To think it is literally not possible to be "offended" by poor grammar and punctuation as some posters claim.

[ElleBellyBeeblebrox]

Honestly, who gives a shit? The amount of smug wankery on here sometimes is unbelievable. Is there really any justification for snarking at someone about their use of full stops,( other than to try and make yourself look like a smartarse.)

YANBU, I'm not fussed about SPaG on here. Text speak does piss me off though.

Sometimes the grammar or punctuation, is more important than the topic discussed for some people. I have been attacked for my 'appalling grammar ' on two of the four threads I started. I have noticed a few other people have also suffered the 'bullying' and the putts downs. The funny thing is,the people who do the belittling, seem to suffer from the same poor grammar ,punctuation as the person/people they have attacked.

I am pleased that this is now being discussed on at least a couple of posts. This is because commenting on some-ones use of grammar or punctuation has got nothing to do with the posted thread.

It has never bothered me and it never will, some people write their post when they are in distress so obviously grammar is going to be the last thing on their mind.

I would never comment as I know that some people struggle with grammar and spelling. Others just plain can't be arsed

Personally I find a huge block of text difficult to read, especially if it's not in sentences. I have been known to just give up and move on, rather than pass a snippy comment
Using a comma for a pause changes the meaning of the sentence and many people don't realise this. Additionally it can be difficult to grasp what is being said if there could be several meanings.

I usually proof read what I've put, it's a habit I've got into at work after sending emails and being embarrassed that the recipient has had to ask me what I mean!

Eats shoots and leaves anyone?

There's a wee bit of hypocrisy here. I'm guessing this is in support of Daisy in the Facebook thread because she sounds nice and a lot of us sympathised with her.

On the other hand many posters gave Daisychainsrus a hard time on her school bribery thread. A lot of posters pulled her up on "doing bribes". Yes it's incorrect but we all knew what she meant.

if you can't mentally insert the punctuation, or get the gist of the post, its hypocritical to suggest that someone else lacks intelligence.

If you can mentally insert punctuation and get the gist and still feel the need to make a sarky comment, you're just being a twat.

I agree Phaedra. 'Doing bribes' is obvious and IYSWIM is in the voice of the OP. In that case are people criticising grammar and English as much as they are pointing out the social class and situation of the OP?

Just smug arseholes that use it for cheap shots.

When I see a good debate going on and one of the posters belittles the other poster on bad grammar, I just think "you lost".

I saw a poster recently pulled up for her incorrect use of imply and infer.

A few posters making sly jokes about it afterwards. Not nice to witness. On Baby Names of all places, which is supposed to be a light topic.

Though I do worry about it when teachers demonstrate poor spandg. I wonder how they manage to teach

I've never given anyone a hard time about spelling etc on here as I don't think in this context it's important, plus it's rude. I started this thread because one of the comments on another thread was from a poster saying that she was "offended" by the OP's poor grammar etc, which I find baffling. How can anyone be offended by it?!

Perhaps those involved in teaching need to have it pointed out? Not that I've ever done it.

Has anyone actually said it 'offends' them? That's weird!

My punctuation skills are pretty much hit and hope, but at least I break the sentences up to make them easier to read.

I avoid massive walls of text because I keep losing my place and I'm too lazy to concentrate that hard.

But I would rather be totally illiterate than the sort of wanker who pulls people on the internet up, over their grammar and punctuation.

i never knew til this thread what the spag acronym meant.

thanks

This is at least the third thread in the last week or two complaining about others picking on poor spelling and grammar. I don't disagree with the OP, but enough already! It's been discussed at great length, the issue's really been done to death. Can't we give it a rest?

Oops haven't been about much and missed them, sorry. Did do a quick search incase it was old news but my internet skillz aren't up to much...
Plus reading that tonight just vexed me.

It's almost inevitably a cheap shot.

Just make your point. Don't look for some excuse to try and be superior. It just makes people look like shitheads.

I think posting ' could you punctuate and use paragraphs op. I really can read that' is an odd combination of arrogance and stupidity.

If others have managed to read it, how stupid are you not to be able to unravel it? If you can't read it then why not just ignore? Do you really think ops all turn up wringing their hands thinking "dear god I hope twattyspellingcunt comments or it will not have been worth posting"

Offended? No. Does it matter? Definitely. I know that some people like to simplify it down to some kind of sick desire for superiority, but for me it's the feeling that these days people just don't seem to think that correct English is very important. I love language(s), and I happen to think it's very important and a beautiful aspect of life (language in general). Definitely the most irritating thing to me is not simply a linguistic error, but the attitude that it somehow doesn't matter.

The only thing I don't get is why people attempt big words which they have no idea how to spell. On another forum I've just been reading about how someone was "eggsonnerrated". If you are really not sure how to spell a word, either look it up or use a different one!

It definitely doesn't offend me, but it does confuse me. Why?

Some people must be easily offended is all I can say! However, I also think pulling someone up on their spelling and grammar is really really rude.

I love good grammar but have the insight to know that I am a bit odd in that respect and many others.
I'd never point it out to a poster though. That is beyond rude.

No paragraphs in a long OP however… sorry, love, you've lost me.
I have astigmatism, I cannot make out what you are saying. You'll forever be deprived of my amazing and astute insight.

SPaG - I learn something new every day!

It irritates me but never offends, my grammar isn't perfect by any means. It would be hypocritical of me to pull someone else up on it.

I do it on Facebook though. To one person in particular because she ruins my status's with her claptrap replies. It's claptrap and written in text speak which I cannot understand at all.

Not really on when people are posting on Mumsnet but I've seen colleagues sorting through CVs and just tossing those with poor grammar so a bit of a brush up doesn't hurt.

No it doesn't offend me. Though if it's very bad spelling and no paragraphs then it's hard for me to follow.

I've also seen the tossing of the CVs for poor spelling and grammar.

Well, I'd forgive more typos and dodgy grammar on here than on a job application/CV tbh.
Not so much because SPaG is the be all and end all, but because it does represent effort made IMO.