So all these pedants who correct posters grammar

[MamaMaiasaura]

Seen posters correcting grammar on here, do they do so in RL situations?

No not for you Lying I'd reserve that kind of stalking investigations for the pedants. I might be wrong they may be perfect pendants, but experience says not many of those actually exist, it's like the perfect man.

Disclaimer: All of my posts are now G&T tarnished. [festive hiccup]

mn is online social blah blah doesnt need to be exacting and correct
ipad2 dies wacky autocorrection too so that adds to the randomness
only the saddos and harrumphers correct online
I think its wanky to correct online spelling and syntax,usually to compensate for losing a point or argument. or the other classic were they get the jist when it suits,and respond accordingly BUT to appoint no likey it's all "oh my very gosh haven't a clue what youre on about...." a selective reading if you ask me

I like to read posts how people talk iyswim

MN is a conversation ,not a bloody exam or job application

YANBU. I get paid to correct poeples grammar, spelling and punctuation, I'm not going to do it for free! There's a time & place, blah blah blah.
I have a soft spot for the "paragraphs/punctuation are your friend" types though.They do have a point in long rambling threads.
And txtspk is very annoying.

poeples sniggers again but not in a nasty way as you are not a pedant.

I only point it out as you are sympathetic to the pendants.

Notice to all pendants:

I truly like being corrected,I learn from it and everyfink,
so if you would like to follow me around correcting my terrible English,
go right ahead.

sit and natter it was a deliberate mistake! Well done you!

Bleurgh Yep I believe you. (Fail on the use of caps in last post, was that deliberate too?)

All I am saying is that none of us are purrfick, better not to sit in judgement until we are. (That excludes me big time)

Amen Pag. And Proud - the English language has not yet descended into "a series of grunts" despite hundreds of years of people prophesying its demise - I've read letters from the 1600s almost saying what you have. Except in markedly different English.

Jean Aitchison's "Language Change: Progress or Decay" is excellent reading on this subject.

habbibu, I agree about there not being 'standard' or 'correct' grammar per se - and certainly I write on mumsnet differently to the way I would write an essay or report. I think the problem here is that we are negotiating a context that (in the grand scheme of things) is very recent - an internet forum.

Most of us can choose an appropriate register for the envioronment we're in (and people who can't are socialy illeterate, and have been failed by our education system). An example would be a person who uses 'txt spk' to her teenage neice, Jamaican-english dialect at her large Jamaican family Chirstmas, and formal 'standard' English in her professional job. She is able to use different 'Englishes' appropriate for her context, and she uses them conciously and actively - she is able to make her language do the 'work' she needs it to do (relate to her neice - progress in her job - be part of her family).

But when this woman comes on mumsnet, what register should she use? We cannot hear each other. Most regional accent is lost in type. It is harder to adjust our language to the context, because the context is vast, fluid, text based, and uncharted. So no wonder people get it wrong - hit the 'wrong note' as it were. We have little to guide us.

If you make a post on a forum which begins with 'So' (as in 'So I was sat watching TV when DH farted') or use 'could of' or 'should of', people are perfectly entitled think you're fucking thick.

If someone corrects your poor grammar, spelling or another aspect of your written English, I would take it that they are giving you the benefit of the doubt and have assumed you made an error rather than that you're just stupid.

yy, absolutely, it's choice of register, and it's not yet quite established whether there's a given register for the internet I suspect there won't be - it's too diverse, and the register for MN may well be different even from that for netmums, despite ostensibly similar constituencies.

A lingua franca is necessary, as you say, when non-verbal cues are lost, but whether it's essential that that be a formal standard English in a relatively informal context is up for debate.

I do think (and I think we're agreeing here) that rather than teaching a "correct" form, children ought to be taught to be bi-dialectal, so that their local forms (which can be really lovely) aren't stigmatised, but that they can also use a lingua franca for a wider and more formal world.

Agree pagwatch.

Well, i guess I'd rather be fucking thick than fucking rude.

Ha ha ha, "if you use "should of" or "could of", you are "fucking thick"".

Ha ha ha ha ha ha.

I couldn't give a rat's arse about people's grammar. People who correct grammar are bloody annoying and rude. It's become this cool, snarky thing and people think they are so bloody smart when they do it.

It is totally acceptable to start a sentence with "so".

One of my favourite games is to find a pedant and then follow them around correcting their mistakes and sloppy pronunciation, because, sure enough, everyone does it.

Yes, what exactly is wrong with starting a sentence with "so"?

So, this is what I think ,if someone corrected my grammar on MN I would tell them to fuck off

So, if a poster corrects my grammar I should of told the to fuck the twattery off.

Them (thick fingers and thick brain apparently). Better that been a rude uptight tosspot

Better that been a rude uptight tosspot

It's 'being', not 'been'.

habbibu, you are so right. In fact, I think teaching children (or adults - I'm from an FE background) they should not / must not use certain registers they are familiar with from home is disenfranchising them. People need the ability to choose.

What is sad is that it is evident that many people (and many posters here) don't have the ability to choose. I would argue that for the vast majority that ability has been denied them (rather than them making a concious choice not to learn) and that will, statistically, affect their life chances in RL, and how others view them on a forum like mumsnet.

Personally, I choose to use a register that does not include outright abusive comments. I think I can make a point more compelling with a standard, RP, and (mostly!) grammatically correct register. But that's just me.

Yes, what exactly is wrong with starting a sentence with "so"?

It makes no sense, that's what's wrong with it.

news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9644000/9644002.stm

With you on all of that (apart from the RP!)

Anyone get the feeling there are two conversations going on in this very thread, in two different registers...

Touché

But you can fuck off.