To wonder how people make it to adulthood without knowing

[Staffy1]

That a Christmas tree decoration is called a "bauble", not "ball ball"? Or how they make it through junior school without knowing the difference between "his" and "he's"? What happens in schools these days and don't people ever read anything?

I used to think it was just the younger generation (under 25s) who used random apostrophes and mixed up their there, their and they're. But I recently joined a school reunion group on FB and my generation of over 50s are just as bad!

One that's annoying me is people not knowing that it's "bawling" your eyes out, not balling. The latter makes me think of someone going for your eyes with a melon baller!

I’m an English teacher with a dyslexic best friend. I have to overlook all kinds of things through gritted teeth because it is, of course, not her fault. Angle for angel springs to mind...

I'm dyslexic but had loads of help when I was younger so my spelling and grammar are fairly good. A lot better than the stuff I see online! So I don't like to make fun. But I've seen some crackers. There was one recently and op was saying b day for bidet.

@Simplyunacceptable

I’m an English teacher with a dyslexic best friend. I have to overlook all kinds of things through gritted teeth because it is, of course, not her fault. Angle for angel springs to mind...

Aren't you a Saint. Sorry but viewing something someone does because of a disability through gritted teeth sound awful.

Does it really matter? You know what people mean when write those things.
Perhaps they had a teacher who couldn't spell. I had to go in to school when my eldest was Y5 because her list of spellings always had at least 2 mistakes on it and it was printed by the teacher.
I must admit I thought it was trickle treat for years.

Exhibit A... it even says baubles on the sticker on the box and they still wrote bobble!

Que

Various reasons. Even leaving aside levels of intelligence, some people's brains are simply good at retaining words and spellings, and some people's aren't.

Reading habits (or lack thereof) are obviously heavily influenced by upbringing, as are language use and the importance placed on correct language use. That's before you even get to the inequalities in schooling.

As for 'what happens in schools these days', well.... far more grammar is taught in primary schools now than has been in generations. Spellings are taught too. That doesn't (and never did) mean people remember it.

Social media is also partly responsible for the spreading of errors. People see errors so frequently that it either reinforces their use of them or makes them question whether the correct version is actually the right one.

I think the biggest factor that makes people think that the state of the language is going to pot is that until the internet and social media, you didn't actually get to see what most other people's written English was like. Or at least you usually only got to see the English in published books or newspapers or in documents or letters by people like you (colleagues, family etc). Vast swathes of the population always had terrible grammar and spelling- you just didn't see it!

The internet has a lot to do with it. Nobody reads paper newspapers any more. Lots of people don't read anything.

So if all you're seeing on your computer screen is a stream of content from poorly-educated "influencers" writing about their "ball balls" or "how it's definately gonna sno" this year, then you think that's the right way of spelling. There's no subeditor, no-one with a red pen crossing out mistakes and making you redo work which is poor.

My own DD is bad for this - she constantly mixes up "were" and "where" and writes things like "The Jacobites where defeated at Culloden". At least she gives me things to check before handing them in. Have to say, the teachers rarely pull them up on this sort of error though.

They never read.

That's why.

Too busy sitting on their pedal stools watching telly.

Some of these examples are eggcorns rather than spelling mistakes. Surely everyone should know that

[quote PickAChew]Well he's is more of a dialect thing than a mispronounciation but I've seen so many recipes requiring castor sugar, lately

Most of the time I'm either in a rush to write what I want so I kind of automatically just write the first version on a word e.g their/there.
Other times its auto correct.
I have found a way to remember the whole dessert/desert spelling. Dessert has more letters because who doesnt want more pudding

It's how people around you say it and like ball ball is so similar sounding no one would ever pull them up on it. And the human brain doesn't do well with new words, it connects what it hears to existing information and words.
I've never understood the phrase "shitting through Ivah Needle" until I realised its "shitting through the eye of a needle" but people (in yorkshire maybe) say it like the first one.

Some things, as PP said with chest of draws, you should be able to work out but I can't get too worked up about that.
There are other things, though, like Geography and History and basic science which so many people seem completely clueless about. I get that everyone has gaps in their knowledge but when we get to the "Isn't Africa a country?" point that I start to despair slightly.
And every time it's brought up, someone will pop up to say that their dear friend was born in a Sudanese Refugee Camp, has been trafficked through seven different countries and has been too preoccupied with her severely disabled children and being the nicest person ever to learn that Asia is a continent, not a country, you snobbish elitist.
However, if we imagine that the vast majority of people can tell the difference between the experiences of the Sudanese refugee and the average British school child, then possibly people can have a sensible discussion as to why there's a concerning amount of people in this country who are proud to have never read a book in their lives.

People pick thing up incorrectly and are never corrected either at home or in school.

I worked with a lady who mispronounced lots of words. I assume she had read them, and no one had ever corrected her pronunciation. They were words like albeit, eligible, specific. So maybe not used at home when she was growing up. Her spoken grammar was also poor, but again not her fault if never corrected as a child.

I could see people in meetings cringing when she spoke, but at least she was trying. She must has listened to us all and thought we had it wrong😊

I was at school in the 1960s and have never had an English grammar lesson in my life. I went to a girls' school where it was assumed we would assimilate grammar through reading, but I can't say that reading 'Jackie' and 'Fab 208' was particularly useful. French and German lessons were a surprise; grammar was taught there.

What's more annoying is misspelling someones name in an email when you've just read their name. My name is 4 letters, it's insane how many people add a 5th. Because my names not that common so their brain just changes it to a name they know.

What bugs me is "fine toothcomb" Do people really clean their teeth with a comb?

I think it is true that people just rhyme off the sayings and do not really think about the true meaning.

Tbh it absolutely makes me cringe to hear people's smug, superior attitudes towards people with worse grammar and spelling than them. Good spelling and grammar are not a sign of moral worthiness. They are almost always the sign of a fortunate upbringing (probably with some fortunate genes thrown in). I've been a language teacher for 25 years, so I've had ample opportunity to observe this.

I also agree with @TeenyTinyDustinHoffman that in the 21st century it's cool to be a bit thick. I mean, you can make yourself a millionaire by cleaning your house, going on Big Brother and not knowing where "East Angular" is, by having a dad who represented OJ Simpson, starting off as a glamour model and then having several "reality" shows, or sleeping with a footballer.

Who needs brains and educashin?

Social media is also partly responsible for the spreading of errors. People see errors so frequently that it either reinforces their use of them or makes them question whether the correct version is actually the right one.

I think the biggest factor that makes people think that the state of the language is going to pot is that until the internet and social media, you didn't actually get to see what most other people's written English was like. Or at least you usually only got to see the English in published books or newspapers or in documents or letters by people like you (colleagues, family etc). Vast swathes of the population always had terrible grammar and spelling- you just didn't see it!

This. It's also the only real argument in favour of using good grammar and spelling on Mn. For some people, your posts about Brexit/ Teasmaids/ whether your horse has laminitis/frenemy wranglings is the only written English they see regularly.

"Castor" is a correct spelling.

OED: castor-sugar n. powdered sugar, so called from its suitability for use in a castor.

castor:

1. A small vessel with a perforated top, from which to cast or sprinkle pepper, sugar, or the like, in the form of powder; extended to other vessels used to contain condiments at table, as in ‘a set of castors’, i.e. the castors and cruets usual in a cruet-stand.

We have kids at school that bring in the same reading book everyday for years, school can’t afford to provide them with a new one and home chose not to or can’t afford to

Bit confused... what do you mean school can’t afford to provide them with a new one? At my DC’s school they change their book to bring home at least once or twice a week.