To think that mn should have a rule that any post that

[saint2shoes]

comments on another posters spelling, should be deleted.
what is it with this, who really cares?
makes me so angry

To the OP only:

I think it beautifully poetic that you were picked up on your spelling after such judgypants behaviour exhibited in your other thread. If you can be snobbish about one thing, then take it with good grace when somebody does it to you.

Otherwise, as a pedant even, I think it's extremely rude to correct people who have not asked for it. I do admit however, that I sometimes want to point out common mistakes because they are just that. There are many mistakes made that have become acceptable and there's a large part of me that wants to rectify them. I'm referring to ect, wandering/wondering, lose/loose, advice/advise, queue/cue and many others that are creeping in more and more. I genuinely like learning about language though but would never presume to force it on anybody else.

Snowleopard - perchance can you inform me of the origin of bated breath? Am genuinely fascinated - sometimes when I'm unsure of the spelling it's because although I know the meaning of the word, I'm not sure where it came from, IYSWIM.

Also, as we're on the subject (sort of) "dull as ditch water" or "dull as dish water"?

Answers on a post(ing) card.

Agree with that wannabe. There is a time and a place, and commenting can be very rude in the wrong time and place.

Also agree that misspellings can be great. I have a male friend who wrote to me that he had been "phlurting" with someone. How raunchy does that sound?

sycamore tree - ditch water, I think (but I can't provide you with a full history of the derivation, sorry)

waiting with bated breath for explanation from snowleopard

OK here we go sycamore...

"Bated breath" is from the word bate which means to lessen or hold back. So it means with your breath held - because you are waiting in anticipation.

Bate is a shortened version of the word "abate", which is still used and means to lessen or slow down or stop. It comes from an old french word related to "beat", as in to beat down.

Bated breath often gets turned into baited breath because bate is not a common word - many people only know one spelling of a word that sounds like that, baited, so they use that. Makes sense and it's one of the ways language and spelling change over time. In 100 years "baited breath" might be the more normal and "correct" spelling.

Often where a word is used as part of a phrase like bated breath, an old word survives when it is not used any more on its own. Eg werewolf means man-wolf - wer is a very old word meaning man, but we don't use it on its own any more. Bated breath is like that - it is one place where the old word "bate" survives.

I hadn't even thought about ditchwater/dishwater before and I've just realised that I use both... I bet ditchwater came first though.

well I think pointing out common homophones is a Useful Public Service

they aren't picked up on spellchecks and you might be in a situation where the correct spelling IS important (job applications, official reports and so on)

oh and some of them make my teeth hurt, like 'reigns' for 'reins'

wats wron wi bad sepllin?

Dea git it at aw tbh!

What about bad typing? Most of my typos are because my typing is terribe. And remember, we are the spellcheck generation!

Mine too.

I do not understand why my spell-check could not understand my last post. It makes perfect sense to me.

spellchecks don't pick up homophones or poor grammar

they also do not pick up diary/dairy and brian/brain.

Ditchwater (New Shorter Oxford Eng Dic. ie stagnant as in Lincolnshire).

the water or the county?

Thank you snowleopard - am crowning you intellectual champion of MN...for the moment. Victoria Coren has nothing on you

LL I think I have one of those!

Poor grammar and that in rl on proper letters and signs and telly and that is v important.

crap grammar and that on here is not worth getting your knickers in a twist over, and you have to be careful how you point out a mner's poor spelling etc because you will very likely look a twat

lapin
you have a Hintellectual GP surgery
at mine there's OK and Pick Me Up.

I think when its used as a retort for an argument its bad form and terribly grasping

"Do you like the name Bumhole for my baby?"

err no you ttal mniac are you inane?

"Well i'm not taking advice from someone who clearly can't spell"

We don't even have those Fabio.

We have well-thumbed copies of People's Friend

There are mistakes which make me grind my teeth but I really dont think it is my place to correct people on their spelling or grammar.

I was on a thread once where the OP was being particularly dense and their grammar was apalling, another poster continuously belittled the ops opinions and grammar. In the end I felt that whilst I really didnt agree with the opnions of the OP, I actually disliked the intelligent and articulate poster more, she/he was obviously well educated and should have known better.

We don't even have those Fabio.

We have well-thumbed copies of People's Friend