Why do people enjoy picking others up on their spelling or grammar

[TakeMeDrunkImHome]

i have noticed this a LOT here, and i am fairly new. Is there some kind of badge that is awarded if you spell every word correctly and use every term in the correct way. Some people seem to respond to a particular thread just to correct the OP with their spelling or punctuation or grammar. WHY? Not everyone has a masters in english. Not everyone is awesome with spelling or grammar. Is it some way of making yourself look better than the next person?

CJCregg... I don't think I am misunderstanding you. By posting what you did, it covers a multitude of posts, en bloc, picking up the foibles that annoy you. So, they are aware, even without you 'pulling them up'. You take issue with the posters who don't write in a way that is acceptable to you, through laziness rather than conditions, but how would you know the difference?

I would suggest that your critique hits farther afield than you think, although it doesn't achieve anything other than perhaps restricting conversation as posters type and then delete their text.

Do you have dyslexia, CJCregg, did I miss that?

You don't need to be a masters in English to use your own language properly.

No, I don't have dyslexia. I was saying that I'm aware that there are lots of reasons for posts full of errors. And I'm saying - again - that, for me, they can be hard work to read. But I don't take issue with them - as toby said, it's not a matter of being cowardly, but one of not being unnecessarily rude.

I do take issue with people who say they can't be bothered.

I don't know the unwritten rules of Mumsnet, so I'll bow out I think, this seems like an unnecessarily fighty thread and I don't know if you gain black marks for posting on it. Want to keep my copy book clean.

I find that my dyslexic students frequently make more effort to hand in correctly written submissions. A bit like how foreigners often make more effort to write English correctly. And badly spelt, poorly punctuated writing must be incredibly difficult for people with dyslexia to read.

I notice no-one has picked me up on my spelling of yclept yet. It is an English word, it is unusual though, in fact quite unique. I remembered it after reading Beesimo's use of "afeart".

Means "called" or similar, doesn't it? I remember that bit from Chaucer at school ... Now there was a boy with a creative attitude to spelling!

nijinsky

I am gettin a bit worrit now Ise afeart yers getting a bit of a cusht on I, its a tale as old as time you meet someone yer eyes flash yer draw yer knife, then lo you see another side to them 'hate turns to 'love' and yer nicking their hankie to gloat over in the privacy of ya bedroom.

But no nijinsky it canna be I belong to another we must neva meet our eyes cannot entwine for I knas that I too will be lost!

Sorry pet yes we can at last be friends but our love must foreva be unspoken.

Yours Sincerely,

MRS Beesimo

I suppose people picking up others here is pointless showing off

Impressed at people knowing yclept. I think its a brilliant word. It does indeed mean "called" or "named as" and is the only irregular English verb which forms the past participle by using the prefix "y". English having lost many of its prefixes, although not all. I wonder if any dialects still use it.

Theres a huge difference between taking the trouble to write grammatically correctly in your own dialect than not being bothered to spell or write correctly in any version of English known to mankind! I guess its a way of preserving dialects and not allowing them to die out.

Beesimo that was almost poetic, shush now though, we must strive to keep it quiet.

nijinsky

Thaa gets it!

Iv all ye deeins i' this world,
Deea reet wi' all yer might;
Wrang nivver can
be reet, yeh knaw,
An seea as through life yeh goa

Keep Stright

Frae heearly youth, to hoary age,
You shud mackt your delight
To do your best for yan anudder,
And kahndly help a fallin' brudder
To Keep Stright

Shud money tempt yea to deea wrang
Just give this thowt somm weight
Sall Ah be happier wi' this brass?
Ah doubt ya weeant; seea lei it pass
Keep Stright

Deal honestly wiv ivvery yan.
Then you'll feel happy quite
Don't muck yer mouth wi' onny lie,
Whativver t consequence may be.
Keep Stright

Hawf t' misery there is in't world
We seean wud put te flight.
God sent us lots o' happiness
But Mans creeeakt ways oft make it less.
Keep Stright

Lass 2 typing as Mam to slow

I'm with CJCregg. If someone's post is too difficult to read then I gloss over it. MNing is entirely voluntary, there is no compulsion to read or comment on every posting, so if it involves too much 'translation' then I ignore it.
I am not the only one: maypole1 posted quite a bit yesterday and, as the day wore on, fewer and fewer people addressed her posts. It looks like they couldn't be bothered to spend the time deciphering. Her loss.

Just as there is no MN law saying that people should use good SPag, there is also no MN law that says that I have to read everything.

Well that's all very well Beesimo, but the whole point of clear, correct, unambiguous standard English is that we can all understand it. Not just people who live in our immediate vicinity. Your Yorkshire poem may be very entertaining but I have got a fecking clue what any of it means and neither has 99.9% of the rest of the UK population.

haven't got a clue, sorry.

Even I can't understand that Bee

Well, bearing in mind its a poem, I think I got most of it at first reading:

In all your doings in the world
Do right with all your might
Wrong never can
be right, you know
And as through life you go
Keep straight

From early youth, to hoary age
You should make your delight
To do your best for each other
And kindly help a fallen brother
To keep straight

Should money tempt you to do wrong
Just give this thought some weight
Shall I be happier with this money
I doubt you know it, just let it pass
Keep straight

Deal honestly with everyone
Then you'll feel happy quite
Don't dirty your mouth with any lie
Whatever the consequence may be
Keep straight

Half the misery there is in the world
We soon would put to flight
God sent us lots of happiness
But Man's devious ways often make it less
Keep straight

(No connections to Yorkshire or Northumberland whatsoever)

Re writing in dialect - if no-one does it, we will lose it. Obviously its good to have the ability to change for formal settings, but I distinguish it from incorrect and spelling.

For what is the English we speak? Merely one of the dialects that was chosen to be "proper English". Wasn't it the dialect of Wessex? But if you speak other Germanic languages, of which English is one, English is strangely irregular and unstructured. The grammar represented by the dialects is often much more advanced. e.g. the retention of the second person singular thee, thine and thou. Its much more in keeping with all the other Germanic languages. Likewise the prefixing of verbs to make the past tense. English has dropped it mostly, but retains it in some cases (e.g. alike, afraid, beholden). If you are used to this more logical form of grammar, it is easier to learn other languages (and understand different dialects that use it).

I'm also not entirely sure of the status of some no longer commonly used grammatical conventions in English? (e.g. those above). Are they correct English or not? If they are not in common usage, does that make them wrong? Or are they still correct English usage, albeit archaic, because most people do understand the meaning of thee, thine and thou, etc.? Does anyone know what the "official version" of all this is?

I speak with a local accent ,some people think that is wrong though

Or even from incorrect spelling! (with no "and")

Nijinsky

You are very quick witted to work me poem out so well.

I love THEE means I love YOU

I am THINE means I am YOURS as in my HEART is yours

THOU must not means YOU must not

On the night we first 'spoke' DH said to me

'Aa's thine, thees mine, thass it' or in English 'I'm yours, your mine, that's it'

When a proper Yorkshire lad says 'thass it' at the end of a sentence it means more than any signed and witnessed contract ever could, it means end of discussion my word is my bond and that is my final word on the subject.

Does anyone else get goosebumps reading Beesimo's posts?
Extraordinary and compelling.

Does anyone else get goosebumps reading Beesimo's posts?

No, not really. I do get a pain in my arse though - does that count?

One of our yard dogs is called Harry he's hes a mardy bugger too!

And a perfect display of all the grammatical conventions that English has now lost, but which make it much more meaningful in just a few words. This is why English struggles to replace the words it has lost - how do you say the plural of "you"?

Sorry beesimo - the dialect doesn't do anything for me. I am a mardy bugger though!