraphs and punctuation.

emeraldstar

I Fcuking Hate:

could/should/would of
i seen
'your' for 'you are'
'then' for 'than'

Rb

emeraldstar wrote:

I Fcuking Hate:

could/should/would of
i seen
'your' for 'you are'
'then' for 'than'

Yeah they're pretty common, annoying little mistakes. Also, a lot of people don't see the difference between "lose" and "loose" and "loser" and "looser".

I type properly when posting to forums, writing emails etc. but when it comes to text messages, I like to fit as much into the one message as is possible so will abbreviate any word I possibly can.
However, it depends on who the receipient is, there was only one or two people I'd fully abbreviate my words when sending them texts, purely because of the sheer amount of texts I'd send them and I knew they'd understand what I sent them.
Most of the time though, I know people won't have a clue what I'm on about so will only shorten some words that people will get.

As for literacy in this country, well, having a look on Bebo doesn't make me too optimistic, its unbelievable how retarded some people come across on that site. They've a full keyboard in front of them, with no limitations on how much text they can put in, yet they shorten every single word and stick in random punctuation marks. Anyone caught doing that on Boards should be insta-site-banned.

phantom_lord

Slow coach wrote:

P.S. As regards the question regarding 18 year-olds and text speak, have a look at this. It's from a 40 year-old:

Hi again! Sor bout all the txts, just hav 2 send when i tink of sumthing! This time 'leinster'! Entries hav 2 b in by 31st. Its €25 4 ops and €5 reg 4 either pre ops r figs. So most of u wil b €30 r just €5 if doing pre ops & figs. Timetble, syl on the net. Entries this wk r nxt pls.

I'd imagine there's a significant chance that was written by his daughter/son, more learning towards daughter.

nlgbbbblth

Incorrect punctuation, bad grammar and poor spelling annoy me.

I frequently point out errors to people at work and my hatred of text speak is not kept hidden.

I find that most people have think that it's cool to have a casual attitude to such things and anybody who takes them seriously is square, anal or a nerd.

JoeSchmoe

nlgbbbblth wrote:

Incorrect punctuation, bad grammar and poor spelling annoy me.

I frequently point out errors to people at work and my hatred of text speak is not kept hidden.

I find that most people have think that it's cool to have a casual attitude to such things and anybody who takes them seriously is square, anal or a nerd.

There you go, the problem with being such a stickler for these things is when you fall, you fall a lot harder than those with a more casual attitude. People make mistakes typing and don't check it over, it's a fact of online life, as you demonstrated with such delicious irony.

Reganio 2

I am 17 and even I hate people who do not spell right one of my mates sent me a text saying "Ar u cumng out l8r. I ned a lon of a few bob" I didnt reply and he didn't get the money he needed. Making mistakes while typing does not bother me. Its just when they spend 5 minutes typing a message with "txt spk" when they can type it in 3 with normal spelling.

Our man in Havana

What is it with people reading out the letters HSE? It always sounds like HSC on radio and tv news. Annoying.

InFront

smokingman wrote:

Like sjones said, typos - no problem: blatent spelling mistakes - annoying.

What brilliant irony!

Black Swan

smokingman wrote:

By the way, anther thing that annoys me is the over-use of exclamation marks; one will do perfectly well thank you.

TCN invades AH. Charge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!








.

Pherekydes

phantom_lord wrote:

I'd imagine there's a significant chance that was written by his daughter/son, more learning towards daughter.

There's nil chance it was written by anybody else but the woman herself. Her eldest child is 11.

phantom_lord

Slow coach wrote:

There's nil chance it was written by anybody else but the woman herself. Her eldest child is 11.

lol, ok.

Rb

Blue_Lagoon wrote:

TCN invades AH. Charge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!








.

Back in yer box before you give the more impressionable users of TCN ideas.

A number which is illiterate...?

User45701

sjones wrote:

Click on the flag in my signature. It's a warm, happy and joyful place.

Don't be so quick to jump down everyone's throat. Some people are dyslexic, and some of those people don't use the Firefox spell checker extension (probably because they don't use Firefox).

1. I hate forums i cant access

2. I use the firefox spell checker but i hate the way its american spelling it wrecks my head

scojones

User45701 wrote:

1. I hate forums i cant access

2. I use the firefox spell checker but i hate the way its american spelling it wrecks my head

Hating a forum that you don't have access to. Now that's a perfect thought process if I have ever encountered one.

I'm pretty sure they capitalise I, and America, in America. Also, there is a UK version of the plugin. Go figure.