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?

x-posts Bucharest.

I think it's lovely when someone does that for another poster. Often it's a stream of consciousness from someone who is upset and needs help, but the content still needs to be digested and acknowledged.

(not by lazy types like me though.)

I think it depends on how and when people pull others up on their spelling tbh.

My spelling is crap and I am always being pulled up on it. But I do think that I can write fairly elequantly, so it does grate a little when I write out a long, considered post and someone rushes in to point out my one spelling mistake. I don't make excuses for my crap spelling, but an explanation for it is perhaps that I read braille, and from the age of seven that braille is shortened into contractions so you never see a word in its full form. Once I started using a computer I used a screenreader which speaks the words as I type them. so essentially, while I do write all the time, I never actually see a word written out in full, and so sometimes, if jaws doesn't mispronounce the word I might spell it wrong. so e.g. jaws pronounces 'racist' and 'racest' exactly the same, so if I were in doubt it would be easy to misspell it.

Same with counsellor/councillor/councellor - all pronounced exactly the same by the screenreader.

As I said it's not an excuse but it does perhaps go some way to explain.

Also I think that sometimes we lose site of the fact this is just an internet forum, and that nothing we write here is being written in professional capasity and is often written while a poster is doing something else. It is perhaps a bit unreasonable to expect that people spell/grammar check their writings before posting. I do often stick a word into word now and spell-check it before posting for fear I will incur the wrath of the pedants.

Also, I think people need to think about when they are pulling someone up on their spelling. I remember years ago I posted on a sensitive thread, the op had found out she was pregnant and her dh was pressuring her into a termination, she was very upset and lots of people gave sensitive advice. I wrote out a long post and it had one error in it, and someone came on to point out that one spelling mistake. Sensitive threads of that nature are not the time or the place to do that IMO. Also, if you are that bothered by one spelling mistake that you can seemingly overlook the nature of the thread and everything else in it but feel compelled to point out the one error, then perhaps you have bigger issues of your own that should be addressed.

I have no tolerance for text speak though and anyone on my twitter/facebook that uses it is summarily deleted.

I am nit anti-pedant.
I love how well some people on here write. It's a beautiful thing.

But people who are motivated to learn can do so just by reading what you guys write. If I read a word I don't know I can go and look it up. If I enjoy the structure of a phrase I can try and copy it.

It is the difference between the parent who teaches their child manners by being beautifully polite and the parent who leans over them shouting "say thank you!"

at nit anti pedant.
[twit]

Hmmm.

If it's a poster who routinely tells other people they've failed their children by not earning £100k a year so they can send their offspring to private school (preferably Habs ), and makes unfounded statements about IQ and 'sink schools', but the poster flaunts this apparent superiority in a fairly illiterate fashion - yes, the poster is asking for it.

If a poster tells me I'm happy for my children to get Cs because I have such low aspirations for them, and that she'll be laughing at me and them when they're at a 'bog standard uni' whilst hers are at 'Oxbridge', but tells me this in atrocious spelling, then yes, it's too good an opportunity to miss.

I wouldn't just correct the spelling of someone talking about a supersoaker or something, but if you start running down my childrens' educations, or saying that state schools are crap, you bloody well need to do it in an articulate, correctly spelt fashion.

senua text speak is virtually another language. 95% of the time I have no idea what it is someone is trying to say in it.

However, I can usually figure out what is meant by someone even if their SPaG (I like SPaG, there I said it again) is pretty bad.

I can't do lack of paragraphs though, if I am presented with a wall of text I just don't read it. It is too hard.

It's not exactly rocket science just to remember that PLURALS DO NOT HAVE APOSTROPHES....

Arf at 'supersoaker'

But yes, Joan, you are right.

because this is a medium where we communicate via words on a screen perhaps?
does it matter?

I think it must actually take effort to write in text speak.

I mean when u r writing somethng in full u have 2 write all te words, but wth txtspk u have 2 thnk first.

I've just read that back and it made my head hurt. lol.

Shock shitter I have this a lot my spelling is awful

When certain people cannot attack my points they simply say well you cant not spell.

To be honest I think its childish and when this happens despite my low education I know I have won the argument

I only had and education up till year 8 so struggle a lot especially with spelling , grammar.

In short attacking ones spelling and not the content of the post usually means you know you are wrong

I can't figure out why people don't just call each other and sort out whatever it is they are trying to say.

My nieces are surgically attached to their phones (of course) but they spend far more time trying to decipher what is going on than if they just called the person and said 'Hey, lets me here and then' rather than 50 billions back and forths.

God, I am getting old aren't I? Kids today...

FellatioNelson said

"IME, all the while a poster is being pleasant, or asking for advice people are pretty tolerant of grammatical errors, or poor punctuation and spelling. (Less so of Text speak and rightly so - it's unforgivable.)

Where people will get pulled up is when they are being arsey, snobby and superior about something, and less than tolerant of the supposed flaws in others. It just puts them in their place and shows that we all have weaknesses.

Besides, if you have always struggled with grammar and apostrophe then rather than be defensive about it, why not view it as an opportunity for you to learn?
It's really NOT that hard to grasp the most important basics if you take the trouble to find out. I'm fed up with hearing people dismissively saying 'it doesn't matter anyway' and that only stuffy small-minded snobs worry about grammar and punctuation. It matters a great deal - one misplaced apostrophe can change the entire meaning of a sentence."

I agree with this completely.

I commented on the spelling yesterday of the poster whose OP listed the 'perfect parenting' she planned to do, emphasizing all the extra homework and extra curricular activities she was going to pile on her child. I felt justified in suggesting that she do some extra spelling homework herself first...

I wouldn't normally comment on someone's spelling and grammar; it's rude. But if I'm honest, I do have to grit my teeth when I see people making the same spelling mistake over and over, or misusing their/there/they're etc. If I'm not sure of the spelling of something, I type most of it into my google toolbar, and the correct spelling will pop up on the autofill list. It takes two seconds; I think not attempting to spell things properly is lazy.

I don't pick people up on it (excpet DH when he's annoying me ) but I really, really want to.

I'm a teacher and see status updates on FB from my colleauges that say things like 'xxx has a rediculous amount of marking to do' 'xxx should of stayed in bed' 'hope their feeling better soon!'. These are people responsible for educating children!

The lady I class share with put up a display with a banner saying 'The Tudor's' once

I don't usually say anything because I know it won't go down well and people will think I'm just being unpleasant for the sake for it.

Oh I wondered when Joan would show herself she is one of these poster who routinely attacks spelling usually when she has lost her argument.

She also enjoys mixing threads so when she has lost her argument on one thread she will try and bring it up on another thread to gather support so you only see her post out of context to the rest

AS SHE HAS DONE HERE

Agrees with Beesimo... Adults correcting other adults is usually a way of nobodies trying to be somebodies. IMO

I'd like to see some naming and shaming. Because I've yet to see evidence of all these SPaG hags riding roughshod over posters who can't spell.

Link! Link!

Because while I do think it's very very very important, I would never correct anyone on a public forum. I'd just roll my eyes on the QT.

RuffletheAnimal- I don't understand your post- do you mean because we are communicating via words on a screen the SPaG of those words isn't important?

So Iloveyoutoo it has nothing to do with teaching just being a bitch and attacking someone on something other than the argument reminds me of a child they will have a row about something then end up saying well you smell or something thats not related in anyway to the row

Never mind we all have our cross top bear

Nope, just getting stake burning and cheap electricals.

Um.... I can't really understand you maypole1...

Also posters who are loosing their argument start swearing some dwarfing and correcting spelling in the same post To me that shows less intelligence than bad grammar

What the Jeff is dwarfing when it's at home?

Pots and kettles I'd say Maypole with regard to the swearing.....

ILoveYouToo.... Yes, but we can all grit out teeth, can't we? I do this often but I do it quietly. There is no way I'd pick somebody up for their spelling and grammar on a forum. When I see posters do it I wonder at their self-esteem and own feelings of worth. Attacks on people's literacy, on a forum, say much about the attacker.

Oh dear I loveyoutoo