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

I'm crap at spelling and don't mind being politely corrected but only if it's polite. Some posters are obnoxious and pompous about it though.

My spelling has actually improved since joining Mumsnet.

I don't think people realise just how hard it it to spell things if you are bad at spelling. It's not that I'm lazy I genuinely find it extremely difficult. I'm well educated and I read a lot but I just can't hack spelling. Sometimes I can't even find the right letter for a word to begin with.

I saw the snarky Kurb/curb correction.

It makes them feel superior to put others down? They're twats? Whatever the reason it doesn't come from a place of concern.

@Barbie222

I think it makes sense to have as many people understand you as possible, rather than narrow the pool?

Sorry but the posts that prompt this sort of smug oneupmanship are never unintelligible. Posts that are completely intelligible don't get responded to.

They are designed as put downs. They pick up on routinely used grammatical mistakes, such as "would of" instead of "would have" or "Go Tesco" instead of "Go to Tesco".

Most of these spelling or grammar mistakes are the results either of dyslexia or someone with a poor educational background. They are clearly intelligible because the mistakes themselves are common false tropes in the English language.

It's pure snobbery and nastiness. And it has no place on a discussion forum like this.

@Barbie222

I think it makes sense to have as many people understand you as possible, rather than narrow the pool?

Anybody not understanding a post on MN (even one like the fake example above) needs help with their own comprehension skills.

You might as well ask why people on MN constantly criticise other posters for their hygiene, housekeeping standards, how they bring up their children, cooking, diet, driving, work ethic etc. But for some reason the only conduct of that type that people call out (and get VERY self-righteous about) is when someone dares to suggest that they struggle to understand what another poster has written.

Because an occasional error is understandable, but reading “ok hun i wud of done it but iv only just herd Wats going on i hope every1 s fine 2 do jt themselfes anyways da school could be a bit less lachs i daisy with comms” makes my brain hurt.

Well, yes, it would. If that sentence had ever been written. Which it hasn't.

You do not have to believe this, but I’ve copied that sentence almost verbatim. I did some gentle editing and condensing, but all spelling errors are from the original.

@EatYourVegetables

Because an occasional error is understandable, but reading “ok hun i wud of done it but iv only just herd Wats going on i hope every1 s fine 2 do jt themselfes anyways da school could be a bit less lachs i daisy with comms” makes my brain hurt.

Well, yes, it would. If that sentence had ever been written. Which it hasn't.

You do not have to believe this, but I’ve copied that sentence almost verbatim. I did some gentle editing and condensing, but all spelling errors are from the original.

Give over.

I saw the thread you're talking about. I did think the same. I'm pretty sure they didn't contribute to what the thread was actually about either.

I have had people tell me I spelt my name wrong before (not on here) as if that wasn't autocorrect and I'd been confused for 38 years.

Mostly corrections come across as smug and patronising.

What the heck going on with education these days?

Last 2 years have certainly been pretty catastrophic for children and young peoples education.

Someone shares this and I agree!

@EatYourVegetables

Because an occasional error is understandable, but reading “ok hun i wud of done it but iv only just herd Wats going on i hope every1 s fine 2 do jt themselfes anyways da school could be a bit less lachs i daisy with comms” makes my brain hurt.

Does it? Does it really?

@Fairislefandango

Exactly. This is so, so simple and yet the people who profess to be so well educated, just can't seem to understand it.

Or they do but they think their irritation is far more important.

Yes. Thank you.

Believe me, if pointing out errors eliminated even half of the inaccuracy in students' writing (or speaking), I would be overjoyed.

You can't really believe that all those people making mistakes have never read the correct version of any of those words and grammatical structures? That they never had them corrected at school? Of course they did. It didn't fix the problem. Having them pointed out by an MNer decades later when the habits are more ingrained and the brain less adaptable is going to help even less - i.e. not at all.

So what would actually fix the problem? I can see that you're right but in some way it's quite mind-boggling really.

@sevensleeps "what can fix the problem" honestly understanding the condition and other neurodivers conditions would be a massive benefit. As dyslexia is the way our brain is wired, nothing can be done to "fix" us as there is nothing to fix.

We just think differently, but have many many talents too just Google how many celebrities have dyslexia and you will be amazed by what we can achieve by thinking differently.

(Assuming that's what you were asking 😂)

So whatwouldactually fix the problem? I can see that you're right but in some way it's quite mind-boggling really.

Nothing will fix the problem. And it's a problem that's always existed. Imo some of it is down to how individual people's brains and memories work. I know that's an unfashionable view, and admittedly some of how their brains work will be down to input and influence in very early childhood. Reading a lot helps, but it's not necessarily enough to create an excellent speller. I'm the child of 'wordy', cryptic crossword fans. Dh was (and remains) a hugely prolific reader as a child, and is very bright, but has non-wordy, parents who spell quite poorly. I've been a pretty immaculate speller since an early age. Dh is... ok at spelling. Oh and the internet simultaneously doesn't help and makes poor spelling and grammar much more visible to a huge audience.

The problem in school is that a lot of what is taught does not sink in (in the long term or even the short to medium term). I'm wondering why you find it mind-boggling. After all, people are usually quite comfortable admitting that they remember practically none of what they learned in biology, geography or history at school, or that they're rubbish at maths. But for some reason they don't seem to believe that many people have a similar inability to retain spellings and grammatical knowledge.

There's also the myth that only English-speakers have poor spelling and grammar. Or that this is a relatively recent phenomenon. Neither of those things is true! It probably doesn't help that English spelling is batshit crazy, and that teaching grammar was not really done much in British state schools for generations. But bemoaning the state of a people's spelling and grammar is something that has happened throughout the ages, probably in every country in the world. I once read a glossary created by irritated monks, which was a list of 'infuriating SPAG errors everyone is making these days'. In Latin.

In the end, you have to ask yourself how much it really matters in the grand scheme of things. Getting pissed off and judging people achieves nothing. Some people write well, some don't. In most situations, the most important thing is communication.

Definitely agree on not 'fixing' dyslexia. It's mainly the 'should of' error I find mind-boggling (again, as a non-native speaker), as it's not a misspelling but a misunderstanding of what the actual phrase is. So it would feel to me like having someone point out once what the phrase is would automatically lead to 'getting it' and then writing the correct word in the future - because then it would actually make sense! But I take the point that teachers will have pointed it out many times and if that didn't help, having a random poster point it out on a forum won't correct the misunderstanding either.

OP, YANBU. I’ve been a teacher of English for twenty years and this drives me absolutely insane. It’s incredibly rude to correct somebody without an invitation to do so unless it is your role to help them (a parent, a teacher, proof reading at work etc) or you know for a fact that they’d appreciate it (husband, sister etc).

It is not helpful to risk embarrassing someone, particularly if you have no idea at all about whether they have dyslexia. It is akin to running a white gloved finger over someone’s skirting and sneering that your home is cleaner.

There are people on here who who fully understand that it’s rude to ask when someone is going to have a baby but who do not grasp that it’s also pretty rude to correct someone’s spelling. If that sounds like I’m stretching it a bit, having trained as a dyslexia specialist and also seen how mortifying it is for professionals to get pulled up in public by their colleagues, I’d say there’s a similar level of mouth / brain engaging needed. Perhaps stopping to think, “Could this be really embarrassing for the person? Did they ask me to get involved? Is there information I don’t know?” might help these pedants.

Nobody died of a spelling mistake.

I'd rather someone corrected me than not, as long as they don't do it in a snarky way.

It is akin to running a white gloved finger over someone’s skirting and sneering that your home is cleaner.
Tbf there was a thread the other week about 'What do you judge in people's homes' and I found it helpful as I'd rather know from a forum what kinds of things people notice than have an actual friend judge me!

@sevensleeps

Definitely agree on not 'fixing' dyslexia. It's mainly the 'should of' error I find mind-boggling (again, as a non-native speaker), as it's not a misspelling but a misunderstanding of what the actual phrase is. So it would feel to me like having someone point out once what the phrase is would automatically lead to 'getting it' and then writing the correct word in the future - because then it would actually make sense! But I take the point that teachers will have pointed it out many times and if that didn't help, having a random poster point it out on a forum won't correct the misunderstanding either.

I think you're right it is mind boggling even to me who's got it 😂. There are things that can be put in place as it is a disability, in work you for example you can ask for extra time on written work, coloured overlays etc. in study you can ask for extra time to bring you up to the same level as everyone else's reading if that makes sense.

The sad part is because it's hidden if you are high functioning getting extra time on exams is seen as "cheating" which of course it's not.

@sevensleeps

Definitely agree on not 'fixing' dyslexia. It's mainly the 'should of' error I find mind-boggling (again, as a non-native speaker), as it's not a misspelling but a misunderstanding of what the actual phrase is. So it would feel to me like having someone point out once what the phrase is would automatically lead to 'getting it' and then writing the correct word in the future - because then it would actually make sense! But I take the point that teachers will have pointed it out many times and if that didn't help, having a random poster point it out on a forum won't correct the misunderstanding either.

As a non native speaker all the mistakes are mind boggling for me, because in my eyes they don't mean what I want to say so it's obviously wrong. I do think it's a lot easier for us though, especially if we've learned by seeing it first.

In my opinion(and I'm no linguist ) "should of " happens because of two issues. 1.Most people when speaking tend to use the contraction "should've" (or could've or would've) . 2. The way many people and children speak of sounds like ov . Mix them up together and particularly in speech due to the sound should've becomes should of. Which then becomes habitual and customary to the person and it then translates in writing as well. Especially if they had drummed into them that that "ov/vv" sound is spelled of.

Definitely agree on not 'fixing' dyslexia.

Oh yes, definitely. But I don't think you can really 'fix' poor spelling and grammar either. It's not very easily fixable in an individual, never mind a population.

A very determined adult with poor spelling and grammar might be able to really improve if they had no dyslexia, plenty of time on their hands and a lot of motivation. But not everyone has that time and motivation.

@IdontWanna - yes, that's exactly where the 'could of' mistake comes from. There's a name for that kind of auditory interference with written accuracy I think, but I can't remember what it is!

I teach MFL not English, but I'm increasingly of the opinion that there is far too much emphasis on writing and accuracy in the early years of learning a foreign language. It puts people off and makes them unwilling to use the language to communicate, for fear of making mistakes.

I might be banging my head against a brick wall, but I would like to flag that I don't like the way in which people on this thread keep referring to dyslexia as if were an all round impairment in cognitive ability.

What you often get with dyslexia (but not always) is exceptionally bright person who struggles to spell.
That's one of the ways that the condition is picked up, when someone's spelling ability and/or reading speed is out of sync with their high performance on other cognitive tasks.

There are benefits to being dyslexic, as opposed to neurotypical, in terms of certain tasks. GCHQ specifically try to recruit dyslexic analysts because of their superior problem solving skills, for example.

Dyslexia in action - missing an "an" in my post above. Mumsnet could solve a lot of this debate by including an edit button.