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?

Loving the new phrase.

SPaG hags :o

Fantastic post beesimo

i disagree. media and communication is moving so fast these days, we wont be using paper and pencils in the future, who needs to be able to spell with spell checker?

the only people pushing for spelling to be fought or is an older generation, young kids these days dont care and they are the ones who will be taking over and developing new technologies. this is something older people are scared o, it used to be a sign you were well educated etc but now there is little importance on how you spell.

in the end does it really matter? i dont think so.

language will evolve over generations nd now it will b all txt spk innit.

who needs to be able to spell with spell checker?

Well, the students' whose essays I've marked who refer to 'Ode To A Knight In Gale', or 'a viscous circle' would probably agree.....

I do think it matters. Not so much on here, if I'm honest, where I don't write in the same way I would in certain other situations, but it does still matter.

Writing "Ode To A Knight In Gale" shows a comprehension problem not a spelling problem surely?

what Joan said - spell checker's no ruddy use if you want to make sure you've used 'right' or 'rite' or 'wright' correctly. Or you are talking about the Isle of Wight, not the colour white. And so on and so on....

I know MN is an informal context where spelling and grammatical mistakes don't necessarily make a huge difference - although sometimes it can be confusing and affect the meaning of your sentence. But if no-one ever corrects your mistakes, how are you going to know that you've got something wrong? I saw someone consistently using 'per say' instead of 'per se' and wondered whether I should tell her. Because if she writes 'per say' at work, or in any formal context, she might look a bit daft.

Of course we all make mistakes, especially when typing at speed in an informal environment but sometimes it's handy to know if you've got something plain wrong. And sometimes when a poster is being bloody obnoxious and insisting they are an expert and everyone else is stupid, it's hard to resist pointing out their post is littered with spelling mistakes. If you are boasting about how clever you are in a written context, it's worth checking your spelling!

I have to say that I really value the fact that there's a high standard of written English on this board, compared to others I've been on. The posts read much more fluently.

I do love the posts where someone is so completely up their own arse and then makes a mistake. Doesn't everyone?

I think Pagwatch made a really good point about learning - isn't it better to learn from someone's example than from someone yelling at you?

By the way, how many people double/triple check their typing on a thread like this?

I disagree, bee. It is not "a hell of a lot of time and effort" to use proper SPaG. I was taught correct use in the first year of secondary school and it has stayed with me. It is like comparing brushing your teeth twice a day to being high maintenance.

We are talking about the basics, that most eleven or twelve year olds are capable of grasping.

atswimtwolengths 5 times at very least on a thread like this

quick - yes, it is, I agree - I'm just saying that spellcheck can't ever be the whole answer.

I want to know more about dwarfing.

senua you are assuming everyone has had the same education input as you. You also assume that everyone finds spelling and grammar easy to grasp. You are wrong I am afraid.

I would never correct anyone's spelling, spelling comes quite naturally to me and if I'm unsure, I always check it. I cringe if I reread my own posts and see a glaring mistake, but am not bothered by anyone elses.

Grammar is a different issue, texts with no paragraphs and punctuation just render themselves unreadable. If I see a long post like that I just don't read it. And the same goes for textspeak.

By the way I didn't go to university and I don't speak Latin

Well, I do have a masters in English. And I don't give two shits about how people spell and punctuate so long as they make sense.

I can't spell for toffee, I never use colons or semi colons and my grammar isn't too bad, but certainly isn't perfect.

What I can tell you is that language is a tool to successfully communicate thoughts and feelings to others. If you manage to do that in a way in which the listener/reader can understand without making too much effort then it's irrelevant if you make a mistake or two along the way.

The rules exist to guide you and everyone else to a rough area of common ground. Deviate too much and you will not be understood. This is why the rules are important. But there is leeway. Rules are not there to make people feel inadequate, and language-users who treat the rules like this are nobs.

I do like a good typo, mind

What is dwarfing?

beesimo- how long have you been here? You sound fantastic!

I am having to sit on my hands and shove rags in my mouth now.

I've become a bit hyper-vigilante. It's excrutiating.

Anyway ScousyFogerty as Bucherest and countless others have said up-thread, where exactly is all this spiteful and unnecessary pouncing on the Apostrophe Abusers? I completely disagree that it is a common occurrence to see it done without just cause.

excruciating. HAHHAHAHAH Prat.

I'm having baaaaad thoughts about maypoles and dwarves.

Will no-one think of the dwarvvvvvves!

Oh come on fellatio..
Let it all out....you'll feel so much better......

I am up my own arse a lot. And I spell badly sometimes I am sure. I feel I provide a useful mn public service .

LadyBeagle....come off it some people say posts without paras are easier to read. Only a nit, would nit-pick about it on Mumsnet. Its not the Daily Torygraph. (Thank god) Save your bril scribing for the Times Educational Supplement. Tis be Mumsnet. A site for good, bad and indifferent writers.

I have been in almost all the daily and evening papers many times. And if you write to them you do note their style. (But not slavishly) A good joke
gets laughs in the Torygraph, the Indy, the Gruniad or the Mirror (or should that be the Daily cheryl?)

Fellatio, did you mean "hyper-vigilante" or "hyper-vigilant"?

pedantry, even!

We pendants are always, always found swinging by our own petards...

Bad spelling and punctuation in general don't bother me. I find posts that lack paragraphs very difficult to read though.

I often misspell words, so have nothing against spelling mistakes per se, but inexplicably people spelling "lose" as "loose" and "tongue" as "tounge" grates on my nerves. It's my problem though and doesn't make me think any less of the misspeller :)