Isn’t it time to stop mocking people with poor literacy?

[RickiTarr]

It’s a whole genre and it’s not really on these days is it? If it ever was?

Another one running currently. It’s a terrible look @MNHQ

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/4192831-I-know-we-all-love-a-Chester-drawers-but-I-have-one-better#prettyPhoto

I have posted on that thread... one a family members mispronunciation very very funny he finds it funny too! The other an ad for an actual living thing for a lot of money ..the spelling is awful but understandable and also very funny(to us in private and maybe should have stayed that way) I mispronounce things all the time and also have fat thumbs and don’t proofread , as a result not sensitive about these things nor judgemental just see the funny

@Sparklingbrook

It's really not the job posters on MN to educate other posters. Everyone is just mucking about on the internet. Posting with one eye on the TV, typing quickly especially during fast moving threads.

Most people can separate formal and informal. When applying for jobs there's always spellcheck or whatever.

Oh no. I left out an 'of' it should read 'It's really not the job of posters on MN'.

Disclaimer-was watching a documentary on the TV at the same time.

Laughing at funny mistakes doesn't bother me but posters who correct people are tedious and horrible. Especially when they are asking for help. Shove your unsolicited SPAG lesson up your semi colon.

Yes funny mistakes are entertaining (someone called MN a 'nest of visors' the other day-funny typo), and if the spelling is so bad you genuinely can't work out what the poster means then asking is fine (in the right way).

Other than that yes Shove your unsolicited SPAG lesson up your semi colon.

Nest of visors

@LoisWilkersonslastnerve

Nest of visors

Accidentally topical.

I’m OP of that thread, really wasn’t meant as mocking the person. It took me a few moments to realise what it was meant to say and it made me smile, so I shared it referencing another common misconception.

There are hundreds of words I can never pronounce properly, partly because I lisp, and partly because I’ve only ever read them and not had cause to say them out loud. If I make a daft mistake, people should laugh, it’s funny! I’d also like to point out I didn’t speculate at all about the posters education, literacy or native tongue, and I kept it anonymous despite it coming from a public marketplace.

I have raised this more than once on that type of thread. Now I just ignore it. The need to look down on people is too great for some. They should be thankful they had the benefit of decent enough education and a reasonable IQ, although the latter is arguable

I agree. There will also be minority groups whose first language is not English making such mistakes.

@5lilducks

I agree. There will also be minority groups whose first language is not English making such mistakes.

Good point.

Agree.

I get why they find it amusing but on a public forum it's just mean.

Also will make any posters with less good literacy skills feel like crap.

Yeah I saw that thread and thought it was unnecessary and mean.

It's different when it's people telling stories about stuff their relatives come out with, when it comes from a place of affection.

As pointed out in the thread, a lot of the examples given are heard from native English speakers, who grew up surrounded by an accent and don’t therefore associate the word as they know it with the written one they’ve encountered

I have seen people obviously struggling in pretty dreadful situations, post badly written OPs. The sneering often is not just at the spelling its class based as well, a particularly sneery comment I have seen more than once in the time I have been on the forum is :

"We obviously don't move in the same circles OP"

Mumsnet as a Hive Mind both bleats about womens rights and womens opportunities quite heavily but rejects any attempt to engage with women who visibly from posting style were not fortunate enough to receive either a post 16 education or a live in a decent catchment area.

I have also seen women directly facing issues caused by socioeconomic deprivation pulled apart for not fitting a certain lifestyle mould or parenting approach

TLDR : Mumsnet Prejudice is Class Based not Spelling Based

Felicity I've read some of your thread and unfortunately it does come across as mocking spelling mistakes and looking down on people who make them.

It's the same as people who used to make Irish the butt of jokes. They were said and said so people then associated being an idiot with being Irish. This was then stopped and so did people's opinions.

Laugh at people's mistakes then it becomes the new thing to put people down. People associate negative feelings towards them. It leaves its mark in our subconscious.

You're feeding this. Be nice and stop it.

@FelicityBeedle

As pointed out in the thread, a lot of the examples given are heard from native English speakers, who grew up surrounded by an accent and don’t therefore associate the word as they know it with the written one they’ve encountered

Yes exactly, the thread is mocking people for being ignorant.

Anyone who corrects another person's spag on Mumsnet gets swiftly put in their place these days ... and infact that's been the case for years. Quite right too.

I can't get too worked up about the shezlon type of posts. As a pp has said, if you're not sure about a spelling it has never been quicker or easier to find the answer. The laziness is the issue.

I don’t know, I’ve made similar mistakes (including Chester draws ) and I’m not “poorly educated”, just remarkably unobservant. I don’t hold by pulling people up on their spelling on actual threads though.

Totally agree, hate the bitchy snobbery on here about SPAG (also baby names).

I remember recently a woman was posting about being in a horribly abusive relationship and needed advice, but she had just posted one long paragraph and some arsehole commented something like ‘How is anyone meant to help you if they can’t understand what you have typed....PARAGRAPHS!!’.

How much of a cunt do you have to be to think that way instead of helping an abused woman!?

Oh I've no sympathy re baby names. I avoid the topic, the names are always a bit 'out there'. Nobody goes on baby names and asks for an opinion on say 'James' or 'Sophie' after all.
And the sibling name matching I don't understand at all.

@HJ40 Maybe people don’t need someone on the internet correcting their spelling for them?
Chester drawers can also be a dialect thing, it’s something we say in the North East of England without thinking; but we know it’s chest of drawers. Same with peace pudding, we know it’s peas pudding.
Have a day off!

[quote savethewales]@HJ40 Maybe people don’t need someone on the internet correcting their spelling for them?
Chester drawers can also be a dialect thing, it’s something we say in the North East of England without thinking; but we know it’s chest of drawers. Same with peace pudding, we know it’s peas pudding.
Have a day off![/quote]
Pease pudding. Sorry, couldn't resist!

Unless of course, that was deliberate on your side and now I look like an idiot for biting. Oh well.

Pease pudding. Sorry, couldn't resist!

Do resist. Honestly, correcting anyone is a dreadful look.

And I'm normally wouldn't, but in the context of the thread it made me smile. Surely we're still allowed a sense of humour at times?

And yes, I double checked my spelling before posting it.

And there you go, with a certain degree of irony, I didn't proof read and made a typo of my own - it happens. Should obviously be "I normally wouldn't". Please feel free to mock me, I won't be offended.

It's just a funny spelling error, not laughing at disabilities