Bad Smellerrs

[+Johnmelad]

I've noticed that a few posts have spelling/typo errors in them. People have commented on them which I think is unnecessary, some people have dyslexia and others are just bad spellers (me included) or possibly have English as a second language. Taking the Mick must put these people off.

 

Should we have an agreement that we should make no comment on these errors?

[+Rose_Thorn]

I guess it depends how sensitive people are about it, and how the comments are made. Some typos/errors can be quite amusing (like plaice for place perhaps?) and I think a little joke about that might not do any harm. If people are flaming others for errors then that doesn't seem quite right, as anyone can make a mistake and not everyone has the time or the ability to proof read the messages they are posting.

[+Mad H@ter]

i can't spell(sue).but i don't care what people say.have thay not got better things to get on with{geo cacheing} hi to johnmelad as well

[+The Flying Boots]

I like to think my spelling is good but my typing is terrible and I'm alway gitting the wrong jeys making it look like the spelling's bad . Always having to re check everything before it goes live just in case this gappens but some errors do get through.

Edited July 10, 2006 by The Flying Boots

[alistair_uk]

I am probably one of the worst spellers here and run everything through a spell checker, This occasionally leads to the problem that a word is corrected to the wrong word and I don't notice it. To be honest it is something I have got use to over the years and if it is meant in good humor then I am happy for people to comment.

[+Wadders]

Have they got a spell checker on here, if not perhaps they need one!!!

 

Wadders

[+Moote]

Those who criticize others spelling, are narrow minded.

[+Jango & Boba Fett]

I am probably one of the worst spellers here and run everything through a spell checker, ....

If it's a competition for bad speller of the month then I'll have to submit my entry too, as like alistair I try to remember to run everything through a spell checker too. Mind you I'm also responsible for spotting the batter plaice although to my dyslexic vision it was only the a that looked out of place - anyway I'm not withdrawing my comment as I still prefer haddock and am jealous of alistair's ability to buy that fine fish with chips at his local friars, whereas I either have to drive 200 miles to Wetherby or tell my local chipper a day in advance so that they can "get some in".

 

What's strange of course as is that as someone with dyslexic traits (stop talking jargon Jango) my problems are when I write rather than when I type because I am making use of different neural pathways to execute typing and writing. In fact using a keyboard frees up the dyslexic mind because you don't have to worry about making mistakes because you can sort them out latter (scanning back over this post I can see that most of my errors are caused by minor typing errors). I don't mind the humorous comment that have been made over my spelling slip ups, much rather that than have the spelling police move in.

 

The rest of my family love Scrabble and Boggle and can't understand why I don't enjoy them as I obviously love words, but how can you when you can't "see" words in your head or mentally manipulate anagrams - number sequences or visualising 3D surfaces well that's a different story and a different set of neural pathways.

 

Chae

 

[not bad little problem with visualising, different, dyslexic, that and substituting alligators for alistair’s - see where it gets you when you can’t stop halfway through a word without getting lost ).

[+Renegade Knight]

Between typo's. mispellings, correcting the right word spelled wrong to the wrong word spelled right, blunders, and dumb-a** attacks I can't hold anyone else accountable in a forum. As long as I can read what I think you were trying to say...

[+miss_butterfly]

What's strange of course as is that as someone with dyslexic traits (stop talking jargon Jango) my problems are when I write rather than when I type because I am making use of different neural pathways to execute typing and writing. In fact using a keyboard frees up the dyslexic mind because you don't have to worry about making mistakes because you can sort them out latter (scanning back over this post I can see that most of my errors are caused by minor typing errors).

 

it'll also probably be easier for you to type because:

 

a) the movement in typing is much larger than in writing with a pen..... it is also at "fixed" locations (i.e. keys don't move)... so it's more easily remembered by your body.

 

if you also have dysgraphia traits, then you'd spend alot of cencerntration (conciously or not) on trying to form the letters. typing frees your brain from this process.

 

and that is why dyslexic students get grants for buying computers (or so they tell you...)

 

I for one used to hate getting my spelling mistakes pointed out to me, and i worked SO hard to make sure everything was spelt right... but then i wasn't enjoying writing, and i felt so low about my ability to write. now i don't care about the spellings, if it makes sense, then that's all that matters, and now i write/type much happier

 

however it really does grate me when i see 'your' and 'you're' or 'its' and 'it's' being used wrongly... parhaps it's because i had this rammed into my brain to get it right when i was a kid... (of course i don't say anything to the poster, karma, karma!)

[+bhodisatva]

KuLDn't rEelLY GiVE a daM abOWt SpeeLiNK MiSHtakeS OR TIepo'S TbH, As lONg aS I gET thE JIst Of THe cONvo Who CareS?

[+Kitty Hawk]

Good post Jango.

 

I do my best to spell and punctuate correctly, I don't mind whether other people can or can't, very rarely does make a post unreadable or lose meaning.

 

I find it very hard to read sentences with no capitals or punctuation or text style, so I don't.

 

EDIT - Tee hee, Bhodisatva's post wasn't there when I started typing mine - I can read it...

Edited July 10, 2006 by Kitty Hawk

[+HazelS]

In "real" life, I'm a very good speller and have impecable grammar...

 

However, whilst on here, and in Geochat, I tend to write for speed, and thus my posts ALWAYS suffer!!!

 

I don't care how popl write, so long as they're enjoying themselves!

[+alma]

ive often done a lot a bad spelling on the forum and someone pulled me up about it wasnt to pleased does it really matter if we spell things wrong

[+Jango & Boba Fett]

KuLDn't rEelLY GiVE a daM abOWt SpeeLiNK MiSHtakeS OR TIepo'S TbH, As lONg aS I gET thE JIst Of THe cONvo Who CareS?

Sorry bhodisatva but really makes no sense to me, maybe I should go wake up a teenager to read it for me. I do however recognise the Gaelic spelling in your name (if only English was as systematic), although I'm not too sure that you have quite got the ending right. Anyway very apt for a GeoCacher as:

 

Bho deis aileadh = from the mark on the footpath

 

Chae

[+bhodisatva]

Or the way i spell it = A bhodisatva is a person who's actually attained enlightenment but rather than going on to Nirvana him/herself, sticks around on Earth to help teach others the way.

[+dibbler69]

I dont mind bad spelling. I dont spell that good myself!! What I hate is txt speak. It dosent happen to much on this forum but on some I vist it takes ages to work out what people are saying.

[+The Blorenges]

As one who was taught that it is a "discourtesy" to the reader to produce a badly spelt, or poorly punctuated piece of text, yes, I do notice such things. However the most important consideration is whether the contributor has got their message across. I have seen a few postings on here which have left me wondering, "Did they really mean to say that.....?"

 

MrsB

[+t.a.folk]

KuLDn't rEelLY GiVE a daM abOWt SpeeLiNK MiSHtakeS OR TIepo'S TbH, As lONg aS I gET thE JIst Of THe cONvo Who CareS?

Sorry bhodisatva but really makes no sense to me, maybe I should go wake up a teenager to read it for me. I do however recognise the Gaelic spelling in your name (if only English was as systematic), although I'm not too sure that you have quite got the ending right. Anyway very apt for a GeoCacher as:

 

Bho deis aileadh = from the mark on the footpath

 

Chae

 

I'm long past being a teenager .I could read bhodistva's post easily .

[+bhodisatva]

I'm hardly a teenager myself (40), yet i understood everything i wrote perfectly Although i think someone mist the sarkasm it was intended to konvay

 

.

[+The Golem]

The last time this topic came up I expressed my views but as it's reared it's head again...

 

IF TYPING IN CAPITALS IS PERCEIVED AS THE FORUM EQUIVALENT OF SHOUTING typing without punctuating and using capital letters and full stops can be perceived as the forum equivalent of babbling i can overlook any number of spelling mistakes but we are all taught at school that a sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop it's not that difficult to remember is it

 

Just before you hit the enter button read over what you've typed, never mind the spelling mistakes - add a capital letter at the start and a full stop at the end. Please!

Edited July 11, 2006 by The Golem

[+bhodisatva]

This post has been edited by The Golem: Today, 10:21 AM

To remove fullstops and commas perhaps?

[+Jango & Boba Fett]

KuLDn't rEelLY GiVE a daM abOWt SpeeLiNK MiSHtakeS OR TIepo'S TbH, As lONg aS I gET thE JIst Of THe cONvo Who CareS?

 

Sorry bhodisatva but really makes no sense to me, maybe I should go wake up a teenager to read it for me. I do however recognise the Gaelic spelling in your name (if only English was as systematic), ... very apt for a GeoCacher as:

Bho deis aileadh = from the mark on the footpath

 

I'm long past being a teenager .I could read bhodistva's post easily .

 

I'm hardly a teenager myself (40), yet i understood everything i wrote perfectly. Although i think someone mist the sarkasm it was intended to konvay

 

< Jango inserts tongue firmly into cheek >

Don't take umbrage t.a.folk as bhodisatva and I were just joshing with each other. I know that jokes always lüze something in the explanation but here goes:

• bhodisatva was making four very noble verisimilitudes (Jango at bhodisatva) namely that: by its very nature the Forum will always have bad spelling, punctuation and grammar (SPAG); but to crave and strive endlessly after good SPAG will only result in you suffering from even more bad SPAG; however, it is possible to escape from this endless cycle of appalling SPAG; the way to good SPAG is to be found through following an ethical path of right view of spelling, right intention to spell, right sentence construction in speech, right action, right livelihood (if you can't spell avoid being a sign writer), right effort to spell well, right mindfulness towards spelling, right concentration on your spelling
  
• My point was that, as one of the 7% of the population with dyslexic traits, bhodistava's post did look like meaningless gobbledygook; although slowly and with some effort I could work it out. To me it was on first scan as meaningless as txt msgn, a pursuit beloved of teenagers who insist on borrowing their dad's phone from time to time and switching off the predictive text . So just as bhodistava's joke was that even bad spelling can still convey meaning, Jango's joke was that if you have difficulty transforming 26 little symbols into the 44 sounds of English, and this is compounded through the use of UpPeR CaSe and the removal of the other clues and cues used to decipher printed text, I could get it completely wrong - as I demonstrated with bhodistava's own name which it is possible to decipher as a Gaelic name which both alludes to bhodistava's geocaching and the true meaning of a bhodistava's as one who aspires to lead others down the enlightened pathway. Of course the Gaelic equivalent only looks like the first half of bhodistava and sounds like the second half, but then that's dukkah for you
  

So hopefully that's cleared that up, and for anyone who feels like SHOUTING could I point out that its much easier to read properly constructed, clearly formatted text, and that BLOCK CaPiTaLs are almost as difficult to read as bhodistava's original ironic post.

Edited July 11, 2006 by Jango & Boba Fett

[+The Blorenges]

SPAG

bolognaise

 

MrsB

 

 

...sorry! Wrong thread

[+Team S-J]

Spelling, typo or grammar?

Typo's are just life. I try to spell check first but as has been pointed out it's not easy to read ones own work. I have heard that reading stuff backwards helps as the brain doesn't fill in the gaps so much.

Spelling only confuses if the message gets mistaken. It would be nice to be able to spell everything correctly but sometimes we err.

Grammar. Firstly I'd like to say I went to a Comprehensive school in the 70’s so grammar wasn't seen as being a big issue. It is. I quite concur with some others here who really get riled by the lack of capital letters and the use of i rather than I. I don't know why it gets to me but it does.

The language used in the UK has changed over the centuries and no doubt it will change again. But what happens when text-speak is the norm? When my 10 year old chats to his mates online I do wonder what is a spelling mistake and what is text-speak.

I have come across another text point. If you sawp the mlddie lrettes of a scnetnee anuord the biarn can ullausy raed tgnihs qtiue qlkciuy. Tub fi ouy tsuj paws srettel dnuora ti si redrah ot daer. Go figure

Edited July 11, 2006 by Team S-J

[+BareClawz]

As long as I can understand what the author is trying to get across I'm content to translate typos. Some do take some working out and some are just hilarious.

Several years ago I was a GuideUK for a well known ISP and as such was often helping the less computer literate. From the name or context of the chat you can usually tell a lot about the sender and reading one question I was posed I assumed I was dealing with a child of about 8 or 9. Having sorted his problem out he commented that it was possible to teach an old dog new tricks. I asked his age and was surprised to recieve the answer of 42 and he had only been able to read and write for 4 years. He had his own small business and his wife had encouraged him to learn. He eventually became a great friend. I was brought up in the country and thought I knew Nature, but walking the woods with this man was an experience. He could see a deer and say she's about to lift her head and break away, she'll run that way. He was right every time. He may not have been able to read letters or numbers, but he could read the signs around him far better than anyone else I have ever met.

But back to the subject of typos and grammar. Who am I to judge another? They have done their best to express themselves and if they feel strongly enough that they have to pass a comment shouldn't we at least have the respect to listen to their words? If you were talking to them face to face would you feel it necessary to correct their spoken words? Shouldn't we help those not so fortunate as us to achieve the level we feel we have achieved, or are we just trying to show we're better than them? There is a fine line between education/helping and criticism.

 

BareClawz

[+Bear and Ragged]

Speeling is part of my job, so I try to get it korekt.

 

In the forums, slight miss-spelling is no problem, as we get the general gist of what the poster is trying to say.

Just keep away from txt spk.

 

Punctuation could be a little better on the forums...

I was told, as a general guideline, to put a comma where you take a breath. (It would seem some people just don't take a breath!

 

G

[Icarus.]

You could always try this game.......

 

Eats, Shoots and Leaves Game

[+Bear and Ragged]

You could always try this game.......

 

Eats, Shoots and Leaves Game

 

50%, let down by the apostrophe's!

 

I tend to write it another way at work, or leave them out, I know that what I write WILL be proof read.

 

G

[+The Blorenges]

You could always try this game.......

 

Eats, Shoots and Leaves Game

As I suspected.... a 100% Stickler!

 

MrsB

[+Jango & Boba Fett]

Sorry MrsB was that:

1. As I suspected, a 100% Stickler.
   
2. As I, suspected 100%, Stickler.
   
3. As I suspected 100%, Stickler.....
   
4. As I suspected 100%. Stickler!
   

I think we need to know .

 

Oh and what do people feel about the unwarranted use of exclamation marks!!!!!

 

Jango

Edited July 11, 2006 by Jango & Boba Fett

[+HazelS]

80% for me...

[+wizard1974uk]

I thought you were talking about my feet for a moment, didn't realise the smell had reached cumbria

[+Bear and Ragged]

Oh and what do people feel about the unwarranted use of exclamation marks!!!!!

 

Jango

 

That's a Question.

It needs a ? at the end.

Not a !

 

OK?

 

G

[+Jango & Boba Fett]

That's a Question.

It needs a ? at the end.

Not a !

 

OK?

Sorry I'll correct my mistake now.

 

What do people feel about the unwarranted use of exclamation marks!!!!?

 

Jango

[+Bear and Ragged]

Any more than 3 !'s is to be considered excessive!!!

[+rutson]

OK, we all make mistakes. I tend to be a bit of a stickler for correct punctuation and grammar. Let's face it, they can only be taught, but we live in the 21st century and spell-checker are now free and readily available; is it THAT hard to use one?

 

Now, if we can all be sure to use exactly three stops in an ellipsis....

[+Bear and Ragged]

*insert smiley with reading glasses on*

 

[+scaw]

am terrible at spelling and grammer also i can only type with 2 fingers........... so sorry if i offend anyone but this is me

[+Johnmelad]

i can only type with 2 fingers...

 

You went to the same typing school as me then, the academy of two finger search and thump!

[+Phil and Ruth]

Have they got a spell checker on here, if not perhaps they need one!!!

 

Wadders

 

Like most online forums there is no spell checker built in. However, if you want to check your spelling before posting and don't want the hassle of copying the text in to Word, checking it and copying it back, there is an easier way. I use an add-on for Internet Explorer called IESpell - find this at www.iespell.com. Download it, install it and then before submitting any web form, right-click the page and hit Check Spelling and let it do it's stuff. Simple, easy, free, and will get the pedants off your backs!

[+Master Mariner]

OK all you clever boys and girls, try this. Can you create a sentence that contains the word "and" five times consecutively and makes perfect sense. Any grammar, punctuation, etc is permitted.

[alistair_uk]

OK all you clever boys and girls, try this. Can you create a sentence that contains the word "and" five times consecutively and makes perfect sense. Any grammar, punctuation, etc is permitted.

I guess it would be valid to have a sentence referring to three "And"s (and that punctuation must be wrong) and referring to them as And and And and And, although I guess it would be best written as And, And and And. Ouch, my head hurts.

[+t.a.folk]

OK, we all make mistakes. I tend to be a bit of a stickler for correct punctuation and grammar. Let's face it, they can only be taught, but we live in the 21st century and spell-checker are now free and readily available; is it THAT hard to use one?

 

Is there a spell-checker programme that can correct words used in the wrong context ?

 

Big Taf writes things like "form " when he means" from " .

He also write things like "where" when he means "wear ".

 

He has been belittled for it often in his working life ,when writing reports ,by people fortunate enough not to have similar difficulties .

 

Retirement is so sweet !

[+Master Mariner]

OK all you clever boys and girls, try this. Can you create a sentence that contains the word "and" five times consecutively and makes perfect sense. Any grammar, punctuation, etc is permitted.

I guess it would be valid to have a sentence referring to three "And"s (and that punctuation must be wrong) and referring to them as And and And and And, although I guess it would be best written as And, And and And. Ouch, my head hurts.

 

You are on the right track. I was talking to a sign writer one day and he had been commissioned to make a new sign for a Fish and Chip Shop. The owner of the Chippie had taken a look at the rough of the sign and came out with the comment "I'd like more space between 'Fish' and 'and' and 'and' and 'Chips'".

[+Team JSAM]

As long as the point is made and I can understand what was written, most of my posts have spelling and/or grammer errors.