Hurray for the Irish tolerance of functional illiteracy!

Biggest lickspittle on boardz · 21-04-2017 11:41am #1

I'd just like to say thank you to everyone who is too lazy or thick to make an effort with spelling and grammar in their day to day lives. It gives the rest of us a huge advantage when applying for jobs and looking for promotion.

We couldn't have done it without you!

(This is not aimed at those who genuinely suffer from dyslexia or other learning difficulties).

Obviously I use satire here, but the serious question is this: why are we so tolerant of functional illiteracy in this day and age? IMO, boards should have a sticky explaining the differences between words such as 'they're/their/there' etc.

Do it boards. Help improve the educational standards of the Irish public. You can even get some free advertising by notifying the newspapers of this new, hot, exciting, learning programme. (Although half of those useless drunks will probably be looking for spelling lessons afterwards.....)

D0NNELLY · 21-04-2017 11:42am

They should have a stickey on when to use a comma or a full stop

Icemancometh · 21-04-2017 11:43am

I've always wondered why you can't use txt spk on boards, but grammar, spelling, and punctuation are off limits. Nothing worse than a long post with no paragraphs or capital letters.

Ash.J.Williams · 21-04-2017 11:45am

Biggest lickspittle on boardz wrote: »

I'd just like to say thank you to everyone who is too lazy or thick to make an effort with spelling and grammar in their day to day lives. It gives the rest of us a huge advantage when applying for jobs and looking for promotion.

We couldn't have done it without you!

(This is not aimed at those who genuinely suffer from dyslexia or other learning difficulties).

Obviously I use satire here, but the serious question is this: why are we so tolerant of functional illiteracy in this day and age? IMO, boards should have a sticky explaining the differences between words such as 'they're/their/there' etc.

Do it boards. Help improve the educational standards of the Irish public. You can even get some free advertising by notifying the newspapers of this new, hot, exciting, learning programme. (Although half of those useless drunks will probably be looking for spelling lessons afterwards.....)

i would agree only i've encountered a lot of dyslexia in the workplace lately and it seems to be an awful thing. I had a mail ready to send out and i asked a colleague to look over it and he made a change and sent it, man it was all over the place. Feel very sorry for him.

Widdershins · 21-04-2017 11:56am

I suppose any tolerance is down to the fact that you don't actually know who is ''too thick and lazy'' from who is dyslexic or has a learning disability and it would be rude to presume.

I certainly don't see tolerance among the regular posters. I wouldn't encourage a dyslexic friend to join Boards as I think they'd be humiliated unless they made it clear they had dyslexia and some would prefer not to have to share that information.

I know your post is NOT aimed at dyslexics but they probably feel the embarrassment, too.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock · 21-04-2017 11:57am

Icemancometh wrote: »

I've always wondered why you can't use txt spk on boards, but grammar, spelling, and punctuation are off limits. Nothing worse than a long post with no paragraphs or capital letters.

For the same reason you can't use txt spk in most day-to-day written communications: it's lazy, ureadable and a tad rude.

Tstspk is the written equivalent of going shopping in your pyjamas.

Icemancometh · 21-04-2017 11:58am

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

For the same reason you can't use txy spk in most written communications or legal documentation: it's lazy, ureadable and a tad rude.

Tstspk is the written equivalent of going shopping in your pyjamas.

I wasn't defending txt spk, but some posts I have to read twice due to poor spelling and grammar.

wakka12 · 21-04-2017 12:00pm

because its an internet discussion forum. We are discussing pretty light hearted topics generally and we can usually understand a posters point even if they get the their/theyre/there mixed up so whats the big deal

Princess Consuela Bananahammock · 21-04-2017 12:02pm

Icemancometh wrote: »

I wasn't defending txt spk, but some posts I have to read twice due to poor spelling and grammar.

I know, but you did ask the question, in fairness! Txtspk is intentiontial, bad grammar isn't. Bad grammar is pulling into the supermarket carpark, realising you've still got your slippers on and thinking, "**** it, I'm not going back now."

I used to be a bit of a "grammar Nazi" but I'm not as bad nowadays. A lot of stuff I see are just typos and the kind of autocorrect **** that's the fault of the android phone the poster is using (sometimes me) and I just don't have the patience to go back and correct it.

endacl · 21-04-2017 12:03pm

D0NNELLY wrote: »

They should have a stickey on whenre to use a comma or a full stop.

21-04-2017 12:04pm

Biggest lickspittle on boardz wrote: »

I'd just like to say thank you to everyone who is too lazy or thick to make an effort with spelling and grammar in their day to day lives. It gives the rest of us a huge advantage when applying for jobs and looking for promotion.

We couldn't have done it without you!

(This is not aimed at those who genuinely suffer from dyslexia or other learning difficulties).

Obviously I use satire here, but the serious question is this: why are we so tolerant of functional illiteracy in this day and age? IMO, boards should have a sticky explaining the differences between words such as 'they're/their/there' etc.

Do it boards. Help improve the educational standards of the Irish public. You can even get some free advertising by notifying the newspapers of this new, hot, exciting, learning programme. (Although half of those useless drunks will probably be looking for spelling lessons afterwards.....)

I'm not sure you know what functional illiteracy is.

Graces7 · 21-04-2017 12:06pm

I have a red-pen reflex after years of teaching English... Clicks on for every error. But comes in handy for truly dyslexic family. On the phone they ask me re words and I have only to close my eyes and I "see" the word,

My own errors are typos and I do sincerely and fully apologise for them

Deep sympathy for all who do have dyslexia. It is a dreadful handicap. Used to
help kids with it after school .

And I know how easy it is to make an error.

Wanderer78 · 21-04-2017 12:09pm

Dyslexic here, it truly is a bizzar problem, confusing and frustrating as grammar means little or nothing to me. I generally have no clue when people point out my mistakes, then there's the memory issues! Yea if I could live without it I would, but it is me

Widdershins · 21-04-2017 12:14pm

Wanderer78 wrote: »

Dyslexic here, it truly is a bizzar problem, confusing and frustrating as grammar means little or nothing to me. I generally have no clue when people point out my mistakes, then there's the memory issues! Yea if I could live without it I would, but it is me

This is the thing. People aren't helping or 'educating' the person by doing that, especially if they do it snidely.

valoren · 21-04-2017 12:18pm

u ok hun x?

alchemist33 · 21-04-2017 12:19pm

OSI wrote: »

I taught people would be thought these things before they left school, but their obviously not.

I know you're joking here, but I do think the almost-universal "could of, should of, would of" is a terrible indictment of the teaching of English in our schools. Shouldn't this have been weeded out at an early stage?

Biggest lickspittle on boardz · 21-04-2017 12:20pm

OSI wrote: »

I taught people would be thought these things before they left school, but their obviously not.

I knows what your getting at. I seen youre post . dare dare, dont be sad

B0jangles · 21-04-2017 12:30pm

Biggest lickspittle on boardz wrote: »

(Although half of those useless drunks will probably be looking for spelling lessons afterwards.....)

Given the topic of the thread I feel impelled to point out that an ellipsis should consist of no more than three full stops, using four is considered acceptable if the last one indicates the end of a sentence, using five is simply wrong.

You probably should of double-checked your post before mocking other people for there bad grammer OP

Bredabe · 21-04-2017 12:42pm

As a person from a family with SLD(umbrella term for dyslexia type issues) I hear op loud and clear, my own spelling and lately learned punctuation has gone drastically downhill since I started to read online, now I double check everything and still miss some. Just cause certain spelling/abbreviation/slang is universally accepted doesn't make it correct. Im all for an evolving language, but not at the cost of clarity.
My family of origin for our sanity think of SLD as a gift, but are made aware almost daily that most of the population doesn't know what it is/use it as an excuse for abuse/seem to confuse it with stupidity/deafness. My niece just yesterday was told that "not to worry, people can't tell you're dyslexic,you doesn't look it".
If only I had a ?1 for everything I forgot or mixed something up and the response was "are you deaf?" "CONCENTRATE! will ya" and my personal fav "I told you that before, LAST YEAR"

No wonder lots of employed dyslexics dont tell their employers.

RandomName2 · 21-04-2017 1:05pm

Im sat guessing why people should of minded there grammer on there own behalf. Its just grammer nazis why its done.

Chuchote · 21-04-2017 1:08pm

Wanderer78 wrote: »

Dyslexic here, it truly is a bizzar problem, confusing and frustrating as grammar means little or nothing to me. I generally have no clue when people point out my mistakes, then there's the memory issues! Yea if I could live without it I would, but it is me

Ironically, unlike most of the posts in this thread, this is well expressed and (virtually) free of mistakes.

Graces7 · 21-04-2017 2:56pm

RandomName2 wrote: »

Im sat guessing why people should of minded there grammer on there own behalf. Its just grammer nazis why its done.

Well to some extent yes. But language, especially written language, when you do not have the tone of voice etc, is about communication. So it needs to be accurate enough to avoid misinterpretation.

Spelling and grammar do matter. And are easy enough to learn. And are a courtesy and a kindness to those who read what you write.

21-04-2017 3:00pm

There was something that happened years ago, where, I believe, Dev received an email from someone thanking him for boards.ie. Seemingly because at that point (I think it's become a rule against it now), there were strict rules in place about grammar and spelling with such mistakes being mocked.

Since they tried so hard not to be mocked on here, they saw a knock-on effect in their exams and even received high marks because of it!

Omackeral · 21-04-2017 3:02pm

Bredabe · 21-04-2017 3:09pm

I see youngsters all the time who dont know that txt spelling/speak is not proper english, they stare at words properly written like it's shakespeare.

Ursus Horribilis · 21-04-2017 3:13pm

We all make mistakes but in my opinion, it's getting worse. I wonder are people picking up bad habits and spellings because they read so much of their content online? I went to school in the 80s and in those days we had grammar classes. We read books which were written and edited by people who had a grasp of the English language. Now people can get by without ever reading text that has been checked.

Ages ago I spotted a thread here on boards by someone whose spelling was so bad, it caught my eye. Yet they were about to sit the honours English paper in leaving cert despite openly admitting they had a problem with spelling. There was me thinking an honour in a subject meant you were proficient in it.

Glenster · 21-04-2017 3:15pm

I couldn't give a monkeys if someone spells something wrong.

I just think "that person can't write" and move on with my life.

If someone working for me couldn't write I'd give them other work to do if I could, and if writing was a core part of their job I'd try and have them let go.

I don't take a moral stance on it.

Barry Badrinath · 21-04-2017 3:17pm

Biggest lickspittle on boardz wrote: »

I'd just like to say thank you to everyone who is too lazy or thick to make an effort with spelling and grammar in their day to day lives. It gives the rest of us a huge advantage when applying for jobs and looking for promotion.

We couldn't have done it without you!

(This is not aimed at those who genuinely suffer from dyslexia or other learning difficulties).

Obviously I use satire here, but the serious question is this: why are we so tolerant of functional illiteracy in this day and age? IMO, boards should have a sticky explaining the differences between words such as 'they're/their/there' etc.

Do it boards. Help improve the educational standards of the Irish public. You can even get some free advertising by notifying the newspapers of this new, hot, exciting, learning programme. (Although half of those useless drunks will probably be looking for spelling lessons afterwards.....)

1. No punctuation marks around 'Thank you'.
2. No Comma after 'Thank you'.
3. Replace 'Looking' with 'Seeking'.
3. Delete 'For' after 'Seeking'.
4. Use of full Colon instead of Semi Colon.
5. Misplacement of Comma's and Semi Colon in complex sentence.
6. Misuse of abbreviation without prior explanation.
7. No capitalisation for 'Boards'.
8. Improper use of Comma's in complex sentence.
9. A three (3) dot ellipsis would have been more appropriate than a five (5).

Get out OP.

professore · 21-04-2017 3:22pm

Widdershins wrote: »

This is the thing. People aren't helping or 'educating' the person by doing that, especially if they do it snidely.

When I was learning a new language, I was BEGGING people to correct me - if I spell something wrongly or use bad grammar I would be delighted for people to correct me. How else are you supposed to learn? Especially if you are making the same mistake OVER and OVER and OVER again?????

One of my best friends is dyslexic and has a very high level position in a multinational. He owns that ****. Straight out says he can't spell or write properly. Has no issue with being corrected. As a result, he has improved a lot over the years.

Glenster · 21-04-2017 3:26pm

Senor Fancy Pants wrote: »

1. No punctuation marks around 'Thank you'.
2. No Comma after 'Thank you'.
3. Replace 'Looking' with 'Seeking'.
3. Delete 'For' after 'Seeking'.
4. Use of full Colon instead of Semi Colon.
5. Misplacement of Comma's and Semi Colon in complex sentence.
6. Misuse of abbreviation without prior explanation.
7. No capitalisation for 'Boards'.
8. Improper use of Comma's in complex sentence.
9. A three (3) dot ellipsis would have been more appropriate than a five (5).

Get out OP.

Normally I love nit-picky stuff like this but I can only really agree with #9.

Maybe #7.

And what about the highlighted travesty? WHAT ABOUT IT?

Graces7 · 21-04-2017 3:31pm

Glenster wrote: »

I couldn't give a monkeys if someone spells something wrong.

I just think "that person can't write" and move on with my life.

If someone working for me couldn't write I'd give them other work to do if I could, and if writing was a core part of their job I'd try and have them let go.

I don't take a moral stance on it.

Where does the "moral stance " idea come from?

It is a kindness and a help to find help for folk who cannot read or read well. I knew someone who I am sure was dyslexic. People thought he was just stupid and walked all over him. So I helped him with paperwork and it turned things round for him

Hurray for the Irish tolerance of functional illiteracy!

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