To think that correcting someone's spelling on a thread is just bloody rude!

[utterMadness]

And that it doesn't make you look big or clever, but like a smug pedantic twat.

Have just seen someone be pulled up on spelling on another thread who is dislexic.

People are unable to spell/write gramatically correct for various reasons.

Just because you can, doesn't make you better than them.

I think that in most cases, correcting spelling/grammar is done to patronise

AgentZigzag - I agree it is rude. I have never corrected a person's spelling here, and wouldn't. (scrolled down to make sure I got your name right )

"I think that in most cases, correcting spelling/grammar is done to patronise"

Yup, I agree. Or to score points.

You very rarely see someone see "btw, you might like to know that babies burp on muslins, not muslims, hope you don't mind that I've pointed this out" etc

I totally get why one would correct a family member's spelling - my dh corrects mine, although when I'm writing important stuff I write in word and use a spellchecker.

But ultimately this is just a chat forum, should people really be expected to write out and spellcheck their responses to threads just to avoid a dig over potential spelling?

Thank you Early

Maxy, as another poster on that thread said, the OP should really get down from her PhD Oxford high horse. It was a below the belt shot at you designed to show her superiority.

also there are ways of doing it. There are posters who will correct my crap spelling in a light-hearted way and I take no offence to that. I think tbh it winds me up more when it's a real debate and someone comes in with a spelling correction which is totally irelevant in the context of the thread.

Now text speak on the other hand...

YANBU - particularly on a forum like this where there is no chance to edit your message after clicking 'Post'. I am a pretty good speller but when I am typing I sometimes make the odd mistake. I try to read through what I have put before posting but sometimes you don't spot the typo until it has gone. On other forums I might then edit and correct such a mistake but on here it isn't a option.

I think if you can understand what the poster meant to say then there is no real excuse for correcting them.

Where there is the occasional post that is really incomprehensible I would prefer to ignore it rather than have a dig.

YANBU. It is done on threads to point score, IMO and it is pathetic. Fantastic spelling does not make you intellectually superior.

I would expect correction in RL - letters, work etc but this is a chat forum ffs.

How does shortened Braille work? [interested]

Is it like those court transcription things (mind has gone blank as to what they are called)?

YA certainly NBU.

It's unbelievably rude.

Imagine if a you were speaking to a stranger and they corrected your grammar throughout your conversation. Please don't now tell me, Chibi and Earlybird that your spoken grammar is 100 per cent perfect, 100 per cent of the time because I won't believe it.

5foot5 surely you can click preview post and edit if you want to.

On TES people do it all the time and correct each other's grammar, punctuation etc. But that's teachers for you. For some people it becomes a habit they can't break. But yes, it is rude.

Most of the time spelling mistakes and typos are very easy to tell apart.

Spelling mistake - your brain told your fingers to hit the wrong buttons, e.g. your/you're

Typo - your brain got it right but fingers failed to follow, e.g. your/yuor

uttermadness - are you talking about the 'hear hear' thing? If so that's not really correcting spelling but a correct use of a phrase (on a thread where the poster in question was having her linguistic choices questionned)

I would never correct a poster's spelling/grammar on here.

BUT - seeing bad spelling and grammar errors does make me think less of them.

Sorry about that, but it's true. You might think less of me if you saw me in my full forty-something frump mode, and I can't help judging someone by what I see of them on the page.

imahappycamper I do mostly preview before posting but you can still sometimes miss something even at that stage. Then once it is gone it is gone.

Some other forums though you can edit it again after you have posted.

I've noticed that in the four years I've been on Mumsnet my spelling has gone downhill, as so many posts are incorrectly spelled that they no longer jump out at me.

I do a lot of handsitting on threads sometimes.

YANBU - and is usually accompanied by an undertone of smug superiority. Makes me chuckle though when a saddo pedant subsequently farks up their spelling

It makes me think a little less of people sometimes, too [shame], although I know it shouldn't.

The only way to be a good speller imo is to read a lot, which I always associate with being well educated.

(says she who left school at 16 to work in a factory...)

TrillianAstra - you just don't understand dyslexia, do you?

The whole point of dyslexia is that 99 per cent of the time a dyslexic won't know they've made a mistake. They may spell 'spell' right nine times out of ten, but the tenth they may write 'spel' and, even if they re-read the post, won't be able to spot it is a mistake.

Telling a dyslexic to re-read and edit is no help at all.

If there was an editing function for old posts, can you imagine the ensuing chaos:

"You said x"
"No I didn't - see this link"
"You've edited it you cow"

"And, spellcheck (if that is how you spell it! ) is readily available for those who have spelling issues."

There is a lot of crushing ignorance about dyslexia from people who consider themselves intelligent and educated. Spellcheck is often of very limited use if the spelling involved is so off radar (like my daughters) that the spell check can't recognise the word and offer viable alternatives.

You are right OP but you won't change their (closed little) minds. Just call them a twat every so often as I do, its enormously cathartic

My problem is that bad spelling feels rude to me, in the same way that someone mumbling when they're talking to you does. I am completely inconsistent though because when it is someone I 'know' and I know what the reason is (eg Wannabe with her screenreader, other people posting in a rush between dealing with multiple children) it doesn't bother me in the least.

Oh sorry I did this the other day.

To be fair it was a common mistake which is just so annoying. Also they had spelled it the same wrong way twice so it wasn't a typo.

It's an occupational hazard with me I'm afraid. I don't often post it (tho I often think it).

Apologies if I've offended.

"My problem is that bad spelling feels rude to me"

Oh Christ on a bike! - the irony!!!!

In the thread in question yes, YABU.