I corrected a typo on a whiteboard at school today - WIBU?

[clary]

We were looking round the fancy new school buildings at my kids' school tonight and there was some teacher writing on a board which included the word "barbeque" [sic]

I was able dextrously to doctor the q to make it a c. I hope this was in order. I also hope the teacher notices

Ah yes, that'll teach me to post before coffee. It must have been the clunkiness that jarred.

Actually piper has a good point, the teacher may have written it up as preparation for first lesson this morning in which they're planning to see if the children notice the miss spelling or have some discussion on wether the two spellings were acceptable, outside you yes they are.

So don't you look an idiot you've spoilt another teachers lesson!

Doh! I would have tried very hard not to change it. If it was something bad like a clearly unintentional misplaced apostrophe I'd have subtly amended it. But I'd make sure first that I was actually correct!!

Narp - I am a TA and a parent corrected my spelling of the verb 'practise' in a Homework book. She changed it to the noun 'practice.

I had to do the opposite in my ds's spelling diary last year - but I did make sure I was correct first!!

Cool

Oh, I would have done so if it were one of the spellings, or in my marking, but it was in the typed instructions. I probably should have but I didn't want to get into an embarrassing tit-for-tat.

"I am not open to a debate at all on the spelling"

Great. Another know-it-all teacher who refuses to be corrected when they are wrong. Just what our children need.

I'm an English teacher and both is ok

Should that not read "both are ok" fatowl?

How insufferably and misguidedly smug!

A bit petty but if it had been an apostrophe you were correcting that would have been a different matter.

When I was at school in the 60s, our teacher would have marked us down for "able dextrously to doctor" for sheer ugliness. "able to doctor dextrously" is more elegant.

And I would spell it dexterously, but you're not up for a debate on spelling

I went to see a nursery once. They were doing a project on butterfly's .... I didn't correct them but my hands were itching.

Lordy Op

Are you really a teacher

....likened to a dentist with no teeth.

I don't care what the dictionary (or my autocorrect) says. Barbeque is WRONG, wrong I tell you!

And I prefer dextrously. Dunno why. Just looks nicer.

This really cheered me up. At 30 wks pregnant I've found myself getting extra narked and petty over really silly things but I'd never behave so nobbishly. Feeling reassured!

Phonetically it doesn't make sense to spell it with a q.

I am in agreement with the OP that the c is right and the q is wrong.

Just because something has been adopted due to widespread (mis)use, it doesn't make it correct. Just 'acceptable' - because so many people do it.

Take it apart - the word 'cue' on its own, sounds like cue, looks like cue and is all in order.

There is no such word as 'que'. Queue, yes - but 'que' on its own says 'kay' in a Spanish accent and 'ker' (as in wanker) in a French one.

It is pure confusion that has caused the advent of the word barbeque, and it should not be encouraged, condoned or accepted.

The abbreviation 'BBQ' is irrelevant. It has nothing to do with it, as within that you are saying the letter Q to sound like 'cue', which it does.

It doesn't make sense as an acronym or abbreviation anyway, as the Bs are abbreviatory and the Q is a phonetic invader but still, it is useable and there isn't a better version available.

There's a totally better version available of 'barbeque'.

Split infinitives aren't grammatically wrong in English. The idea that they are wrong came from imposing the rules of Latin grammar onto English in the 1800s.

here

Barbeque is also acceptable. I don't think you can argue that it should be "barbecue" just because that was the original form or is "preferred by style guides" :o If barbeque is now an accepted form and in the dictionary, then it's OK.

But anyway, I'm a roaring pedant and I don't correct teachers, it's rude and undermining. I would only consider it if a mistake was really badly affecting my DC's learning and even then I'd only mention it privately. Not fiddle with the whiteboard! We all make mistakes (though this wasn't) and it's better to be kind about them, or else it will come back and bite you on the arse.

This might already have been said but splitting the infinitive is not grammatically wrong.

It is a rule thought up by educated men a longing me ago who thought the grammar rules of English should match those of Latin - and in Latin it impossible to split the infinitive.

I correct teachers! But then I'm a student... is that different?

'The word “barbecue” comes from the Caribbean word “barbacoa.” Originally, a barbacoa wasn't a way of cooking food, but the name of a wooden structure used by Taino Indians to smoke their food.'

OP, you were WRONG to change the spelling, which is perfectly correct.

What kind of a massive twat would do that?!

I think you were rude and silly. But your interest in your version of correct spelling is greater than your desire to have good manners, so that is fine.

Reverse it. A teacher changed your spelling to barbeque from barbecue.

How would you feel. Would you think they were an ass hole?

Yabu

Yes, they would be an asshole though because EVERYONE knows the original spelling as acceptable.