To not understand why people correct spelling

[Lockeddownagain]

Just reading a thread on here and someone felt the need to correct the spelling of another then put sorry in brackets. They aren't sorry or they just wouldn't have done it. I'm super dyslexic and spell stuff wrong all the time but why do people need to correct it. If you are a spelling corrector would you tell me why you do it?? Thanks

It's actually my job - sometimes it spills over into my social life.

It's actually quite jarring to read things that are not correct. It's impossible not to see them, if your brain works that way.

It's a shame no one cares about getting written words right any more.

@MountainDweller

It's actually my job - sometimes it spills over into my social life.

It's actually quite jarring to read things that are not correct. It's impossible not to see them, if your brain works that way.

It's a shame no one cares about getting written words right any more.

So, what happens if you see someone spell something wrong? Yeah, nothing.

@MountainDweller

It's actually my job - sometimes it spills over into my social life.

It's actually quite jarring to read things that are not correct. It's impossible not to see them, if your brain works that way.

It's a shame no one cares about getting written words right any more.

It’s no-ones job to correct people on social media.

Only self appointed jobs exist in that field.

It’s actually quite jarring to see people use spag, when very few (if any) people actively choose to be poor at it, as a tool to kick other people with.

It’s a shame some folks just don’t care about humiliating or belittling people with their self appointed jobs.

@XenoBitch, I have so much more! It's such a fulfilling career. Experience as production editor, book editor, project editor, proof-reader, sub-editor, copy editor and writer, working for some of the country's major newsstand publications, plus work in an extremely specialised niche area of publishing. I've been freelance for 25 years and love the variety. People ask me back so I guess I'm doing a pretty good job!

@MountainDweller

It's actually my job - sometimes it spills over into my social life.

It's actually quite jarring to read things that are not correct. It's impossible not to see them, if your brain works that way.

It's a shame no one cares about getting written words right any more.

I'm actually not too bad at spelling. I'm terrible at explaining. I'm not the most articulate and often struggle to find the correct words to get my point across correctly. I'm autistic and this isn't something that will change. So no, I don't care much for getting written words right, but I do care about getting the overall message across correctly.

[quote MountainDweller]@XenoBitch, I have so much more! It's such a fulfilling career. Experience as production editor, book editor, project editor, proof-reader, sub-editor, copy editor and writer, working for some of the country's major newsstand publications, plus work in an extremely specialised niche area of publishing. I've been freelance for 25 years and love the variety. People ask me back so I guess I'm doing a pretty good job! [/quote]
Oh, so basically it is along the lines of you feeling superior to whoever dared to spell something wrong?

@XenoBitch I was just answering the original question, which was why do people do it? I do it because it's my job. I don't make a habit of doing it here, unless I don't understand something. I find it tiring that those of us who fight for correct English are sneered at.

@XenoBitch I don't feel superior. We all have different qualities to bring to life. I happen to be good at those things. My DH enjoys his job testing software. Neither of us could do the other's job (though they are both about detail) but we don't sneer at our spouses because they couldn't do our job. We respect the variety of people in the world. Do all doctors feel superior about their abilities when talking to, say, architects, and vice versa?

@MountainDweller

It's actually my job - sometimes it spills over into my social life.

It's actually quite jarring to read things that are not correct. It's impossible not to see them, if your brain works that way.

It's a shame no one cares about getting written words right any more.

It's my job as well, and I happily get the green ink out when correcting copy that is poorly drafted and full of inaccuracies at work. This is totally different: you are correcting the work of people who get paid to write for a living.

I would never dream of doing it on an online forum where all human life is here, including many people who are not native English speakers, some people with dyslexia and a lot of bright people who had a shit education.

If I went on a chat board to learn more about DIY (which I am remedially awful at) and a bunch of semi pros tore me a new one because I hadn't grasped the distinction between one piece of hardware and another I would (rightly) think they were all arseholes.

Why on earth do people who write/edit for a living feel they have a right to visit their superiority on amateurs who haven't asked for their help?

well said thepeopleversuswork

I always want to correct spelling. For years my job involved a lot of proof reading and document checking, and a spelling mistake is like nails on a blackboard to me. They actually make me wince inwardly! It's not so bad if it's an obvious typo though.

I make myself do the mental equivalent of sitting on my hands though, because I think it's a bit rude, and that my pedantry is my problem and I shouldn't go around inflicting it on everyone else. I guess not all pedants see things the same way.

I used to be regularly ridiculed for my poor mental arithmetic skills when I was younger - is this the same thing? Were people doing it to make themselves feel superior?

I suspect yes. Maybe not in all cases but yea generally!

I'm atrocious at maths! And when I'm anxious it's even worse! I've just made a total tit of myself on another thread (energy prices) cos I cocked up my calculations due to misplaced decimal point! (And damn near gave myself a heart attack in the process thinking I'd have an astronomical bill!)

The VERY kind pps on that thread haven't been at all condescending or patronising twats!

They've taken the time and the patience to help me figure it out - and calm down! And explained something to me in a way i understand that NOBODY else in my almost 50 years has been able to! Yay mn!

I’d guess it’s to protect a bank of words they hold dear, in other words, language they have learned and built upon

Which is daft anyway because English is one of the most mutable rapidly evolving languages in the world!

That said on very close analysis there isn't really even an "English" language because the VAST majority of our words are nicked from other languages!

We don't even stick to a group of related languages like the Romance languages or Germanic they're from all over the world!

But someone is bound to say language changes and evolves. Yes, yes it does. Even more reason to be precise then.

Damn it! Caught!

However some mistakes should be identified and corrected. Elementary errors/misuse such as these are especially irksome because it could be confusing for the reader. “Your” vs “you’re” “Bear with me” vs “bare with me” “Then” vs “than”

But what gives you the right? You're not their boss or English teacher!

As long as the correct meaning is conveyed there is not really a problem because that is the point of language - to communicate!

It's actually my job - sometimes it spills over into my social life.

It's actually quite jarring to read things that are not correct. It's impossible not to see them, if your brain works that way.

It's a shame no one cares about getting written words right any more.

Oh wow!

Do you really think you're a rarity on mn?!

You're not!

I've had a few jobs where my role involved proof reading and editing professionally written content.

One of those jobs it was my role to turn very technical writing into plain English that could be understand by consumers for whom English is likely a 2nd or 3rd or more language (That's a challenge!)

Your job shouldn't so prescriptively inform how you behave socially.

It's such a fulfilling career. Experience as production editor, book editor, project editor, proof-reader, sub-editor, copy editor and writer, working for some of the country's major newsstand publications, plus work in an extremely specialised niche area of publishing. I've been freelance for 25 years and love the variety. People ask me back so I guess I'm doing a pretty good job!

What's the opposite of a stealth boast?!

I do it because it's my job.

No that only applies when you are actually working!

Why on earth do people who write/edit for a living feel they have a right to visit their superiority on amateurs who haven't asked for their help?

Not all of us who have done/are doing such jobs do so.

Haha @MountainDweller is gonna make mincemeat of my post!

I'm tired I can't find my specs and it's late!

@Morethanwordsonapage

I’d guess it’s to protect a bank of words they hold dear, in other words, language they have learned and built upon, a wealth of words, known correctly. It’s possible they feel that if they don’t correct, they’d be quietly condoning the watering down of specifics, or correctness. But someone is bound to say language changes and evolves. Yes, yes it does. Even more reason to be precise then.

Note, with ‘they’, I mean people like me. And, not sorry. Also, I probably care more as I studied linguistics.

I imagine many of us who aren't twats about mistakes on MN studied linguistics too. Thankfully, like David Crystal, it seems that the majority are descriptivists though. It was, after all, our greatest living linguist who said "if it's used, it's correct". Now not even I would agree with that - at least not in the academic setting of the day job. But on Mumsnet? Being a twat and then saying "it's because I studied linguistics" just adds another fuckton to the smugness.

Poor grammar irritates the hell out of me, however it's rude and undermining to point it out. It's not my job to correct people and it doesn't detract from what is being said, especially when people are posting because they're feeling horrible in the first place.

I do think it's an aversion, similar to not being able to stand eating noises, but people should learn to control it.

I do silently despair of the education system, though.

Unfortunately there's a lot more wrong with the education system than failing to teach people the difference between bought and brought.

Also I think maybe many believe that there was a golden age when people left school having learned and remembered all or most of what they had been taught, and that people's written English was of a high standard, regardless of their intelligence, background and disadvantages. I don't believe that's true though. The poor language skills are just infinitely more visible now, because we live in an age where we are constantly exposed to normal people's informal and unedited written English in a way that just didn't happen before the internet.

Its a shame that so many people still don't have an understanding of dyslexia and other learning disabilities. And people with it are still labeled as being lazy.

People see themselves as intelligent and educated yet the can't work out that you can't just fix it by telling the person with the learning disability the correct spelling /grammar.

Is somone users your instead of you're and the person reading can't work out whats being said that says more about the reader than the writer to me

The poor language skills are just infinitely more visible now, because we live in an age where we are constantly exposed to normal people's informal and unedited written English in a way that just didn't happen before the internet.

This is so accurate. It was much easier to hide or disguise poor literacy in years gone by.

Even relatively recently people could do it. I know a lady who managed to hide it until mid 20s. Even when her child was very little she could mask it. However, then lots of things changed - school trips started needing a proper permission form rather than the “x doesn’t have her slip, can she go?” phone call, kids groups started needing registration forms filled in then and there. You could get away with not texting lots then so nobody realised for years. Not until Brown Owl changed a form layout…

Its a shame that so many people still don't have an understanding of dyslexia and other learning disabilities. And people with it are still labeled as being lazy.

I just don't understand why so many people label it as lazy as if people are making spag errors because they can't be arsed writing it correctly. Lazy isn't a term that could apply here and i think the posters who call people lazy are themselves lazy. Too lazy to find an accurate description. Nobody is writing 'could of' because they are lazy, they are doing it because for whatever reason they do not know it is 'could have'. Nobody writes 'I brought the cup' because are too lazy to say 'I bought the cup'

I don't correct people but I do really want to. Frequently. I resist though

Its often just a means to score a cheap point in a debate. You rarely see it directed at people the person doing the correcting agrees with. It's a way of negating the person's views by implying they are less educated/intelligent and therefore their points can be dismissed. Its harmful to discussion on a forum like this, because it can exclude and silence people who may have valid points/experience to share, but are made self conscious about expressing them. Personally, I'm interested in hearing a wide range of views and perspectives, not just those of people who use correct spag, and the content of a post is of far more importance to me than whether the rules have been followed.

I guess it makes those that do it feel intellectually "superior." News flash! It doesn't.

@5128gap

Its often just a means to score a cheap point in a debate. You rarely see it directed at people the person doing the correcting agrees with. It's a way of negating the person's views by implying they are less educated/intelligent and therefore their points can be dismissed. Its harmful to discussion on a forum like this, because it can exclude and silence people who may have valid points/experience to share, but are made self conscious about expressing them. Personally, I'm interested in hearing a wide range of views and perspectives, not just those of people who use correct spag, and the content of a post is of far more importance to me than whether the rules have been followed.

This.

It's a subtle way of closing down those who are not People Like Us.

Nasty, snobbish and utterly pointless.

Totally with you. I'm dyslexic I find it incredibly petty if someone corrects something irrelevant - such as on here or social media / text message and TBH I just feel a bit sorry for them being that small. I point out I'm dyslexic and struggle to notice these things. Writing is about communicating - if it can be understood that is the main point. For professional things I get them edited when necessary. I used to keep my dyslexia secret but I now see it as a bit of a superpower - your brain thinks and works in different ways and you can do things others can't. Check out www.madebydyslexia.org

@ChampagneLassie

It absolutely must me infuriating for people with dyslexia... but its not only people with dyslexia. Dyslexia isn't the only adequate excuse needed for not spelling correctly.

There are tons of people (on here and in the RW) who struggle with spelling and grammar. A lot have been very poorly educated. Some just are naturally bad at it.

None of this means they are inferior people. It sure as hell doesn't mean that if they come onto this board in distress, or with questions about major life decisions, that some arsehole is entitled to shoot them down in flames because they have written "should of" instead of "should have".

Imagine how this would play out in real life. Let's say you were desperately trying to find a solicitor who would represent you in a divorce case, or trying to sign on or trying to get help from Citizen's Advice, or booking your husband with the police because he hit you and some petty little bureaucrat piped up to say: "it's should have, not should of". You would be well within your rights to tell them to fuck off.

But somehow on here people are more distressed by the purity of language than they are in people's right to get good, compassionate and practical advice.

FFS.