I need to get a grip.

[marmaladeandpeanutbutter]

What is it with this site at the moment? Every damn thread heaving with spelling errors. I can’t cope! Is it ChatGPT, or can half the population not spell commonly used words?

I know, really starting to feel rage at seeing loose for lose. Surely there aren't that many people who make this mistake. Never saw it when I was first on here but it's all over the place now 🤨

Could of instead of could have is my pet hate, and am increasingly seeing been instead of being.

ChatGPT would mean the standard of the written language had increased surely, not reduced. Maybe not the quality of what was being said, but it doesn't make spelling errors.

I thought this thread was going to be you asking what's going on ATM with all the threads criticising others' use of language. It's been mental on here this week.

I think there is something weird going on because I write posts, check for spelling and sense (I'm a university lecturer - I can spell!) - post it - and then notice lots of autocorrect errors crept in.

I have just had flu so I am definitely below par. But I'm blaming the gremlins...

PS: When I re-read this post, 3 typos needed correcting before I posted it...

Que or even queue for cue is my absolute pet hate. Don't use the word if you don't know how to spell it!

Que or even queue for cue is my absolute pet hate.

If I see ‘que’, I can’t help reading it in Manuel’s voice!

I think it's predictive text. I get steady full stops and bad spellings and I don't always catch them. It can be hard to edit on the phone keyboard as well.

I am mortified if I spell things wrong.

When did set foot become stepped foot? I’ve only seen it here. ‘I hadn’t set foot inside the shop’ seems to have become ‘I hadn’t stepped foot inside…..’. Is it perhaps a regional variation I’m not aware of?

I do wonder whether some of it is autocorrect. I can spell, but my typing is terrible, so I have to remember to carefully proof read whatever I’ve written.

Also, there are local variations that are not errors but are unfamiliar e.g. “this needs gone” is perfectly OK in Scottish English.

“Step foot” is one of those phrases that could be right, but isn’t. Like “damp squid” - a damp squid lying on a beach would be pretty useless. (Interestingly, autocarrot has corrected those squids to squib twice while I was typing…)

Also, ChatGPT is upsetting me at the moment. Don’t finesse your technical and scientific work with it, lovely colleagues, it will eliminate your facts and hallucinate its own.

I haven't used chatgpt but surely it's programmed to spell correctly. I would expect that to improve standards not lower them

It spells fine, but rearranges the content into something it thinks looks pretty and no longer has the correct emphasis. If the source text uses real but incorrect words I think this adds to the confusion.

Shoes on the S&B threads often have heals.

Ive slept now, which helped no end!

I've noticed that too @SnakesAndArrows . I have a dd who says she can spot in an instant where someone in her organisation has used ChatGBT.

In terms of spelling, it's the preponderance of their/there and bare/bear this week. I do see it's not that important, but it does get to me.

@SnakesAndArrows I’d forgotten damp squid! 😁

Yes, I think you do need to get a grip. Spelling errors are trivial, usually the product of typing too fast, or of autocorrect fails, rather than of ignorance. Grammatical and vocabulary trends are more likely to generate interesting/important problems (and solutions).

It’s the stream of consciousness posts that seem to be on the increase. Posts that are impossible to follow as they are illogical, garbled nonsense. With no paragraphs!

I have a dd who says she can spot in an instant where someone in her organisation has used ChatGBT

@marmaladeandpeanutbutter Muphry's Law strikes again :-)

In terms of spelling, it's the preponderance of their/there and bare/bear this week. I do see it's not that important, but it does get to me.

Why on earth would that be ChatGPT though?

Personally I find posters who clearly don't know what they're talking about claiming everything they don't like is down to ChatGPT infinitely more annoying than the odd spelling mistake.

If only it were the odd mistake.

Not forgetting where instead of were, and the confusion around lead and led. The dog ate the lead pencil as he was being led on a lead.

Yep get a grip. It's a chat forum not an English exam. People are typing on phones and in a hurry, easy to make a typo or just not be aware of a grammar rule. Doesn't matter though in this instance really, does it?