To expect people to be able to spell simple words correctly

[Orangerevel]

So many times on FB, at work etc I see the words definitely (wrongly spelt definately) and separately (wrongly spelt seperately). It makes me very cross. Does bad spelling make you see red or AIBU?

It annoys me, but I accept that it's hard for some people, or they may never have been taught properly.

In online situations where people may be typing fast or on a phone, I am more forgiving than when it is a professional situation. We had a letter home from school yesterday reminding us about the 'class photo's being taken'. Unforgivable.

The other thing that puzzles me is when you have a long list of things being offered, "coffees, tea's, drink's, burgers' for example and it's as though the person writing has no idea about apostrophes so just bungs a few in randomly!

I can't spell definitely to save my life(I copied the OPs) I've spelt it wrong so many times that my phone now tries to correct it to a wrong spelling. No idea why I struggle so much with it.

There, their and they're drives me mad though. Really bugs me for some reason.

Panic isn't that short for photographs so ok?

It really gets my goat when I see an accommodation sign spelled either acommodation or accomodation!

CoffeeChocolateWine

One of my uni friends (he single male no kids, her female with kids) had an argument about this, she insisted Ante was the American spelling.

And yes this was a linguistics course

I always worry about my spelling and grammar due to my dyslexia. In a work environment I'm extra cautious and proof read, however on MN or FB I'm perhaps not as careful.

I tend to over-think sentences or my point doesn't come across correctly within the paragraph. My dyslexia is also linked to my shockingly shit memory of texts that I read (I skim read a lot)

I've proofread my posts on here and still managed to use 'their' and 'there' incorrectly, as well as missing the 'r' off 'you' ( to make it 'your' which then significantly changes a sentence). That's because I rush my posts because of how fast MN threads can move.

Please don't judge me - I'm an intelligent person but I just can't spell or put sentences together as easy as others

YABU and unpleasant
Many people are dyslexic and should not be stigmatised or patronised for this

I've not been diagnosed dyslexia but genuinely struggle with the definitely, accommodation, professional, necessary etc. All the examples in the above posts look right to me. (Apart from discusting -that looks wrong to me.)

I'm oxbridge educated, 2 degrees, don't like 'luffly' or 'hun' or any of those but seen to have many blindspots spelling. Its not laziness or lack of schooling but it just doesn't look wrong. I also only learnt should of and off of were wrong recently. . . I think my generationwere in the years that weren't taught formal grammer or mental maths (I have a maths A level but don't know 8 7s without thinking. My mother's mental maths is amazing!)

Oh for goodness sake not everyone is dyslexic! And, quite frankly, auto-correct probably fixes a lot of spelling and grammatical errors that might be made.

Putting apostrophes on plural words drives me nuts as does 'I need to loose weight'. Urgh. I once remember seeing someone refer to a very thin woman as 'emancipated'. Well done.

To my mind all this smacks of an educational system that doesn't spend enough time on the basics and too much time on soft things like 'building confidence'. There are people graduating from school with very poor writing skills and going on to University with extremely poor spelling, limited understanding of grammar and an inability to write a comprehensive essay. Shocking.

YABU and a bit unpleasant and smug.

My kindle bungs in apostrophes just for the hell of it.

I CBA to preveiw every post I make.

Isn't it bug bare?

Bear is a animal or is that the right context of the "quote"

Definetly is that right? As that's the way I spell the word.

But as usual says YABU

Someone up thread said, dyslexia would be a disability if it weren't for the smugness of people like the OP, dyslexia is a reconsigsed (sp) disability.

I am not smug and, as I have stated above, I do not correct people as I am not a person who goes out of my way to upset people. I am well aware of the difficulties dyslexics face everyday. I just think that a lot of people, (who are not dyslexic) are very lazy when it comes to spelling.

OP, the point is that you cannot possibly tell why a complete stranger is a poor speller. No one should have to (like I have) tell you or anyone else that they have a disability in order to avoid being made fun of or corrected.

Furthermore, I think it is undemocratic to chastise people for poor spelling/grammar. I would like to live in a world where everyone feels that they are able to contribute to open discussions without being ridiculed.

English is spoken all over the world and it is used in varying ways. Why don't you work on being a bit more inclusive?

'Inclusivity' is all well and good, but it does seem to equate to 'dumbing down'

For example, the true meaning of the phrase beg the question has been wholly subsumed into the phrase 'raises the question' or 'prompts you to ask the question'. Therefore the specific meaning of 'begs the question' has been lost from our language and I don't think it is unreasonable to be sad that our language is becoming less rich and varied.

Ditto 'Disinterested' (actually synonymous with 'impartial', but now taken to mean 'not interested').

My favourite is when people use 'impacted' because they think it is a posher sounding way of saying 'had an impact on' when it actually means 'constipated'

YANBU it is very annoying. Sometimes it is easy to do if you are typing quickly and once it is posted you can't take it back. I hate it when that happens

I am dyslexic, well educated and know my way around a dictionary/thesaurus and I get definitely so wrong sometimes my spellchecker doesn't know what I'm trying to say! But no/know annoy me when people spell them wrong. I have also been know to mix porn and pawn up!

I went to a pub last weekend, where they had the word "bottle" spelt wrongly on the large board on the wall. I would have thought being able to spell bottle was fairly key if you write pub signs as part of your job.

Duckworth- Languages that are not able to adjust to the changing needs of the people that use it die out.

The English languages adaptability is one of the reasons it is so widely used. This is a feature that should be celebrated, in my opinion.

Just consider the way in which written English has changed over the last 500 years or so. The Canterbury Tales has a lot to offer but so does a novel by James Baldwin.

But this is beside the point I was trying to make. My argument concerns criticising incorrect spelling, not the loss of a varied and rich vocabulary.

I don't judge on twitter, facebook, MN etc because it's social media and not work. However, I have been genuinely quite horrified by the awful spelling and grammar at some of the people I work with. As part of myjob, I receive community care assessments from social workers and I've read things like; "Jimmy enjoy going to day centre on Wendesney" and then "Jimy got no friends what live near his house". Dyslexia aside, you do not send documents like this to other professionals and to service users without it being checked if you know you struggle with grammar and spelling.

I get annoyed with the usual their/there/they're here/hear its/it's but also struggle myself (your initial two words I constantly get wrong no matter how hard I try - it's very hit and miss and I have no idea why there are some words I struggle with) but a lot of people just can't get their heads around these things; since I have my own little writing quirks, I tend to ignore other's too. (I'm also comma happy).

'There are people graduating from school with very poor writing skills and going on to University with extremely poor spelling, limited understanding of grammar and an inability to write a comprehensive essay. Shocking.'

Just out of interest, do you mean 'comprehensive'? Or do you mean 'comprehensible', which would make sense in the context.

Poor spelling and limited understanding of grammar might conceivably affect one's ability to write a comprehensible essay. A 'comprehensive' essay means one that covers all the points, and could be as badly-spelt as you like.

HTH.

I'm usually quite good at spelling but the words I always struggle with definitely and separately. The wrong spellings don't stand out as obviously as some words.

When I read the thread title I thought by "simple words" you meant like "cat" "dog" etc. But sepa-thingy and defi-wotsit are not really simple words, so I think you were being a bit unreasonable.

I don't read through my Facebook posts 10 times to ensure perfect spelling and grammar, the odd typo aint gonna hurt anyone on FB. As long as it makes sense. When errors change a meaning or make something difficult to read it annoys me.

And I made mistakes in that first sentence that make it hard to read or understand....I blame writing on a phone.

I accept that many people are not good at spelling, but mistakes in official communications, newspapers, etc., annoy me very much. Loads of journalists make homophone errors - some already referred to above, also discreet/discrete ....