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.

oops....sorry just found the comment you were reffering to habbibu.

Not you, Emmie - EmmaCate Tue 24-Apr-12 20:42:32

And yummy, see the article by David Crystal I linked to above, where he debunks that myth.

I can't help wondering how long it will take until the Eloi can't remember what books are ...

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh

(That is the correct spelling, on my planet.)

No no - Emma said that. It's a few posts up.

Glad I'm not the only one getting confused

FeakAndWeeble - Let's face it. It's not difficult to get confused on here is it?

So it s correct not good spelling? Sorry am not harping on just making sure I know for future. And yes, language quality has suffered hugely and it's not just here. My parents always complain about the poor grammar of tv presenters back home. Personally I blame education and a move away from classic subjects and a focus on things like fashion technology (or what ever those new subjects at school are called)

southeastastra I'm a web editor at a local news website, and I completely hold my hands up to that. But please bear in mind we're generally chronically understaffed, and although there may be two or three minor typos every day, that's out of many thousands of words on the site. Plus with breaking news, it's generally filed straight to the web by the reporter and errors corrected afterwards.

What is depressing is the increase in typos in the printed paper, which is down to it being produced and read by far fewer people before going to print now. Sad times.

(OP was hilarious though - it's also part of my job to moderate comments, and it's the rule that people only ever complain about bad grammer. That was a stonking addition to the genre.)

Well, it appears to be me causing the confusion! Apologies, both...

Seriously, though - when was this golden age of language? I've spent years of my life studying the stuff, and never found it. Another great read on this subject is Jean Aitchison's "Language Change: Progress or Decay".

BigRedIndiaRubberBall - Was funny wasn't it! I'm still giggling about it.

Please don't use ampersands

If we didn't use spelling, would we just use a random collection of letters?

And in answer to your OP: I can assure you that I, and certainly the subs' desk on the magazine where I work, use spelling and grammar all the damn time. We have fervent arguments about the use of collective nouns as a singular/plural, and I throw frequent wobblies if anyone suggests splitting an infinitive.

Why, though, MI? What exactly is the objection to splitting an infinitive?

I read the OP with glee. The first paragraph is immense. Did you know the ideal sentence is no longer than 22 words? Not to mentionthe other errors.

I think truthfully you know that your nihilistic comment (ie that 'they' are not used AT ALL) is utter bollocks.

YABU

Habbibu - good point re split infinitives. What is wrong with splitting and infinitive. Yes, we were all taught not to do it - but why?

I have a bugbear about sentences like "it needs cutting" as opposed to "it needs to be cut". Lots of people use this construction though. Am I wrong to think it grammatically incorrect?

My objection is purely in terms of Wot I Learned About Grammatical Correctness. It is ingrained in me. I shudder pretentiously when it's tried.

Nobody else picked up on that damn ampersand

Aaargh! Typos! The shame of it

seoladair feels relieved she didn't single out anyone's errors

Alice is my fave girls name ever I think but alys no

Nope, nothing wrong with either form. And I'll raise you the standard Scottish form of "it needs cut".

there is an argument that the split infinitive is more "natural" in English (just dug out my old UG grammar guide to check) as that's how other verb phrases in other tenses etc work.

MI, you're a victim of stylistic indoctrination. Free yourself. I don't mind ampersands. Medieval manuscripts, even the most beautiful and luxurious productions, are awash with contractions and abbreviations. Makes a single ampersand look positively poncy.

Thanks for sharing, noddy!

Habbibu
I was thinking of the Scottish "it needs cut". I think that's correct, but is it only correct in Scotland?

I don't want medieval contractions now, though. I want lovely enchanting language, sugar-cane, honey of roses, whither wilt thou fly?

Language, words, they are how I construct and interpret reality. And I want some kind of pillars for that construction.

(Not ampersands, dammit.)