To think that spelling & grammar arent used at all anymore?

[Emmielu]

I understand that some people find spelling, grammar, reading etc difficult & to be honest i thought that was common these days but the more i look on my news feed about friends' status' & how hard it is to read what they have written because the spelling isnt good the more i think is it now down to the fact that shortening the words or making the words out how you think it is spelt is the norm?

For example, DD brought home a book that had been around all the children in her class. Kids took the book home with a teddy, parents write in the book to say what they did that evening or day. DD & i were reading through the comments and i struggled to read a few of them because the spelling was confusing and one of the comments made no sense whatsoever. Sausages was spelt "sassages", himself was written as "hiself". Am i being unreasonable to also feel very tempted to correct friends on facebook on their mistakes? Or am i strange?

P.S. Dont take this as a nasty post. I genuinely want opinions and thoughts. Not to be shot down.

Zigzag - of course I don't know all the reasons. As you said, I can't possibly know. I wasn't asking for reasons why the spelling or grammar was so bad, I was asking if people thought it wasn't being used in general anymore. I know people have different reasons for different things of course they do and will but honestly I'm sorry if i have offended you. I didn't mean for this post to be so hard on anyone. I wanted it to be lighthearted. Hense the giggles at my own grammar!

Spline n Grmmr arbr Duse at all.

That is why all posts read like ^ this. Right?

Over exaggeration much?

Nah, twas ever thus. When exactly was this golden age when everyone used standard English and grammar all the time? The internet age throws the informal written word into our faces far more than we ever experienced before, so that might make it seem like things have "got worse" - doesn't make it true. Every era of history has complaints of this type.

Have a little for your troubles.

Justfeckingdoit - thank you

Coconutty - I'll remember that now! Good little song to hum.

Ok I have to ask (am not native English speaker so don't crucify me) but shouldn't the sentence read "because the spelling isn't correct"? Honestly asking here

Re above I meant is it correct to say spelling isn't good?

ewaczarlie - weird! I just thought that reading it over again. Oh it's bloody awful. I give up on it. I'll admit defeat to my own stupidity! With dignity. Sort of.

If you're genuinely interested in text speak and current literacy practices this is a good article by David Crystal (it's a pdf, so will download).

It's, hence, not hense.

YABU. Only criticise what you can do better.

YABU. My respect for a person is always reduced if they don't have a reasonable grasp of both spelling and grammar. Unless I know there's a valid reason, e.g. dyslexia.

Judging from all the interviews on radio about poor calibre applicants for jobs, and frequent citing of these being issues, I am not alone either.

Ah, don't be too hard on yourself. The problem is that despite what many people would like to believe, the "rules" of language are not cut and dried, even within the standard form. Very few of us speak or write our standard form all the time, and the language would be far poorer if we did, and we all make mistakes, or use language, such as split inifinitives, that other people consider "wrong".

No. Pedants Corner. It's for trainee pedants.

Hehe, not offended in the slightest and didn't mean to come across like that.

It's not about the reasons in themselves, it's whether an understandable reason for their lack of spelling/grammar would make you feel different.

If it did/would, then you're just being selective in what you don't like, i.e. you're judging yourself to be a better person because you the other person doesn't have a valid enough reason that you can see as to why they aren't fussed.

You might have wanted the thread to be lighthearted, but I'm sure people who aren't shit hot on spelling/grammar don't take the judgy stance regularly made against them so lightly.

Probably makes them feel like crap seeing so many posters focus on the way their posts are constructed rather than the contents of what they're trying to say.

Context is everything (or if not everything at least worth considering). I don't expect the informal style of social media or texts to adhere to the same standards as a formal document. If I looked at a government White paper and it was full of ent and OMGLOL!!! it might strike me as odd.

And autocorrect has a lot to answer for.

So, Emma, if you don't know the reason, you just feel free to judge? Even if someone is patently a decent, good and kind person, you respect them less because their educational standards aren't up to yours?

Who is Emma?

Found her! Sorry.

Sorry - EmmaCate Tue 24-Apr-12 20:42:32

Zigzag - I understand what you mean now! And yes it probably does make them feel crap & I'm sorry to anyone who reads this & feels like it does.

WhatWouldGrandmaDo - I'm a fool for autocorrect. Text my friend the other day, it was meant to say: Why can't you get an appointment this morning?
Instead i sent: Why can't you get anal this morning? Huge laughs but so shameful.

No i don't disrespect anyone for how they spell things. When did i say i judge or disrespect people for how they spell words?

I think big part of the problem is that far to many people use TXT speak. This in turns they never use grammer and fully understand the rules that govern the English language.

Xx