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?

@lazylinguist

I think what it really comes down to is an inability to put yourself in other people's shoes or understand that other people's brains and life experiences aren't the same as yours. How many people with great spelling and grammar can claim that they achieved that entirely through deliberate, sustained effort on their part?

In spite of what many MNers choose to believe, I can assure you, having taught grammar and spelling skills to people aged 4 to 76 from a very wide variety of backgrounds indeed, that laziness is not the main cause of poor grammar and spelling.

Exactly. For example the patronising pp who said that gaps in a person's knowledge can be filled with a simple Google search, did not factor in that you would need to know what you don't know first.

Can common sense ,empathy and how not to be smug on threads be learned from Googled I wonder 🤔?

PAT LUNCH

Anyone else?

Mind me, I am talking about the absolute basics like you're/your, of/have, there/their. There is generally not much need to be able to name all tenses and so on. But basics dhould be there unless disability prevents that.

@JovialNickname

There was a lady on the employment board the other day who described her new job as a poisoned carrot.

See also "18 carrot gold"

Congratulations on putting people down who you think are below you because they say or spell things wrong.

These make me wince a little, but I'd never correct someone! My mum was a stickler for grammar (English and Latin teacher) so I ggrew up being constantly corrected

I'm almost the opposite- read a lot, but hadn't always heard the word used conversationally, so I could spell it but not pronounce it (or not recognise it as the same word- took me a long time to twig that Arkansas was the same place as "Arkensaw!")

Or cum on OP, I think ball ball is adorbs.

My favourite one was my elderly aunt (who is also a rabid racist and homophobe, which makes this ironic...) saying “That insert racist slur here was casting nasturtiums about me!” (I was picturing a lovely Hindu ceremony and all.... She’d kick it for sure!)

I saw one I hadn't seen before recently.
Coldersack rather than Cul de sac. And many a Chester Draws

On another thread I apparently need to 'get a life' for explaining the difference between 'kerb' and 'curb'. You'd think with the never ending parking threads on here people might actually read and realise, but they never do.

That said, I once saw someone selling a copy of The Lion, the Witch and the Walldrobe. They had written 'walldrobe' several times despite it being right there in front of them on the bloody book.

@YoniAndGuy

They never read.

That's why.

Too busy sitting on their pedal stools watching telly.

😆😆

@Zilla1

@JovialNickname

There was a lady on the employment board the other day who described her new job as a poisoned carrot.

This made me laugh out loud

@LividLoves

I’m a teacher. People do this precisely because they never read. I mean, I watch telly with subtitles because I need to know how to spell names etc.

See also: trickle treat.

The problem with this is that some of the people who write the sub titles often get it wrong.

I put them on when I can't hear what is being said and the standard is pretty bad sometimes.

"Could of" does have me clutching my pearls, as you put it. I think most people know why it's wrong. It doesn't make sense. Just as you wouldn't say "I of done something", you shouldn't say "I could of done something".

That's just giving another example of the mistake, not a grammatical explanation of why it's wrong. You'd need to know the parts of speech properly in ordervto explain why it's wrong and why the correct version is correct. But precious few pearl-clutchers could do that.

I give you rest bite.

From one of my mates who realised at 40 something it is actually respite.

Of course, they could 'just Google it', along with all the other grammar points that exist in English, since Googling is the suggested cure for ignorance.

@TeenyTinyDustinHoffman

there's a concerning amount of people in this country who are proud to have never read a book in their lives.

I think you mean number of people, not amount 😉

Does it matter?

Yes.

I've always wondered about the baubles/bobbles thing. I say baubles but my friend pronounces them as 'bobbles.' I've never said anything. I just guessed that her parents pronounced them as bobbles and so she's grown up thinking that?

@justilou1

My favourite one was my elderly aunt (who is also a rabid racist and homophobe, which makes this ironic...) saying “That insert racist slur here was casting nasturtiums about me!” (I was picturing a lovely Hindu ceremony and all.... She’d kick it for sure!)

"Casting nasturtiums" as a deliberate jokey version of 'casting aspersions' has been around for a very long time. My mother used to say it and she'd be 100 yrs old now if she was still alive. Your aunt may be so used to saying casting nasturtiums that she says it without thinking and not realise someone might think she's made a mistake.

Alright, why does it matter?

@lazylinguist

It's a lost cause, lazylinguist! I'm a proofreader by trade, and this kind of thread just makes me roll my eyes. But people love them!

Phew - at least somebody gets it. Of course most people who clutch their pearls at things like 'could of' couldn't actually give a proper grammatical explanation of why it's wrong. They just know it's wrong because they were brought up to speak naicely, unlike those frightful ignorant people who just sit around and watch telly all day.

True - I don't have all rules committed to memory but I can see when things are wrong, just as I can tell if someone is singing out of tune.

@lazylinguist - YY, I think a lot of people can't explain clearly. There was a thread about grammar a while ago where a woman (I think she was an English teacher) was insistent that 'may' and 'might' are interchangeable in most contexts. She was also insistent that correct grammar was important. It really stuck with me. I suspect there's something in the nature of the internet that you can't write a post insisting grammar pedantry is important without making at least one error.

@AdobeWanKenobi The 'walldrobe' does sound interesting though. It's like a cross between a wardrobe and the wall in Game of Thrones. I may have to write a book now...