jim968

<img src="graemlins/soapbox.gif" border="0" alt="[soapbox]" />

Jim, "Ignorance: The Final Frontier!"

ELLSSUU

Wait; let me throw in my 951 cents. What about people who are dyslexic? My wife is very dyslexic and has severe problems with sentence structure and spelling but is a successful CPA.

In a setting like this it is difficult, at best, to credibly judge someone b/c of the way they spell or write unless one takes in the context that was intended. A perfect example would be Amaf’s:

“I shook the prosectors hand and paided and left.” Or another gem by Amaf:

“All of my friends agreed we were to tired to start trouble, and that they started it for a reason. But you should have seen their faces when they seen we had two cars instead of one. “

From his stories we knew, at least I did, that he was a moron, therefore, his spelling and structure fits his personality.

Sorry, that guy ticks me off in a Craigesque way. Please feel free to critique me as I'm not perfect and enjoy improving myself.

User 462021

[quote]Originally posted by Water944t:
<strong>

This is exactly the kind of stuff I am sick of.

So you are saying that you dont give a crap about how many of us think you are an illiterate boob?</strong><hr></blockquote>

I'm sorry if you think people are illiterate if they make a spelling error here and there. It isn't a good idea to judge people on their education. Especially when you only know them through a web board.

[quote]Originally posted by Water944t:
<strong>
Or are you saying that we are not worth the effort for you to type properly? </strong><hr></blockquote>

No, I'm saying that this is more of a community of friends and friends shouldn't care how other people spell.

[quote]Originally posted by Water944t:
<strong>
Or are you trying to tell us that you think we are all too stupid to care if you choose to disrespect us all by blatently admitting that we arent important enough to bother with? </strong><hr></blockquote>

I don't remember saying that.

[quote]Originally posted by Water944t:
<strong>
Learn to spell, show some respect for the rest of us, and show a little more respect for the image you convey to the world. Everyone drops a ringer every now and then, but show some pride in yourself. When did it become so unfashionable to have a brain? I thought geek was in? </strong><hr></blockquote>

My idea of respect is not shown by how you spell.

[quote]Originally posted by Water944t:
<strong>
You are limited in life by only two things. The amount of effort you are willing to expend to meet a goal, and the ability you have to express yourself to others. Vocabulary is a big part of that. If you can tell someone exactly what it is that you need, the chances of getting it are higher. </strong><hr></blockquote>

This is a laid back setting. When you are hanging out with your friends, do you jump down their throat when they say something incorretly, use the wrong word, ect?

[quote]Originally posted by Water944t:
<strong>
I blame MTV and network television. </strong><hr></blockquote>

I don't have cable TV.

[quote]Originally posted by Water944t:
<strong>
Like someone else mentioned, this is all part of the dumbing down of America. </strong><hr></blockquote>

I believe America is getting dumber as well. Not because people don't feel the need to correct their spelling on a web board though.

[quote]Originally posted by Water944t:
<strong>
My grandparents never finished high school, but they could both do the multiplications tables to over 1000. And they both spoke and wrote beautifully. The education system now only expects you to learn to the 10's tables. What a joke. I have friends with advanced degrees that can barely add 4+7 or write a simple paragraph.
</strong><hr></blockquote>

The school system sucks. I think it has alot to do with the parents and not the kids. The parents don't look after their kids like they used to. They don't disapline them enough these days. They get sent to their room for doing something bad, but it doesn't do much when they have a TV or computer in there with them.

I have/still do work hard in school. I was on the Dean's list last semester and I plan to do the same this semester. I proofread and spell check my work that gets turned in....

[quote]Originally posted by Water944t:
<strong>
Show some pride, if you have any.</strong><hr></blockquote>

My Lord tells me not to be proud.

richard glickel

Why not move this extraordinarily uninteresting thread to the "Off Topic" forum? "Rants and Raves" could be more appropriate.

Richard
'87 Carrera-3.6L <img src="graemlins/burnout.gif" border="0" alt="[burnout]" />

User 462021

[quote]Originally posted by richglickel:
<strong>Why not move this extraordinarily uninteresting thread to the "Off Topic" forum? "Rants and Raves" could be more appropriate.

Richard
'87 Carrera-3.6L <img src="graemlins/burnout.gif" border="0" alt="[burnout]" /> </strong><hr></blockquote>

I agree.

Olli Snellman

Thre is we foreigners, olso wha cant wrote broper england

It would be much easier to write in finnish.Only problem is quite few would understand me !

Olli
with bad english

JohnK944

Let's put a fork in this thread...

How about someone start a OT RANT on the font size or the style.

triscadek

[quote] <hr></blockquote>

thomschoon

Gee whiz I misspell all the time, mainly because of my ongoing dependence on spell check. I have found that the more I use the computer tools, the easier it is for me to be a lazy speller. I apologize in advance but I agree that this is an informal format and we should cut some slack. I then throw in my 2 cents and say that the focus on grammar could easily be parlayed in to educational elitism so lets all relax and enjoy a wonderful forum for sharing information

Cheers
Dr Thom Schoonover Ph.D. (which means I spent way too much time in school)

billybones

Sorry, for all of my misspelling and bad grammar. I do find it funny though. I post a question about where the 2mm shim goes and get no response for 2 days. Bring on the grammarians and we get 2 pages of replies. So from now on I will try harder to be more correct here.

Water944t

I will leave this thread with a quote from a very smart person. It is commonly miscredited to Nelson Mandela.

[quote]"You are a child of God," "Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightening about shrinking, so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us; it is in everyone. <hr></blockquote>

[quote]Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that a son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another. <hr></blockquote>


And at the risk of further inflaming the situation, Tim...

While I respect your religious beliefs, I personally have no use for that bible belt nonsense. God wants everyone to shine, not live like a Quaker. All that other crap is what men wrote to control other men. God has no use for sacrifice.

[quote]Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light not our darkness that frightens us.
- Nelson Mandela<hr></blockquote>

Manning

I thought this was fun. I like language and the power it provides to you in conversation. It can be so much fun to use it to mess with people and leave them wondering what just happened. A powerful grasp of your native language allows you to do that.

And oddly enough, cable television sparked my interest in language years ago with the comedy specials they would air featuring George Carlin and Dennis Miller. Talk about a grasp of the English language, kaw!

I hope I didn't offend our Welsh friends. I figured since I am of Welsh and Irish descent, I would pick on the one in closest proximity to England. Next time I'll pick on the Irish who still speak Gaelic instead of the Welsh who speak Cymraeg.

And what fun would this been on the Off Topic forum? Does anyone here visit that anyway?

Jeff928S4

Ahhhhhh Dennis Miller!!

This guy "seems" so eduacted because he has a brilliant grasp of the english language. His references are in-depth and well thought out. But how smart is he really? Is he smart or just well prepared? It's all about image - I guess that is one of the points of this thread.

I have an idea - do what I do most of the time....I simply type my replies in Word Perfect or Coral Word and cut and paste them into this forum after they have been spell checked. Also, when someone walks in - I don't have a web browser window on my screen - but rather a Word program, so it "looks" like I'm working. I usually type my replies in the middle of reports I'm doing, so "How much should I pay for Valves" is surrounded by "The “when and then” approach to discipline which helped to provide my child with the desired request while still using a guiding rule to execute." and "Keeping things age appropriate helps greatly since all 3 (+) of my kids are all at different stages." Nobody has any clue I'm typing "Porsche" stuff - I just look very busy at work.....and I always look annoyed (a la George Costanza), so people think I'm very, very busy!!


Just a suggestion....

944S Boyeee

PrerYDoG

I have been intentionally ignoring this thread since it began, but I couldn't take it anymore, and just had to look. (Call it my desire for self-torture).

I am not so much taken back by the lack of spelling as the lack of grammar. Though spelling mistakes happen (I'm sure I am making some even as I write this), I feel it is the lack of sentence structure and grammar that causes people to be inarticulate, and look "stooopid". I will admit that I judge people on grammar and spelling. It bothers me. When I read, it can take me 5 or more minutes to get through a normal size page of text. I proofread and correct in my mind EVERY SINGLE MISTAKE I SEE, and I look VERY hard to find them (hence, why I've avoided this thread as much as possible).

And to those who say that grammar isn't corrected in conversations, I say carry on a conversation with me! My friends, family, and co-workers all dislike my correcting their grammar. It happens, I can't help it, no matter how much I work on it. I too have overcome certain "learning" disabilities. I now achieve what I never thought possible, and a lot of it is because of my ability to clearly get across my thoughts and ideas.

I applaud every teacher and professor I have had that has made me (through negative reinforcement in grades, and positive reinforcement, in showing what the English language can do for me) learn spelling, grammar, sentence structure, definitions, similes, allegories, and to those other who ranted about it, addition, subtraction, multiplication, powers, roots, lines, curves... (I'll stop at that).

Maybe it's an obsessive-compulsive disorder that every piece of math posted on this board I have to do; maybe I'm being freakish by correcting grammar and spelling. I just finished a book, "The Shark Mutiny", which had an excellent plot. I hated it because grammar, spelling, and punctuation were all mangled. I think that editors must not be paid to do their jobs anymore, or maybe lack of school standards, prestige, or some other market factor has left the world without editors, editors for facts (look at 911 coverage), editors for spelling, grammar, and even research editors (can anyone coming out of high school now tell me what year the war of 1812 was?).

I try not to judge people on the mistakes I find. It's hard for me, and I pass some of it off, but there are some people on this board who have lost credibility in my eyes because of their inability to convey their message in a written form. I'm not asking for a Pulitzer, but I will ask for comprehensible.



Water944T - We should hook up, exchange quotes, talk about cars, college, and people who can't spell

cmoss

Water944t

Alas, some will view their language--at least spelling and grammar--as a vulnerable fortress in need of defense. Some view poor writing skills as a lack of respect. Methinks such people need more to do.

Look, I'm a math professor. Just about nobody likes math, and just about everybody will quite literally boast of being a mathematical imbecile. If I spent my time interpreting this as a lack of respect, etc., I'd spend my days totally pissed off. I have better things to do... Don't you?

Language is a tool designed for the communication of ideas, concepts, etc. In the final analysis only one question has utility. Can I make myself understood?

And language is a very plastic tool at that. It is written and spoken. It exists alone in our brains. I think many people view this forum as a proxy for a face-to-face conversation. Who amongst us runs a conversation through a spell checker?

In other words, this is language on the fly. I'm not sure it can be measured with the same metrics used in an English class. It's much more akin to conversation.

Chris