To be so irritated by poor spelling and vocabulary?

[Positivevibesonlyplease]

OK, it could be weeks of lockdown having finally got to me, but when I just read two posts with the phrases, ‘couldn’t get passed,’ (meaning ‘past’) and ‘by her own omission,’ (meaning ‘admission’), I felt compelled to start an AIBU. It’s bad enough reading the FB ‘Your doing great’ and ‘I love you’re new dog’ posts. Oh, ‘their’ much worse at spelling on FB...etc. Yes, in these turbulent times, I know I shouldn’t be wasting my energies on such crap, but sometimes focusing on trivia keeps us sane. So, AIBU? Anyone else as irritated as I am?

I think it's shitty to go and comment on spag on a thread where someone is seeking help, but it's ok to discuss it in general term elsewhere.

It does matter.

I remember one post on here by a woman who was worried about a man "gorping" at the gym.

The thread was quite confusing as it was unclear whether she meant groping (and had mistyped) or gawping. Two very different things!

I'm not sure if I'm correct, but I do wonder whether people are reading fewer books nowadays. So much of our content at the moment comes from the internet; the advantage of course is that people can self-publish blogs and articles and so forth easily, the disadvantage is that it doesn't go through any proof reading or editing beforehand.

We should try and read more books and papers, and less from the internet.

I agree.

My mum bless her has poor grammar and pronounces lots of words incorrectly and I followed suit. As I got older and learnt to read I found it embarrassing that I was saying so many words incorrectly

It is important to remember that not everybody has the same educational background. My children are far more articulate than I was at their age.

I’d be tempted to pick people up on SPAG errors if they were lecturing or being pompous about something else. Still probably wouldn’t though. It makes the person correcting look worse than the person who’s made the error.

Especially if someone has, for example, posted a heartfelt and sincere message that deserves a sympathetic response
No judgement here any more. In fact, I can hardly believe I was ever such a snob
Good on you not living in a smug box anymore, in our inner city classroom you spent more time trying to stay out of fights. Had DC repeatedly kicking off, some parents were in prison, some were junkies, some were alcoholics, some were just poor but tried hard, there was no books in homes plenty of hunger mind you.
Not all schools focused on learning.
I was a slow learner too judging by the amount of labels DD is diagnosed with I know now I had SEN.
I'll never be great at SPAG but i do my best to learn mainly on here.

@Covert20 did you read the rest of my post where I realised I was wrong?

I feel I'm providing an education when I pick up on mistakes on here, it isn't always received well but I can't help myself sometimes.

I used to be a real grammar nazi. I often get irritated by things like menus, signs, or advertising material with poor grammar and punctuation. As a secretary myself, receiving letters like that drives me crazy. But, I queried someone's grammar on social media, and someone else, quite kindly, commented, we're lucky to have been able to listen in school, to have read a lot, or just to have a natural affinity for grammar and spelling. Many people never had that as kids. Many didn't have the socio-economic background that allowed them those things. Maybe they were brought up in a home that didn't value reading and books. Some will be dyslexic but still want to communicate and be part of a conversation. In an informal situation, I'm much more relaxed about it now.

It does annoy me too, I generally don't say anything for most people (and don't have social media so don't have that problem!) but my partner is particularly bad at it and I find myself calling him out on it when I'm in a bad mood, luckily he takes it well!

nanbread nope, as a fellow mum of a struggling child with dyslexia (well two) I skimmed and missed the point —and I don’t even have dyslexia—

My bad, sorry 😳

And then didn’t even finish my point, I jumped in defensively why out reading properly 🙈

My people! (well. the ones that think YANBU)
Really winds me up - if interesting, will ignore & read past, but still find it irritating.

On MN - the people that write long, long posts with no paragraphs.

Other pet hate - I can think of at least three shops nearby with huge signs proclaiming that they sell stationary.
Refuse to use them (inconvenient when not WFH, as one does click & collect).
StationEry - Eis for envelopes

I’m with you on that, OP. It irritates the hell out of me. And when I receive phishing emails trying to con me out of my money, the poor grammar is always an instant giveaway.

@indemMUND are you a Lindemann fan by any chance?

DP's mother is fixated on certain grammar rules, for example the use of 'may I?' and 'can I?'. She doesn't use them correctly herself - I mean, in everyday language, when people are just chatting, it really doesn't matter that much. But she thinks she needs to educate her grandchildren and will interrupt them in the middle of something they are excitedly telling her, to point out some error. It annoys the hell out of me to see their confused and deflated expressions when she spoils their little story. So bloody superior and achieving absolutely nothing except to widen even further the gaping chasm in her relationship with them.

It used to annoy me a lot ,especially since English is my second language and I was all high and mighty.. If I can do it everyone can.

Then I started working with kids and it bothered me less and less. Some children will never be perfect(or even good enough) spellers for various reasons(SEND,memory problems, trauma,chaotic home lives,illiterate parents, parents that don't speak English at all or very limited etc), it doesn't mean they're not smart, that what they have to say isn't important or that they're any less worthy. What really got to me was the effort so many of them put in to try and get it right, while also needing to deliver adequate/enough content , good presentation/handwriting and a good piece of writing in a limited amount of time. Too many plates to juggle and some will drop. Sometimes they never get picked back up.

I also realised that I was at an advantage because English IS my second language. I learned words in combination with their meaning and seeing them written down. I can't use the wrong word because it's not what I mean, I don't have to sound things out, I didn't use these words for years without knowing what they should look like.

The people you laugh at and make you fume now, were these children some years ago. There are teachers,doctors,writers etc that can't spell everything correctly, or use text speak informally

Great post Princess

Oh please it’s just a forum, where most people are typing from their phones. hmm I may not have perfect grammar in posts, but any English speaker should be able to understand what I’m saying. It really isn’t that deep, can’t believe it bothers some people so much.

It bothers me when I get letters from my kids' schools with egregious errors in them. Every. Fucking. Time.

Just read through all the posts on here having a chuckle at 5 or so smug posters who've made mistakes in their own posts. 🤣

I don't care most of the time and then I see 'could of', 'would of' and 'should of' on FB. It makes me cringe for some reason.

I feel I'm providing an education when I pick up on mistakes on here, it isn't always received well grin but I can't help myself sometimes
How kind of you.

@EmeraldShamrock, lol. ‘Providing an education’ indeed!

Villanemme- including the OP.
Don't you just love Muphry!

@Villanemme

Just read through all the posts on here having a chuckle at 5 or so smug posters who've made mistakes in their own posts. 🤣

Me too actually 😂