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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

I don't no...

50 replies

Emmon · 30/10/2012 11:30

AIBU to get really wound up by people writing "I don't no" online. Is it accepted text language or does it just mean the author cannot spell the word know?
Also when people write "I am not aloud" is that also text speak or just someone being thick?

OP posts:
exexpat · 30/10/2012 12:03

I wish more people knew the difference between councillors and counsellors (and knew that there was no such thing as councilling). I don't think my local councillor would be much help if I needed someone to talk though relationship problems.

Yes, I know it's not important in the grand scheme of things, but it makes me wince every time I see it.

Emmon · 30/10/2012 12:06

Yes iklboo, am I a pedant or a snob?

I thought those who do not make ludicrous spelling mistakes are correct and it is those who cannot spell who should have to justify their position.

I do not mind the odd typo but it depresses me when so-called adults cannot spell basic words. Especially as there is a spell check facility on their computer.

Even when I am typing on Facebook, if there is a word I do not know I look it up in an online dictionary.

OP posts:
TodaysAGhoulDay · 30/10/2012 12:13

My pet hate is 'I could of'. I want to scream 'I could have' at the screen. Think I'm a bit of a pedant too. Blush

anklebitersmum · 30/10/2012 12:18

but do you rectify the mistakes in those 'pass it on' messages on facebook and then post them back to the sender corrected? Blush

GiserableMitt · 30/10/2012 12:22

My Mum is one of the best spellers (in a non [hsmile] way ) I've ever come across and she wrote "rediculous"

EasilyBored · 30/10/2012 12:23

I don't think that getting frustrated at stupid spelling errors makes you a pedant. The you're/your their/there issue annoys me too.

However, I did get sent this poem this morning, and it did remind me that, actually, English is hard at time.

^Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.

Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it's written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.

Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.

Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation's OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.

Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
And then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.

Query does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem little,
We say actual but victual.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ate late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific.

Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice;
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.

Petal, panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.

Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion and battalion.
Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Heron, granary, canary.
Crevice and device and aerie.

Face, but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear and tear
Do not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.

Pronunciation -- think of Psyche!
Is a paling stout and spikey?
Won't it make you lose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?
It's a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict.

Finally, which rhymes with enough --
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advice is to give up.^

honeytea · 30/10/2012 12:24

YABU, maybe they are dyslexic.

I would not confuse know and no but I would confuse alowed and aloud, not even sure I have spelt them correctly now.

It's not very kind to call people thick because you are a spelling snob. If correct spelling is important to you then take pride in your own spelling but saying it depresses you when so called adults cannot spell simple words is pretty mean in my opinion. A dyslexic person often will not be able to tell the which option is correct when writing words that are homophones.

I tend to listen to what people want to say no matter if they spell badly, have a speach problem, have English as a second language.

EasilyBored · 30/10/2012 12:30

I don't think anyone would begrudge someone with dyslexia or English as a second language, a bit of wiggle room with spelling. But looking at the volume of people who make these mistakes, I do wonder how often that's actually the case. And how often people just can't be bothered, or didn't pay attention in school, or had a shit education etc?

stretch · 30/10/2012 12:34

I'm board! Wink

I did see a post once that had ^^ that, with the response, "I'm chalk, let's get together!" Grin

Ithinkitsjustme · 30/10/2012 12:38

My most common mistype is "teh" instead of "the", I promise that I do know how to spell it but for some reason I always get it wrong when I'm typing! If you spot it, please forgive me Grin

LunaticFringe · 30/10/2012 12:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ExitPursuedByAaaaaarGhoul · 30/10/2012 12:43

Wow EasilyBored What a fabulous poem. As I read through it my pronunciation was all over the place.

Grin
honeytea · 30/10/2012 12:45

It is thought that 15-20% of people have dyslexia to some extent.

I feel defensive about the way people judge other people's spelling because often people judge bad spelling as an indicator of someone being thick or lazy. If the op had said something along the lines of is that also text speak or just someone struggling to find the correct spelling (for whatever reason, being dyslexic, being thick, being lazy) that would be a lot kinder than just saying either it is text speak or someone who is thick.

I can't understand why people care about other people's failings. Personally I am proud that I can speak 2 languges, I don't feel anoyed that other people never bothered to learn another language or had a shit education so didn't get the chance to learn another language, the same with musical instruments, I can enjoy playing the piano but it doesn't matter that lots of other people can't play an instument. We should all feel proud of the things we are good at but i think it is insecure people who need to highlight other people's failings, bad spelling is not contagious, if you can understand what a poster is saying there is no need to take offence over their poor spelling.

Alliwantisaroomsomewhere · 30/10/2012 12:48

Yes, decipher Smile.

TheDuchessOfEarl · 30/10/2012 13:02

There is another parenting website which I may have previously visited where there are loads of posters who complain of "Clicky Mums In The Playground". WhenI kindly pointed out in an arsey manner that actually the word is cliquey, I thought I was going to be lynched. I got lots of Well some people are dyslexic type comments. Erm... yes there are but that's not a spelling error it's just using a word that you don't understand.
There/Their/They're
Your/You're
Of/Have
Definitely - It's an I not an A!
Aaaaaaarrrrrrrggggghhhhhhhhhh

NatashaBee · 30/10/2012 13:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

EasilyBored · 30/10/2012 13:39

It's not about caring about other people's failing, it's about being frustrated that people can't use basic English, and for whatever reason, feel it's not a big deal. I get email from other professionals who have used text speak and I wonder if they realise how awful it looks, and cover letters for CVs that are so badly written/punctuated that I have to laugh when I see that they have claimed to have 'good communication skills'. Do people not understand that using text speak, or not recognising the differences between your/you're can mean the difference between being asked for an interview and having your application passed over? By all means, don't care if you can't spell, but realise it might seriously be limiting your options in life.

The same goes for having an email like [email protected] or lustyfrank[email protected] . Makes me want to bang my head against my desk.

I'm not talking about a few typos, because I make enough of those myself with my big fat fingers and typing that can't keep up with my brain. It's the 'lol, I just cant spell!' attitude that frustrates me. You wouldn't say use that attitude about other aspects of your life; it's like crashing your car and saying 'lol, I just cant drive!!!'.

*Obviously if someone has dyslexia, this is generally mentioned somewhere in an application, and wouldn't prevent us from hiring/interviewing someone (we have technology to help team members with this issue anyway), in the same way that we don't discriminate on any other basis.

messtins · 30/10/2012 13:44

Oooo is there a Pedant's Corner? Can we correct everything in red type? wear where is it?

I think people are just not taught to spell or use correct grammar any more. Making sure teachers can write at a decent standard will be a good start.

messtins · 30/10/2012 13:44

Where

honeytea · 30/10/2012 14:09

Easilybored I agree with everything you said in regards to the work place, I would never dream of sending in a cover letter or CV without having a friend with fab spelling skills check it. The difference for me is that when I post on a forum it is in my leasure time. I don't spell check my posts because it would take bloody ages and spell checking makes my head spin, I spell check work emails.

ChaoticismyLife · 30/10/2012 14:38

I have to admit I often have to sit on my hands when I see spelling/grammar errors.

It's not about caring about other people's failing, it's about being frustrated that people can't use basic English, and for whatever reason, feel it's not a big deal.

I do agree with this, it's very annoying, not so much on forums but in the workplace.

Although I feel it's unkind to call someone thick because of bad spelling, especially as it could be they have dyslexia, for example, I also think that anyone calling someone a spelling snob loses them the moral high ground :)

Pedants' Corner

MrsWembley · 30/10/2012 15:27

Oh, there's nothing wrong with being a spelling snob and I speak as one who frequently has to check words (not dyslexic, just a poor memory). The people who, as others have said, don't care or think it's something to be proud of are the ones who need locking in a cupboard.Angry

Doing something in your leisure time shouldn't mean you stop caring about how it is done. Ffs, we may not use sentences in the correct way but we can sure as hell make ourselves understood by using the correct spelling, especially of words that could confuse the entire meaning of whatever we are trying to say.

Must stop, teeth itching, eyes hurting...

exexpat · 30/10/2012 15:52

waves at MrsWembley

Fancy seeing you on here...

MrsWembley · 30/10/2012 21:54

Fancy...GrinGrin

maddening · 30/10/2012 22:26

I am dyslexic and am generally not one to write in "text speak". I usually ( save for genuine typos ) spell correctly.

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