AIBU to want to poke people with forks when they

[AliceInUnderpants]

use the non-English word que when they really want to say CUE

It's not a typo. I see it very regularly on forums and it does my fucking head in.

Now, que lots of people telling me IABU

And 'que' is not even pronounced cue, it's pronounced 'kweh'.

I have a MSc in Linguistics (and am naturally an asshole too). I basically spent 4 years at university learning how to get wound up by other peoples' spelling and grammatical mistakes.

If that's the case, then that was not a great linguistics degree, tbh.

None I know of would ever analyse language users' speech or writing in terms of their making 'grammatical errors/mistakes'. Quite the opposite, in fact. Linguistics students are normally trained exactly out of that prescriptive way of thinking about language, and directed towards looking at patterns of usage under different contexts that can tell us interesting things about language in general, and the human mind in particular.

""And 'que' is not even pronounced cue, it's pronounced ''kweh'""

Not if its on the end of barbeque (runs away without a backward glance).

Ha touché Birds

Thinking now, I actually think que is pronounced ke.

I though que was pronounced 'kay' or maybe more like 'keh' ?

Cross post with Scarlet

haha birds true that ...

Nevertheless I do struggle to read "que" in isolation as "cue" rather than "cuh" or "kay". Funnily enough although I am british I don't read it as "kwuh" (but this may be because "que" is a very common stand-alone word in the two other languages I speak and write).

I'm not on the side of the spelling/grammar police though as I think Internet debates are often closer to oral debate than formal communication. So the incorrect use of homonyms (hear/here, their/there) or use of "oral" grammar (should of) doesn't bother me as long as the meaning is clear.

My main issue is with 'on route'

As a loan parent I find that all this angst really effects my mood. Stop been so fussy!

I have a MSc in Linguistics (and am naturally an asshole too). I basically spent 4 years at university learning how to get wound up by other peoples' spelling and grammatical mistakes.

If that's the case, then that was not a great linguistics degree, tbh.

None I know of would ever analyse language users' speech or writing in terms of their making 'grammatical errors/mistakes'. Quite the opposite, in fact. Linguistics students are normally trained exactly out of that prescriptive way of thinking about language, and directed towards looking at patterns of usage under different contexts that can tell us interesting things about language in general, and the human mind in particular.

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My post was clearly tongue in cheek. Idiot.

I don't ever recall correcting grammar or spelling on an Internet forum.

There are many branches of linguistics. Looking at language in an entirely prescriptive view was necessary for me before branching into computational linguistics. My first master's degree was from Cambridge and tends to be highly regarded.

Herecome have you really called another poster an "idiot?

I'm sure every one realised your post was meant to be tongue in cheek - just that as joke it fell a bit flat; particularly given the misplaced apostrophe.

I can't say I have even spotted the use of "que" when they really want to say "CUE". It's not as if "cue" in its meaning is a word which comes up that often. If it does I expect the context is clear.

Someone mentioned strike outs. I don't mind them as long as they are done in self deprecating manner against the poster herself. There is one poster who uses them a lot when she wants to belittle other posters. I suppose she thinks it makes her look awfully clever and stays within guidelines. In fact it just makes me think she is a coward and a bully.

spent 4 years at university learning how to get wound up by other peoples' spelling and grammatical mistakes.

Same, but pure languages.

Qué, if a question, needs the accent to be interrogative, double question mark too, so ¿Qué? Just saying.

Defiantly annoys me when the poster means definitely. I'm not sure the 'brought' instead of 'bought' is a spelling error, more grammar, surely.

Apostrophes in plurals amaze and horrify me. 'Apple's £2 a kilo'. I think that is a legitimate reason to poke someone with a fork, albeit with the handle end.

I've actually seen the greengrocer's apostrophe in a full-page, full-colour magazine ad for Sainsbury's < frets about apostrophe in Sainsbo's but cba to check >. How many copywriters, designers, typesetters, proof-readers, marketing execs must that one have passed by unnoticed?