to think that posters who rip apart others for spelling and grammar issues are Twats?

[SqutterNutBaush]

I'm so sick of seeing this on here lately, perfectly reasonable posts and then someone trying to be funny starts picking it apart and acting like a smug moron.

There really is no need for it, I make mistakes in my posts whether its because of auto-correct or the fact that I'm generally not great with grammar and spelling sometimes but there are others who have literacy problems and I really fail to see what good it does to start taking the piss out of them.

Sometimes I really do think that these people might as well be in the playground, then again I doubt they'd be so rude and insensitive if it weren't for them hiding behind a screen.

I love MN but this is becoming much more common and its crap, stop picking on other posters and think about underlying problems before you jump in with your oh so funny put-downs.

[Burren]

I write for a living and tend to be pulled out of a post by poor spelling or grammar, but wouldn't dream of mentioning it. It's also, I think - possibly because I teach and am used to essays - very obvious when a poster is dyslexic, has English as a second language, or has had an autocorrect fail.

However, it does sometimes concern me that posters who clearly haven't had much access to education and/or may not have English as a first language and and who possibly don't read a great deal other than online, may 'learn' poor spelling/grammar from posters who simply aren't bothered. I would imagine, for instance, that someone could easily imagine that 'definitely' is spelled 'defiantly' or 'definately'. It's a small thing, obviously, in the scheme of things, but for someone with literacy difficulties it's not.

[wordfactory]

People who pick up on these thing are essentially saying that those with LDs, those who had a poor education, those with English as a secind language are not welcome! Their opinions don't matter and can be ridiculed.

[Sparklysilversequins]

YANBU.

However sometimes when a poster is being an utter twat, it's really hard not to deliver a grammar body blow to take the wind out of their sails.

[Thereishope]

I notice many grammar and spelling errors on this website - there instead of their, weather instead of whether, loose instead of lose. I would not dream of pointing it out though.

Lack of paragraphs irritate me. I do not read these posts- I have little patience.

[Valdeeves]

YANBU - this is not a GCSE English class! I think some people are very rigid about having to point out other people's mistakes. In real life if someone corrected my grammar they would never be a friend - far too superior for me.

[Tanith]

Pop stars have misspelled their names and hits since the dawn of time (well, for over half a century, anyway).

I can just about remember the fuss over Slade's "Cuz I Luv You" and similarly illiterate hits being blamed for the poor spelling of 70's Youth.

[Lesleythegiraffe]

loosing the argument

[Fakebook]

People have always done this on the Internet since the beginning of Internet time though. Can't get worked up about it. Grow a thicker skin and carry on writing how you like, as long as you make sense.

[Fusedog]

I find it's normally when people are loosing the argument or generally are wrong they

Say well at least I can spell of some such thing like a fucking kid

[SconeRhymesWithGone]

YANBU. I agree that it really does not happen often that someone is corrected on a thread, but there are threads that pop up fairly often making fun of or otherwise disparaging others' language skills. I would hide any AIBU thread that has the words "should of" in the title, but then I would have to give up playing blame-every-degradation-of-the-English-language-on-the-Americans bingo.

[Nennypops]

ExcuseTypos: how on earth do you conclude that I "assume that many people who write posts with poor spelling and grammar, have done it because they "haven't made an effort" or are lazy? If you had actually bothered to read my post before diving in and flaming you would discover that I had made it perfectly clear that that I did not make that assumption.

[Star8369]

yanbu

[nkf]

Sometimes though, there is a post by some nagging superior sounding annoying person, sneering away at some group of people she feels better than. And the fact that it's written in text speak or sounds like gibberish somehow makes it more annoying.

[Pagwatch]

But I want to talk crap. For definnit.

[dietcokeandwine]

YANBU, it doesn't happen ridiculously often from what I've read but it certainly happens and it's unnecessary.

That said, I hate spelling and grammar mistakes with a passion - but I'd never purposely go onto a thread to pull someone up on it. If I read an OP that's full of 'could of' type errors or lots of spelling mistakes I just don't reply. Worse for me are the posters who do deliberately do heinous things like leave the 'g' or 'd' off words (so 'bein' for 'being' or 'an' for 'and', etc etc). That kind of stuff gives me the absolute RAGE. But I'd still never pull them up on it by posting about it.

[ThatOtherTime]

To be fair to the Mumsnet pedants I can now spell definitely AND I know the difference between stationary and stationery. (The cAr is stationAry )

It only took me 45 years.

hoping I haven't made any mistakes in my post

[LordPalmerston]

hugs Lesley tight

Its bizarre inverted snobbery that says we should let imbeciles get away with talking crap.

[Lesleythegiraffe]

We are merely trying to uphold good standards of spelling and grammar.

[LordPalmerston]

I blame Girls Aloud for most of it.

Allowed/aloud
Sheesh, I think let the people who say correcters are twats, mark a set of year 7 exercise books then get back to us

[Pagwatch]

at #brokenBritain.

[LordPalmerston]

I see it as VITAL that we don't let idiots spell 'definitely' wrong

Seriously!
We cant let shit spelling happen.

#brokenBritain

[Anotheronebitthedust]

I do like the way that MN has a comparatively high level of spelling & grammar to other internet sites and would be sorry if that degenerated completely. However I agree that it is very rude to pick up on it, particularly if you don't add anything else to the debate. In addition to dyslexia, etc, so many people use smart phones etc that scramble their words, I think as long as you understand what's being said, just let it go.

The only exception being, a la Pagwatch, when someone is being particularly haughty about a related topic, like education. There was a poster a while ago who was complaining about a teacher marking her DC spellings incorrectly - fair enough, except she repeatedly referred to 'skool,' and honestly didn't see the irony when several posters picked up on this, as she kept saying it didn't matter how she spelt it if we all understood what she meant. Well, yes, but kettle/pot/black....

[ThatOtherTime]

I am not stupid but my English isn't great actually it's crap I don't mind the occasional helpful post but I can't stand the unpleasant point scoring ones.

I am usually careful but I can't always be bothered to double check everything. It's patronising and rude to pull people up on their grammar and spelling.

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

I agree with mintyy that MN is quite tolerant in this regard. I won't read CiF on the Guardian because it's considered the soul of wit to slap someone down for bad grammar.

That said, if someone posts rudely about other people's SPAG or boasts about how much better-educated they are (cough, cough, Ms Mensch), then it is tempting to correct them.

I have never seen a post on MN by someone claiming to be irritated by bad SPAG that didn't contain errors. It's the law. Even if it was perfect when you typed it, it will be mangled when we read it. Sorry.

My SPAG and my typing are rotten a lot of the time.