Mocking bad spelling/grammar on social media

[someseriouscoffee]

I see this more and more on social media, where people with less than perfect spelling and grammar are mocked for it, usually in public view with their name showing. AIBU to find this behaviour bullying and potentially disablist (as the person could have a learning disability for all we know). Maybe I'm being over sensitive but I really hate this, it's so patronising.

Whereas I dislike lazy spelling and grammar. I wouldn’t correct someone but I would judge. Some posts are almost unintelligible.

Are people mocking though? I really don't think they are, but are just pointing out errors, which is useful for the poster to realise and learn from. On a forum which consists entirely of the written word, correct spelling and grammar is essential to people's understanding! I make a big effort to get it right, because it's really important!

Isn’t it a slippery slope though? The quality of written English, especially online, can be so poor. If we just accept it, then it becomes the norm. I don't think people (in the words of Elsa) should 'let it go' on the off-chance that the person has a learning difficulty.

I used to judge but then I realised that some people just can't help it! They can't help that they're not good at grammar or spelling.

It's bullying behaviour to call people out on it and totally classless.

On my local group the ones complaining the most about the schools picking on their little cherubs or railing against authority are usually the ones writing in txt speak with no grammar and no punctuation. They are also usually the ones complaining about not being able to find work.

It makes it clear that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Also, employers now use social media screening new employees.

The two are almost certainly connected so not pointing it out is doing a disservice.

I try to make a positive comment then ad the correct spelling/grammar as a p.s.

Why shouldn't a 'disabled' person be shown the correct s/g along with everyone else?

If people are not corrected then they will not learn. It’s a good thing. Some posts are ridiculous and like user064 points out, will become the norm.

It’s seldom a disability from my experience , it’s laziness and lack of care. Nobody is perfect but their and there, loose and lose, are basics!

I think correcting spelling and grammar should be aloud !

It can be really difficult to read posts with bad grammar and spelling.
If you never correct someone then how will they ever learn? Learning difficulties aside, spelling is taught in schools virtually from the first day. Most people really should have no problem with it.

Why shouldn't a 'disabled' person be shown the correct s/g along with everyone else?

I am dyslexic. It doesn't matter how many times you point out correct spelling, it doesn't help. Would you tell someone else that they could be less impaired if only people pulled them up on it.

OP you don't get much agreement on here. There's a core group of posters that go on threads just to point out spelling, grammar errors or (god forbid ) Americanisms. They don't even bother adding anything to the thread. Just a derogatory comment.

If it happens on my threads I find it quite funny. I am happy to be discuss why they feel the need to do it. They usual shit up fairly quickly.

Not enabling a spell check function is not 'disablist'.

TBF, I only do it to hard core right wingers of the 'free tommy' ilk because they're fair game when they chuck scrabble letters at a post and you are supposed to sort some sort of sense out of incomprehensible twattery.

It makes me cringe when people correct spelling and grammar. And the people who do it seem to be so proud of their rudeness. It just looks so needy like they desperately need to let everyone know that they know the difference between their, there and they’re. Well done - most 7yr olds also know this!
I’ve never seen it done when a post is unreadable either.
I have a couple of highly intelligent and educated dyslexic friends and when I see people I know who barely scraped their GCSEs trying to humiliate them it gives me the rage!

I think correcting spelling and grammar should be aloud !

Love it.

I prefer to have it pointed out, as do two of my friends with learning disabilities. They argue that they won't know if nobody tells them.

There is also a big difference between mocking and advising. Actually, I tend not to point it out in most instances because I know some people take offence but I don't accept that it's universally rude or classless.

Shortstuff08 I get your point, but your thread is well written etc, but wouldn't you want to know if you'd written something incorrectly? Not nit-picky like the lack of an apostrophe but a genuine error?

Anyway, it depends on the post. Someone with serious issues doesn't need it pointing out and most people realise this.

My son has dysgraphia, you can point out a spelling error a million and one times to him but it won't stick. He is in his early 20s, he knows there are 26 letters in the alphabet, but he cannot retain what order they come in. He learned to read by memorising word patterns so he finds it very difficult to see the difference when words have similar word patterns, spell check means little to him. My dad was an incredible, highly respected professional in his field but he was also very dyslexic, he spent his school years being mocked and told he was lazy (much like his grandson all those years later), he went on to study for his professional qualification in his 40s when his learning disability was diagnosed and got help. I once asked him about spell check and he confessed it made little sense to him as he didn't know what word he was looking for in the first place, luckily my mum was able to be his proof reader so all his paperwork was second checked by her. Watching both my son and my dad take hours to write a few simple pages was painful and to know they are mocked or corrected by those who look down on them is just awful.

I think correcting spelling and grammar should be aloud !

**allowed

The thing is, the people I know that have learning disabilities are scrupulous about checking spelling and grammar. The only grammar and spelling errors I see come from people who can't be bothered to learn.
Depending on the context I might point out a correction.(For example, someone I knew worked as a PA in a blue chip company, and was about to send an email to an important contact, in which she had put "where" instead of "were", and "should of". It would have reflected badly on us if the mail had gone out incorrectly.
If someone on Facebook asks "Were can I get my cherwarwer grumed?" I'll let that slide.
If it's an ad for a business/post by a business, I'll private message them and politely point it out.
If it's a world leader who claims to be a genius, posting on social media with errors, then it's both barrels.

CambridgeAnaglypta how does it help to point it out? My predictive text is shit. Because I have dyslexia. It saves words I have spelt incorrectly before and then suggests the incorrect spelling I have used before and the correct one. It doesn't matter how many times you tell me a word maybe be spelt wrong. I still struggle to pick the correct one from the incorrect one. Would you tell someone else with a different learning difficulty that they were doing something wrong, if you knew it wouldn't help? That's what you should be thinking of.

I also disagree with the fact that people don't pick up on spelling, grammar etc when people are having serious issues. I have seen it when English is clearly not the ops first language and mn posters have still picked and poked. And the issue has been horrendous.

Another parent of a child with dyslexia and dysgraphia here.

The point is being constantly corrected can erode self esteem. And if you have something like dyslexia you get corrected a hell of a lot of the time.

Dyslexia doesn't mean someone is stupid or lazy, and correcting a spelling mistake doesn't mean the same won't happen again. Or in my DD's case another attempt, still spelt incorrectly.

I agree, it's situational.

Whilst I don't mind the odd error in posts on here, Facebook, etc, I belong to a lot of writers' fora and, while some writers are dyslexic, it gives a really shocking impression as a snapshot of your writing if you put up incorrectly spelled posts with appalling grammar. Any publisher or editor looking to recruit, isn't going to approach the writer who blatantly advertises that their work is going to need more 'going over' than others!

Also business emails/advertising. Incorrect spelling/grammar just tells me that they couldn't be bothered or couldn't afford a proof reader, which tells me all I need to know about the company.

My biggest issue isn’t poor spelling or grammar, but lack of paragraph breaks. I physically cannot read a wall of text, whereas with poor spelling and grammar it has to be absolutely awful before it becomes unreadable.

I have occasionally suggested to a poster that they use paragraph breaks, not because I’m being snotty about it but to let them know that the appearance of their opening post is off putting and anyone with eyesight like mine will simply move on and not bother to read it.

In return I usually get other posters telling me to add the breaks myself, so I’ve stopped pointing the issue out now.

The problem is, the ones who post with no paragraph breaks generally want help or advice.

I take the view that if they can't be bothered to attempt to write coherently, I can't be bothered to try to help them.

I think it's very rude and mocking. Who do the critics think they are? It is not their place to ensure other people "learn"

I think an awful lot of people have the ridiculous notion that it is their god given right to point out mistakes. They seem to believe they are "teaching" people, as a few have said here. Actually it just comes across as arrogant and patronizing.
Some people just aren't very good with spelling and grammar, myself included. My dad is terrible and my son really struggles too. None of us are dyslexic, we just really struggle to understand it.
It happens a lot when people are having arguments, it's their way of putting people down and making themselves feel superior. Pathetic in my opinion.