Grammar/spelling type rant...

[skylarsmammy]

Yes, it's Facebook related and I know I should deactivate the bloody thing as it winds me up. Today an old friend posted about how she has just started her new job as a primary school teacher. Lots of people wishing good luck etc...someone asked which school she had been placed in and a conversation ensued in which the newly qualified friend used the word 'their' when it should have been 'there'. I am gnawing my hand off to stop myself pointing out the mistake. She's a FUCKING teacher. Of PRIMARY aged kids. AIBU? If teachers can't spell what hope do we have?

I work with English teachers who make mistakes like that.

I have to bite my fist.

On the plus side, I have used my English teacher powers to improve my PE teacher boyfriend to improve his spelling and grammar. Other teachers have even mentioned to me his emails are now much improved!

Any errors in the above are due to clumsy fingers on phone and tired pregnant Friday brain. Real condition.

I've just been talking to my Y6 class about this today. Homophone confusion doesn't mean you can't spell or that you don't know the difference. The word sounds the same so our brain can override our fingers. I would count a homophone error as a typo, not ignorance. (not that I was telling the children this so that they can get away with it, it was to encourage proofreading!)

I often find I have the wrong 'your' or occasionally the wrong 'there'. I usually check before I post something and always check before doing something work related but I wouldn't be surprised if the odd facebook error slipped through the net. I'm very aware of the difference between the words yet somehow it happens anyway.

So I think YABU

Blimey, it is FB, not a professional paper.. it is an easy mistake to make when you are typing quickly and cant be bothered to spellcheck. YABU.

If she had been talking in txt spk, then YANBU as there is never any excuse for that.

Meh, it's just a personal annoyance of mine. The whole there/their/they're thing just isn't confusing to me at all. They're all totally different words! I mean would you misuse weigh/way/whey? No, you wouldn't.

My favourite Facebook ones are 'Got collage in the morning', and 'luv my mum she is angle'. I'm the twat that comments.....

My advice? Deactivate Facebook if it is causing you this much angst; personally there are better things to get wound up over!

Bash the teachers, yawn.

pinkflipflop, you are a regular in AIBU I assume? I think teachers with poor spelling skills is a fair bit more important issue than some of the drivel on here. Yawn.

If you were talking about spelling on a school report or some work related correspondence you might have a point.

YABU

"My mum is an angle" :o

How do we know teachers aren't misusing these words on the whiteboard eh? Teachers should have an impeccable grasp on language imo, Facebook or no Facebook.

YANBU. I am a teacher. An ex-colleague has put something along the lines of "It's Friday and your not here" as. FB message to someone. Fingers itched to comment... I am Head of 6th Form and follow a few ex-students on Twitter. Yesterday one wrote "I need to go gym". I did tweet back, asking her what had happened to the words "to" and "the". She's an undergraduate FFS, at a decent university!

I'm not keen on the prevalence of poor spelling and grammar on the internet either, but thought it was just me! I think it's a shame that so many people reach adulthood without a sound grasp of basic spelling rules. I don't like it when there are mistakes in an obituary in the local paper and think the paper should be able to edit prior to publication.

I'm sure if there are concerns about the grasp a teacher has on the English language and their written communication skills, then there are other ways aside from evaluating their Facebook comments, to flag it up and deal with it.

I don't think you really need to be concerned about this issue. Trust the school, ofsted and headteacher to judge the calibre and quality of its teaching staff. No need to get in a state over a Facebook comment.

Even they make mistakes, usualsuspect.

I don't know why you are gnawing your hand off to avoid commenting on it. That's very unreasonable. You should pull her up on it while you have the chance!

I was once working with an English teacher who said that she'd never understood the apostrophe rule for its/it's.

I was slightly open mouthed because it's something I have no problem with (except occasional typos) despite being totally maths based and never thought of myself as being good at English. Spelling is my awkward bit, but I can always look that up, whereas not understanding its/it's seemed to me to be a fundamental issue for an English teacher, and not one they could just look up.

it is an easy mistake to make when you are typing quickly and cant be bothered to spellcheck.
I think that really illustrates the OP's point. That you would need to spell check something that should be ingrained.

Yes! Surely at some point over your degree (one that is training you to teach children!) you should have been pulled up over poor spelling or grammar. Especially if you are trying to ingrain in small children those rules you haven't even learned yourself! As I said, someone in this particular job should know the rules inside out, whether on the internet or not. It shouldn't need thought about.

On FB i don't mind, but when DD's teacher wrote 'You have really rised to the challenge' my blood pressure rised too.

Weigh and way are pronounced differently to me.