To wish people wouldn't write 'text' when they mean 'texted'?

[SadAboutTheBoy]

Sorry, but it makes my teeth itch.

My sister text me to say she was late

I text the other mum to tell her..

He text me to tell me it was over..

It's texted FFS!

(And it's packed lunch, not 'pack' lunch BTW)

My sister and i have this fight. She agrees with you op. I don't

We are fun people really.

Don't forget the fricatives, the nasals and the approximants!

I'm not sure who they are but I've already taken against the nasals. The approximants sound so much more full of valour.

I always get a little frisson when discussing labials myself.

I always get a little frisson when discussing labials myself.

The utter mortification of having to talk about labials as a teenager. It still burns.

Labials!

Scandalous.

Ah, if the labials are scandalous just wait until the bilabials turn up.

It seems I was wrong about how this might evolve - apparently, Zaphod has decreed that the past tense is "texted", so of course, every English speaker must obey.

Today 11:07 JassyRadlett

Only relatively recently have some people begun using the wrong term, it seems. It is about spelling not pronunciation and it is also about sloppy use of language.

Do you think that you might have misread the situation and missed a couple of factors? First, there is the explosion in literacy rates in the U.K. over the last 150 years, and the second is the democratisation of publishing/content dissemination provided by the internet.

So first, a lot more people are writing, and second, a lot more people can share their writing with much larger audiences. So previously a misspelling that would be in a handwritten letter from one person to another is now shared with much larger audiences. Then those misspellings gain currency because people see them used and if they don't have a firm grasp of that spelling themselves, they align to pronunciation they see from their peers - which is where things like 'chest of draws' gain a foothold.

No, I have not "misread the situation".

Do you think your use of "first" and "second" instead of the correct firstly and secondly is because you don't know any better?

Do you think your use of "first" and "second" instead of the correct firstly* and secondly is because you don't know any better?

Ooh - this grew while I was away...

We don't have any kind of institution for the English language saying what is 'correct' and what isn't

This isn't strictly true though is it? We still have what is considered 'received pronounciation' and the Oxford English Dictionary tends to lead the field on whether words have become acceptably commonplace/ colloquial and worthy of entry.

Interesting that Vintage said that an English teacher would not mark 'texted' incorrect, but might do with 'text' if used in the past tense. Especially now that about 5% of marks in GCSE will be given for SPaG! Could be the difference between important grades.

My husband was commenting the other day how bad he felt the literacy was in the temps they have coming through his office - nearly all their written work has to be proof read by other (older!) members of the team, and he says none of it could go straight out to clients.
I know I will sound old fashioned, but I think it does matter. Proper English usage infers competence and intelligence to a lot of people.

Grrrrr!

Do you think your use of "first" and "second" instead of the correct firstly and secondly is because you don't know any better?

DadDadDad: "There are lots of common verbs ending in 't' where the past tense is the same as the present tense: cut, put, set, hit."

Another interesting thing is the number of people who write "inputted" as the past tense of "input", which is the opposite problem! I've seen it a lot, even in formal writing.

Sorry, nina, using "first" and "second" to enumerate your points is perfectly acceptable - it's a style choice, not a question of correct / incorrect. This explains it quite succinctly:

www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/%E2%80%98first%E2%80%99-or-%E2%80%98firstly%E2%80%99

Today 11:41 SadAboutTheBoy

Ooh - this grew while I was away...

We don't have any kind of institution for the English language saying what is 'correct' and what isn't

This isn't strictly true though is it? We still have what is considered 'received pronounciation' and the Oxford English Dictionary tends to lead the field on whether words have become acceptably commonplace/ colloquial and worthy of entry

Interesting that Vintage said that an English teacher would not mark 'texted' incorrect, but might do with 'text' if used in the past tense. Especially now that about 5% of marks in GCSE will be given for SPaG! Could be the difference between important grades.

My husband was commenting the other day how bad he felt the literacy was in the temps they have coming through his office - nearly all their written work has to be proof read by other (older!) members of the team, and he says none of it could go straight out to clients.
I know I will sound old fashioned, but I think it does matter. Proper English usage infers competence and intelligence to a lot of people.

Good post. It is not about being old fashioned, in my opinion, it is about being correct. As you say, people are perfectly entitled to check the OED, for correct usage.

We don't have any kind of institution for the English language saying what is 'correct' and what isn't

This isn't strictly true though is it?

Yes, it is strictly true. Broadly speaking, you might say OED provides that function, but even then, OED is looking to document actual usage, and may highlight where good writers avoid certain forms, but that's not authorising one use or another. And I don't think OED looks at spoken English, which is surely what informal writing on a forum is closer to?

nina2b you're fast becoming my favourite poster

DadDadDad:

Ah a "style choice"...
Cool. People should expect to be judged, in that case, on such a choice.

I think the draws/draws confusion comes about because the meaning is so archaic that we just see it as a standalone word. I was thinking about this the other day. Draw (the verb) is a synonym for pull, e.g. draw the curtains, draw a bath, draw up a chair, and so calling this type of storage drawers is really like calling it pullers. When you think of it like that it seems obvious that it would have the er ending, but because we don't tend to think of the word draw these days as being pull, we don't think about drawer that way either.

Love the source used by dad:
www.quickanddirtytips.com!

Of course, you can judge people who use "first" and "second", but as perfectly literate users of English will use it, your judgement will mislead you.

Personally, I reserve judgement on anyone who makes what I consider a mistake in their written English. It might just be a typo or a brief lapse. It's only if they persistently make mistakes that I start to question their ability to write good English. And even then, I don't widen that to judge them as stupid or ill-educated - they are just not good at writing (there may be a correlation, but it's not perfect).

There's also a question of context: if a CV contains spelling errors, then I judge them, because they haven't made the effort to get program or a person to check their spelling for something as important as a job application.

Quick and Dirty Tips isn't bad as far as blogs go.

I don't advise (as Dad knows ) relying too heavily on blogs to prove your point though. Any old so-and-so can whack a blog into cyberspace and some kid will use it as gospel. (which is why we require our students to use properly referenced sources rather than a quick hit on google)

Well clearly poor spelling and usage IS widely judged and can make a difference in future life choices (if you do poorly in GCSEs for example).

The exam boards must be using something as the 'gold standard' to make their 5% SPaG assessment. This is what Pearson say about it:

One aspect of grammar that examiners often comment on is the frequent use of ‘would of’ and ‘should of’. There are also occasional scripts with use of text messaging language and students
should be made aware of the need to use formal language in examinations.

Ah a "style choice"...
Cool. People should expect to be judged, in that case, on such a choice.

Why the for style choice? You wrote two sentence there in a row with no verb. That's not grammatical and would be unacceptable in formal writing (the punctuation of 'Ah a "style choice"...' could be a bit questionable too). So, you made a style choice there to be more colloquial - a perfectly correct style choice, in my view, for an internet forum.

If it's not ungrammatical, then it is a matter of a choice of style (or register or whatever it should be called). What is your evidence that using "first", "second" is ungrammatical? And if your list went that far would you really say "seventhly", "twelfthly" (the latter is rejected by my browser's spellcheck!).

Proper English usage infers competence and intelligence to a lot of people.

You mean it implies.

Readers may infer that from what is written.