[RANT]Is grammar something that only happens to other people?[/RANT]

The Sweeper · 13-10-2004 11:27AM #1

Okay, pedantic moment:

It really, really wrecks my head when I’m reading boards.ie and I come across some of the atrocious grammar, spelling and syntax that some boardsters use when they post.

It used to be the little things, like people mixing up ‘they’re’, ‘there’ and ‘their’, or ‘I wondered over to such and such’ instead of ‘wandered’.

I’m an editor, so perhaps this is why it bothers me – my eye automatically catches on mistakes in posts. I had come to the point where I could cope with occasional mistakes, but now it’s worse. Now people use text speak, e.g.

“dnt luk if ur not going 2 b nice”

That makes my head hurt. It literally makes it hurt. It makes me want to grab the illiterate sonofabitch and smack them. There should be 'crayon' font for people who can't write a simple sentence properly.

Is it just me?

Dont be at yourself · 13-10-2004 11:31AM

No, it gets me too. A misplaced comma or 'your' instead of 'you're' really breaks the flow of the post.

But yeah, I can possibly excuse the errors born out of stupidity, but the text speak stuff is just laziness.

Mercury_Tilt · 13-10-2004 11:36AM

This post has been deleted.

Blub2k4 · 13-10-2004 11:36AM

Na it is really annoyin, they're only making themselves look juvenile though.

Hobbes · 13-10-2004 11:42AM

U know I dont hav a problem wit grammer or spelling mistkaes as the hole point is to undrstand wat the person is tryin 2 get across.

You can't tell what age or nationality the person is. So to assume that your somehow better because someone forgets where to stick an apostrophe is petty.

There is nothing more annoying (and neg rep inducing) then watch someone pick apart another posters grammer while totally ignoring what the poster is actually trying to say. Using quotes like ‘this’ or “this” is overly condesending as well, 'this' or "this" is fine.

dudara · 13-10-2004 11:46AM

I would never pick someone's post apart because of bad grammar, or use of txtspeak, but it would annoy the hell out of me, and influence me unfavourably as to their point of view. Clear language and punctuation makes for easy communication.

quarryman · 13-10-2004 11:47AM

I’m an editor,

shouldn't your nick have an apostrophe then?

i agree though. nothing looks lazier than bad grammar and spelling. if people would even learn the most common two:

their, there, they're
you're your

edit: spelling

Jim · 13-10-2004 11:49AM

It annoys me to, but I'm one of the worst culprits.

I think (argh I just did it, read on...) that I tend to type while thinking instead of deciding the whole post beforehand. I noticed today that I started three sentances in a row with the phrase "I think". It really annoyed me when I read back over it but I was too tired to correct it.

irlirishkev · 13-10-2004 11:55AM

..It does my head in aswell. Especially phone text style typing.. I mean, there's a Keyboard in front of you. Use it.

They're, their, and there.... ugh, that's annoys me the most.

Kevin.

pickarooney · 13-10-2004 11:55AM

I just haet it when people spell something wrong and then put (sp?) or (spelling?) or (soz, I cant spell!) after a word. If you know it's wrong, look the bastarding thing up, no?

Jim · 13-10-2004 11:56AM

irlirishkev wrote:

..It does my head in aswell. Especially phone text style typing.. I mean, there's a Keyboard in front of you. Use it.

They're, their, and there.... ugh, that's annoys me the most.

Kevin.

Whenever I talk to my cousins on the net they says say "mi" instead of "me". Its the same amount of letters ffs!!

Oh and pickarooney, its "h a t e", look it up,

Hagar · 13-10-2004 12:01PM

Most of my errors are not because I'm dense or anything, it's just that I can't type very well.
I try to give others the benefit of the doubt but sometimes the mistake changes the whole sense of the post and baffles me.

seamus · 13-10-2004 12:05PM

It annoys me too, and allows me to generate preconceptions about said poster, and then assert my superiority over them.

Seriously though, while it annoys me, I don't go out of my way to correct it or get frustrated about it.

For me though, text speak reduces the credibility of the poster, and I automatically assume they're in the age range of 12-18. Textspeak and the abscence of paragraphs and punctutation also makes me infinitely more likely to look at the post, grimace, and just go onto the next one without reading it at all. If a person doesn't think enough of their opinion to express it clearly, then I couldn't be arsed wasting my time reading it.

If I see a post riddled with poor spelling and grammar, but God bless 'em they look like they're trying, I give the poster the benefit of the doubt and assume that they're either a) Drunk, b) Dyslexic or c) Paddy20.

I do tend to switch "they're" and "their", but that just occurs when I'm thinking faster than I'm typing, and my brain chooses the incorrect spelling. I'll just correct it when I read the post over.

My most annoying habit of late is somehow leaving out small words from my sentences, like "of", "for", "it" "my". Tis weird.

The Sweeper · 13-10-2004 12:07PM

Hobbes wrote:

Using quotes like ‘this’ or “this” is overly condesending as well, 'this' or "this" is fine.

Ha ha, actually when I'm in work I can't leave boards.ie open constantly, so I'd typed my post into MS word before cutting and pasting it, hence the curved apostrophes...

It's not typos that get me - my big mistake is writing "wont" for "won't" all of the time - some small logic-pixie in my head says "there's no such thing as wo not, so you don't need an apostrophe" - and of course spellcheck doesn't pick that up, so I have to stick a note on top of my monitor with some sort of abusive reminder so I notice it even when I'm tired...

I work with a bunch of Americans, and for all the slagging we give that race for being as sharp as a bag of footballs, their school system teaches grammar in detail. Comma splices, past participles, correct use of pronouns, whether to use "that" or "which", the whole deal.

My own recollection of being taught grammar in school in Ireland involved the teacher saying "this is a verb, but we'll call it a doing word, because it's EASIER FOR YOU TO REMEMBER".

CuLT · 13-10-2004 12:13PM

Overt text speak is all that annoys me.
Spelling is a talent, something you learn if you have an interest in reading or writing, if you don't, I don't see why you should be penalised by those who have some sort of obsessive disorder every time you attempt to express yourself via written medium (well, on the internet anyway).

Oh, and Jimeatsmenu, you spelled "sentence" with an a in your previous post; perhaps you too should look words up?

embee · 13-10-2004 12:14PM

Blub2k4 wrote:

Na it is really annoyin, they're only making themselves look juvenile though.

So near, and yet so far. There is a "g" at the end of "annoyin".

Yes, it annoys me too. I can't understand why people use "txt spk" on boards. Its not like ye are restricted to 160 characters per post, kids.

Although, in some cases, that might be a good thing.

Pet · 13-10-2004 12:17PM

Haha, yes. I try to use decent grammar and punctuation, it just makes a post easier on the eye. "Should of" gets me a little - it makes no sense! If you want to shorten it, use "should've". It may not be 100% correct but it's an improvement.

What I really can't stand is text language. Anyone who types a post in "txt spk" should be packed off back to the special needs class where they belong tbh.

pickarooney · 13-10-2004 12:17PM

And it's "overt" in English. This could go on all day...

Dr. Loon · 13-10-2004 12:18PM

This thread is fúckin' hilarious! Almost every reply contains bad grammar or spelling from the people whinging about bad grammar and spelling. You should rename the thread "The most ironic thread in the world... EVAR!"

Or maybe some of you are being purposely ironic?

Anyway, sometimes people make small mistakes. Who cares? As for text speak, well I feel the same as everyone else here...

CuLT · 13-10-2004 12:21PM

pickarooney wrote:

And it's "overt" in English. This could go on all day...

Damn.

Lex_Diamonds · 13-10-2004 12:22PM

My current pet hate has to be this new fad sweeping the nation, the substitution of "loose" for "lose". ARGHGASHGAHSGYQHSBQJ!!!

Redleslie2 · 13-10-2004 12:23PM

It doesn't bother me too much especially when I read about how plenty of famous writers were quite bad at spelling. I'm more annoyed by poor writing style, cliches and stiff pomposity.

ixoy · 13-10-2004 12:23PM

I'll agree wholeheartedly on the issue of txt spk. Seeing "r u", or whatever, on screen irritates me no end.

As to poor grammar in general... well a few mistakes here and there is okay. We all make them, myself included. The "you're"/"your" and "their"/"they're" are among the uglier ones but misplaced commas would rarely cause me bother.

Funny thing is that I'm a writer, of sorts, by trade and I've got the likes of Minesajackdaniels nitpicking my daily work. Sometimes it makes me more picky about what I read here but othertimes it makes me almost more sympathetic because I know precisely how it feels to have someone nitpick your writings...

][cEMAN** · 13-10-2004 12:24PM

Yeah it annoys me but then I think of the average age of most of the people here ( and the average IQ :P ) and I let it slide.

The grammar doesn't bother me as much as the l337 speak or txt speak though. If I were pedantic I would say there's no such word as 'boardster', and writing really twice is unnecessary.

But (intentional) I don't mind because I rarely follow the exact rules of grammar myself.

If you want something done about it, make a petition for boards mods to enforce a minimum level of grammar and spelling - or to at least ban txt and l337 speak, but otherwise this thread is rather pointless. Sorry.

banquo · 13-10-2004 12:25PM

Is grammer something that only happens to other people?

that should have been:

1. Can grammer "happen to other people" ?
2. it shouldnt be "only happens to to other people", but rather happens only to. Likewise with "my eye automatically catches on mistakes in posts."; itrs should really be "my eye catches automatically onto".

there's more. want me to list them?

shut up.

CuLT · 13-10-2004 12:27PM

Lex_Diamonds wrote:

My current pet hate has to be this new fad sweeping the nation, the substitution of "loose" for "lose". ARGHGASHGAHSGYQHSBQJ!!!

I was seriously worried about that last year, started to think I was wrong is spelling lose as lose as opposed to loose *cough*.

Had to confirm it with an English teacher, because the Chemistry teacher was spelling it "loose" :eek:

aidan_walsh · 13-10-2004 12:29PM

Minesajackdaniels wrote:

There should be 'crayon' font for people who can't write a simple sentence properly.

If you guys can figure out a way to implement it, I'll donate it. Absolutely hate idiots who use text speak or leet in a serious manner. You have a full keyboard in front of you. Use the damn thing!

pickarooney · 13-10-2004 12:35PM

banquo wrote:

that should have been:

1. Can grammer "happen to other people" ?
2. it shouldnt be "only happens to to other people", but rather happens only to. Likewise with "my eye automatically catches on mistakes in posts."; itrs should really be "my eye catches automatically onto".

there's more. want me to list them?

shut up.

How did you manage to quote her and misspell "grammar"? (and repeat "to", abuse a semi-colon, turn "it" into "itrs", ignore capitalisation, use "there's more" instead of "there are more", and invent a new rule about adverb placement) while keeping a straight face?

Blub2k4 · 13-10-2004 12:40PM

embee wrote:

So near, and yet so far. There is a "g" at the end of "annoyin".

Yes, it annoys me too. I can't understand why people use "txt spk" on boards. Its not like ye are restricted to 160 characters per post, kids.

Although, in some cases, that might be a good thing.

Pedants rule, OK. Or more precisely, exhibit certain of the conventional trappings of leadership!!

Blub2k4 · 13-10-2004 12:42PM

On second thougts isn't Grammar the woman living with Granda?

impr0v · 13-10-2004 12:43PM

CuLT wrote:

Damn.

Fragment, consider revising

[RANT]Is grammar something that only happens to other people?[/RANT]

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