Spelling

[Jim]

Maybe I'm just getting older and grumpy.  But... How, in a world where every device and browser notes or even automatically corrects spelling errors, is it the case that every new member on this forum seems even less capable of correct (or at least somewhat reasonable) spelling, punctuation, and grammar than the last?

[Alps]

i dont understnad wut u me3n

[oscar]

I am definitely old and grumpy, and I agree with Jim.

One suggestion for the spelling-challenged: take advantage of this forum's Preview feature when composing your messages, which automatically flags possible spelling errors. Hitting the Preview button also can help avoid other problems, like mangled quotes.

[Max Rockatansky]

Must be that education system in Pencilvania or is connitent wide?

[hotdogPi]

I am definitely old and grumpy, and I agree with Jim.

One suggestion for the spelling-challenged: take advantage of this forum's Preview feature when composing your messages, which automatically flags possible spelling errors. Hitting the Preview button also can help avoid other problems, like mangled quotes.

Preview flags possible spelling errors? I use the Preview feature in quite a lot of my posts, and I have never seen a possible spelling error message, not even a false positive.

[MNHighwayMan]

I am definitely old and grumpy, and I agree with Jim.

I am young and grumpy and also concur.

[jeffandnicole]

My android device helps *make* those spelling errors for me. Or thinks the tense of the word I'm using should be different. Happens way too often!  I'm a fairly good speller...usually...I just type a word in wrong due to fat fingers and fail to look back at what I wrote before I send it.

[oscar]

Preview flags possible spelling errors? I use the Preview feature in quite a lot of my posts, and I have never seen a possible spelling error message, not even a false positive.

Look for the red underlining under the supposedly misspelled word.

[hotdogPi]

Preview flags possible spelling errors? I use the Preview feature in quite a lot of my posts, and I have never seen a possible spelling error message, not even a false positive.

Look for the red underlining under the supposedly misspelled word.

My computer does that automatically, immediately after I hit the spacebar after the word is typed. No preview button required. While I use a Mac, I assume the same is true with Windows.

And this still won't help with cities/towns under ~10000 people.

Cities/towns above 20000 in New England that aren't recognized by spellcheck (this list is complete):
Southington CT, 43K
Natick MA, 33K
North Attleborough MA, 29K
Agawam MA, 28K
Middleborough MA, 23K

[hbelkins]

It especially grates on this journalism major/former newspaper editor/current PR specialist. I'm not immune from spelling and grammatical errors, and especially not typos.

This tangentially relates to the announcement yesterday that AOL Instant Messenger is going bye-bye. I said years ago that IM-speak would be the death of the English language. Texting hasn't helped. Neither has Twitter. I fear we're going to end up with a generation of people who can't write in complete sentences.

[JJBers]

Preview flags possible spelling errors? I use the Preview feature in quite a lot of my posts, and I have never seen a possible spelling error message, not even a false positive.

Look for the red underlining under the supposedly misspelled word.

My computer does that automatically, immediately after I hit the spacebar after the word is typed. No preview button required. While I use a Mac, I assume the same is true with Windows.

And this still won't help with cities/towns under ~10000 people.

Cities/towns above 20000 in New England that aren't recognized by spellcheck (this list is complete):
Southington CT, 43K
Natick MA, 33K
North Attleborough MA, 29K
Agawam MA, 28K
Middleborough MA, 23K

Windham, CT, 25k
(I had to add it to the dictionary) 

[wanderer2575]

Totally agree with H.B.  I head a payroll department and we don't yet have a self-service portal for employees, so I get a lot of e-mails from younger people who clearly have issues with the concept of coherently-written communication.  Not just bad spelling, but bad grammar:  "I John Doe is requesting..."  And do you think maybe you could at least correctly spell the name of the company for which you work?

And don't even get me started on "less" vs. "fewer."

But on the flip side, too much reliance on auto-correct and spelling checkers leads to problems when these aids don't recognize a properly spelled word and so the writer changes it.  Or a correctly-spelled word is incorrectly used, such as this extreme example:
     Marry hat a lit tell lam;
     Ids fleas was wide as now.

Or this:
     The too of us are going two the store; do you want to come to?

And of course this reliance means people have less incentive and reason to know how to write correctly on their own.  That's one of the problems I have with all the automatic features being installed in vehicles these days -- parking assist, backup cameras, blind spot detectors, etc.  My mind boggles at the number of people driving monster SUVs who clearly have no idea how to maneuver them.  Same thing with writing.

[adventurernumber1]

I'm not exactly the best at the English language - though I try my best with my abilities. Sometimes I'll have terrible memory lapses and incompetence with grammar - I don't think I'd say I'm ever that great with it anyway.

However, with that said, I take rigorous efforts to make my posts on here as coherent and meaningful as possible.

If any of you remember the disastrous time several months ago when my OCD had reached its peak in severity (exacerbated by the situational stress of Junior Year of High School), when a lot of my posts said (-input coming-), the reasons for which are too many to list. But the main reasons were that my stupid OCD made me check and obsess over every single last word. Take that sentence I just said for example - I would have delusions that I don't know how to spell anything, and my OCD would make me look up the definition of almost every single word I typed - even if it is elementary stuff I, and most people, know incredibly well, such as the words check, obsess, single, last, and word. I'd have to look up the definition for every single damn one of those words, or else I'd have debilitating anxiety - but the other huge reasons that I produced so many posts that temporarily said (-input coming-) and nothing else is that that same OCD demon would force me to post specific posts at specific times, with no exceptions - it would say I would have to post "this post at 11:59," "this post at 11:11," "this post at 11:47," "this post at 7:23," and etc. That is why I was even willing to post posts that (temporarily) had no actual material, because I mentally had no choice. After that catastrophe, I took a break from the forum because my OCD absolutely would not let me function and contribute on it. In my opinion, there is honestly absolutely nothing in the entire world that is more boring than OCD compulsions, and this is no exception. Looking up the definition to every last word, most of which are simple words I already know like the back of my hand, is a snoooooooozer. With the anxiety and the monotony and the misery and much more, it's no wonder I didn't have motivation to fix those posts quickly enough (especially since I generally have low motivation levels anyway due to Major Depression).

   


Now things are significantly better, and I still rigorously make sure my posts are decently correct grammatically, with the mediocre knowledge I have of the English Language. But I have long been sick and tired of worrying about the "grammar" of every single word in my post that I already know (due to severe OCD), and now I primarily focus on the important thing of my posts that matters mostly - the content and what I say and how I contribute, now that I have mentally recovered somewhat. Grammar is still secondary, and still important, though, of course, and I recommend that mindset for others, and that spelling is not completely discarded.

By the day, I think I am continually getting better with my skills of speaking and writing effectively, and my understanding and application of the English Language, and my ability to learn and spell (and remember) new words. Though I'm still not exactly the best at explaining things...at all. 

But the biggest thing I wanted to get to in contributing to this thread, is that with everything I have just said, I rigorously proofread all of my posts. I usually type everything and then post it, and then, after being already posted and a part of the thread, I proofread my entire post carefully (though no longer so compulsively like several months ago, thankfully), with the knowledge that I will be able to edit and modify my post if there are in fact any mistakes, or something I forgot to say, or didn't explain the best way or say it the way I thought it in my mind. So I will usually post, and then proofread, and then edit if needed. That is actually probably why I think the large majority of my posts are modified (even if it wasn't a huge edit, which is the case most of the time). If somebody quotes my post, and there was a mistake in it or something that need clarification or I didn't say it right, then I will create a new post to clarify it most likely, since the original post is already preserved in a quote in its original form. Rather than modify the original post, I personally usually create a new supplemental post to clarify it. I do not think I have ever used the Preview feature before, or anything else of the sort, because while I may have seen the button before, I never really realized what it was or what it did. Perhaps I should use it more often now, since I usually proofread each entire post of mine after it is already publicly posted on the forum.

Sorry if this post itself is long and tedious, I guess I just had a lot to say on the subject. Basically, I definitely emphasize proofreading one's post and making it as grammatically decent as possible as one can with their abilities.

[7/8]

I am definitely old and grumpy, and I agree with Jim.

I am young and grumpy and also concur.

I concur with your concurrence (does that make sense?)

I almost wonder if it's on purpose sometimes. In this post, the title says Ierland, but the post says ireland.

To adventurernumber1, I think your spelling and grammar are great! I would suggest the preview button. I always use it, since typing on my tablet leads to typos.

[adventurernumber1]

To adventurernumber1, I think your spelling and grammar is great! I would suggest the preview button. I always use it, since typing on my tablet leads to typos.

Well, thank you very much. I guess thinking objectively, my grammar and spelling is in fact above average (at least the average of people my age and younger), I guess I'm just pessimistic and don't think very highly of myself and my abilities. 

So thanks, that does mean a lot, and I think I will indeed start using the preview button a lot more in the future, now that I know more about it.

[Takumi]

[Jim]

adventurernumber1, I also don't recall any of your posts being ones that led me to start this topic!

[cjk374]

Oh boy! This subject has pissed me off for years. My son & daughter have the spelling skills of a piss ant. And who do I blame for this? The education system.

Let's take a trip in the ol' WAYBAC machine shall we? Let's go back to my years in elementary school here at Simsboro School. Kindergarten ('79-'80 school year) had me learning how to read "Run Spot Run". First grade had me reading at a slightly higher level. But the most important lesson we were taught this year involved learning how to spell. Mrs. Nelda Howell started teaching us phonics. These were the most important lessons we ever needed for spelling words correctly.

Then came grades 2-6. McGraw-Hill had spelling books for each of these grades named "Basic Goals in Spelling". They were 36 chapters long, a chapter for each week of school (we had 6 six-week grading periods then). Each chapter had a list of 20 words, the last word or two would be called "snurk" words (highlighted in red with a little snake in a red triangle next to the word) that were just a bit of a challenge to spell. Toward the end of the books was a whole list of snurk words that really tested your spelling skills.

There were usually 4 groups of exercises for each chapter. Those exercises were our homework for Monday-Thursday nights, as well as writing all the spelling words 3-5 times each. You learned not only learned the correct spelling, but how to use some of the words in sentences. Spelling tests were on Wednesday. If you made a 100, a star was placed next to your name on a poster board on the wall, and you didn't have to take the retest on Friday. This process went on for 5 grades (2, 3, 4, 5, & 6).

In grades 3-6, we had dictation sentences to study. We had to write them 3 or more times each everyday until test day (usually Friday). The teacher would call them out no more than 2 times during the test. Spelling counted against you.

Let's go into high school now. Between book reports, typing classes (on real typewriters, not computers), history reports & English essays, misspelled words counted AGAINST you. Your grade would suffer if you couldn't spell worth a damn.

College....of course spelling words wrong cost you BIG TIME! As it should.

Time to come back to today and put the WAYBAC machine back in the garage. Kids don't even have their own textbooks. They are not allowed to bring them home. Forget about spelling textbooks...they no longer exist here. No such thing as spelling lists, tests, or snurk words. Phonics are a forgotten art. Spelling is NOT enforced...because the teachers are not allowed to. My daughter's teacher told us this last year. The damned Core Curriculum is (allegedly) to blame. I put the blame on the teachers for not pushing the students to do the right thing when it comes to spelling. We really are bringing up the most uneducated bunch of school children right now. It started with the kids who started school around 2000 IMO. I hope I am wrong. I hope this is just isolated to Louisiana, but from what I have seen so far it seems to be more widespread.

[hbelkins]

I just wonder if any of these text-speak-typers will ever send a cover letter along with a job application saying something like:

"I want to apply for a job with ur company. If u hire me..."

I'd throw that resume in the trash immediately.

[Alps]

I just wonder if any of these text-speak-typers will ever send a cover letter along with a job application saying something like:

"I want to apply for a job with ur company, lol. If u hire me..."

I'd throw that resume in the trash immediately.

FTFY

[TheArkansasRoadgeek]

I just wonder if any of these text-speak-typers will ever send a cover letter along with a job application saying something like:

"I want to apply for a job with ur company. If u hire me..."

I'd throw that resume in the trash immediately.

Y? U Maaad, bro? Y u hatn'?

[noelbotevera]

I'm somewhat surprised my spelling hasn't been thrown out of the window at this point. Grammar, however, needs work - considering the previous sentence was a run-on sentence.

It is true that today's kids don't know squat about how to type properly. It's as if it's some alien language that only other "aliens" can understand, and the language consists of cryptic phrases and/or acronyms.

[jp the roadgeek]

Preview flags possible spelling errors? I use the Preview feature in quite a lot of my posts, and I have never seen a possible spelling error message, not even a false positive.

Look for the red underlining under the supposedly misspelled word.

My computer does that automatically, immediately after I hit the spacebar after the word is typed. No preview button required. While I use a Mac, I assume the same is true with Windows.

And this still won't help with cities/towns under ~10000 people.

Cities/towns above 20000 in New England that aren't recognized by spellcheck (this list is complete):
Southington CT, 43K
Natick MA, 33K
North Attleborough MA, 29K
Agawam MA, 28K
Middleborough MA, 23K

YES!!!!  Noww tht II kno tht meye toun isnt recugnised bye spellechek, II cen misspell ase meny wurdes ase II waunt. 

[Roadgeekteen]

Sorry guys. 

[J N Winkler]

I am a little intrigued by all the suggestions upthread to use Preview.  I find myself using it more, mainly to cut verbiage, but I never see red underlining.  (Firefox 48 for Windows 7.)

As for whole-word autocorrect, Gboard and its ilk seem determined to make it hard to compose written communication in any register other than that of a bored Silicon Valley office drone.