Alas, poor English...

[Over_Lord]

Has anyone, like me, noticed the apparent inability of posters to distinguish betwee the words 'woman' and 'women'..?

I thought the world's literacy rate was supposed to be improving.

 

[tickledkitty]

Yep. They don't know how to spell definitely either.

 

[Over_Lord]

Yep. They don't know how to spell definitely either.

Indeed. I love the oft-mangled version 'defiantly'!!

 

[christabelll]

its better than street aka text speak... now there's a way to wrap your head around the axle...

Some of is laziness (and not using the grammar options on their wp programs). And some of it is definitely a lack of knowledge when it comes to pluralizing words -

Not everyone is a good speller even if they write fairly well - and sometimes lol wp doesn't catch little things like that...

and yeah - literacy is one of the lowest priorities for the country these days...

 

[Over_Lord]

But most of it relates to lack of intelligence.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I could of told you that thems was lieing about where the grammer in this world is going

Yes, it is a very sad state of affairs, where so many people completely ignore what they are actually saying, thinking that they got their points across with text speak, broken English (from native English speakers), words mixed up and poorly spelled (you don't want to know how many times I had to retype "spelled" (did it again) to get it right ), and a whole slew of atrocities against the language and our poor wittle eyes that have to read these messes.

 

[neonlyte]

Yep. They don't know how to spell definitely either.

... or between

 

[tickledkitty]

But most of it relates to lack of intelligence.

Are you talking posters everywhere in general or here in the AH? I've found the folks here to be above average intelligence-wise for the most part.

 

[tickledkitty]

... or between

I have to admit, that one slipped right by me.

 

[Over_Lord]

I could of told you that thems was lieing about where the grammer in this world is going

Yes, it is a very sad state of affairs, where so many people completely ignore what they are actually saying, thinking that they got their points across with text speak, broken English (from native English speakers), words mixed up and poorly spelled (you don't want to know how many times I had to retype "spelled" (did it again) to get it right ), and a whole slew of atrocities against the language and our poor wittle eyes that have to read these messes.

Surely you meant 'goin'..?

 

[TheeGoatPig]

Surely you meant 'goin'..?

Shurely I's didn yessir! (had to remove a comma from my sentence as well )

 

[Safe_Bet]

But most of it relates to lack of intelligence.

Condescend much?

 

[midwestyankee]

Condescend much?

No, only in his spare time.

 

[Over_Lord]

Condescend much?

Nope - sheer detestation. Don't confuse the two, pray. They are completely unrelated attitudes.

However, even if it were to be condescension, methinks that the occasional spot thereof would make for a refreshing change to all the politically correct appeasement and acceptance of pratspeak.

 

[rgraham666]

But most of it relates to lack of intelligence.

No. Most of it relates to the education system.

And ours, as I've said before, is not a system designed to turn out human beings suitable for citizenship. It's meant to turn out human resources suitable for employment.

Literacy is a secondary consideration for people meant to be employees and nothing else.

 

[TxRad]

But most of it relates to lack of intelligence.

Most of it is due to typos and errors in trying to be speedy with the keys. The brain says one thing, the fingers another.

 

[midwestyankee]

But most of it relates to lack of intelligence.

No. Most of it relates to the education system.

And ours, as I've said before, is not a system designed to turn out human beings suitable for citizenship. It's meant to turn out human resources suitable for employment.

Literacy is a secondary consideration for people meant to be employees and nothing else.

In my view, it's not necessarily, though possibly, either one. For most errors in spelling and grammar to be due solely to intelligence would mean that no one with an IQ of, say, 1 standard deviation above the norm would ever commit an error in spelling or grammar. Not bloody likely. Further, if most of these errors relate to education, then we would have to see that only those who received stellar educations would be capable of producing flawless writing. Not bloody likely again. Further, we'd have to see that anyone whose education was substandard would be incapable of producing clear and grammatically sound writing. Not so fast, my friend.

Some very well educated people fail to develop the highly disciplined writing skills that lead to being able to produce reams of copy devoid of any spelling or grammatical error. Many of these people are also quite intelligent (sorry, but you're simply not going to survive a full university education and three years of law, medical, or other graduate school without a fair level of intelligence). Further, plenty of people who suffered through the most egregiously wanting public school educations are capable of quite fine writing.

Poor spelling and/or poor grammar result from a variety of causes and, frankly, at least some of them are not the pet peeves of many people at all.

 

[sr71plt]

There are a whole raft of commonly typoed words that really have nothing to do with English knowledge or intelligence. It isn't particularly significant. Woman/women is clearly in that realm. It/it's is probably the most common. I do find writers who really don't know the difference between it/it's, but for most it's just a computer-age keying habit. For some reason, I have a problem of typing "i" rather than "a" when it appears as a single word--going both directions. There's just a personal glitch between my brain and my fingers on the keyboard on that one.

And it's also common when typing on the computer to mix up sounds-alike words. In writing a story last night, I meant to write "chute" and when I proofed the copy, I'd actually typed "shoot." And that sort of mistake can get through several levels of proofing too.

 

[miss_trust]

In my view, it's not necessarily, though possibly, either one. For most errors in spelling and grammar to be due solely to intelligence would mean that no one with an IQ of, say, 1 standard deviation above the norm would ever commit an error in spelling or grammar. Not bloody likely. Further, if most of these errors relate to education, then we would have to see that only those who received stellar educations would be capable of producing flawless writing. Not bloody likely again. Further, we'd have to see that anyone whose education was substandard would be incapable of producing clear and grammatically sound writing. Not so fast, my friend.

Some very well educated people fail to develop the highly disciplined writing skills that lead to being able to produce reams of copy devoid of any spelling or grammatical error. Many of these people are also quite intelligent (sorry, but you're simply not going to survive a full university education and three years of law, medical, or other graduate school without a fair level of intelligence). Further, plenty of people who suffered through the most egregiously wanting public school educations are capable of quite fine writing.

Poor spelling and/or poor grammar result from a variety of causes and, frankly, at least some of them are not the pet peeves of many people at all.

Bravo - well done & all that jazz... i do have pet peeves surrounding poorly constructed sentences, misspellings, punctuation usage (or lack thereof) and whatnot - but i'm not about to pass judgment on someone's intelligence or education... my SO is one of the most intelligent people i know with quite a lovely set of well-bordered degrees on various walls - yet he can't write to save his hiney - oh well, still love him (and i do edit his emails, letters, memos & presentations prior to dissemination because i want him to present his thoughts-via-written-word as well as he can so the largest possible audience will look).

There are a whole raft of commonly typoed words that really have nothing to do with English knowledge or intelligence. It isn't particularly significant. Woman/women is clearly in that realm. It/it's is probably the most common. I do find writers who really don't know the difference between it/it's, but for most it's just a computer-age keying habit. For some reason, I have a problem of typing "i" rather than "a" when it appears as a single word--going both directions. There's just a personal glitch between my brain and my fingers on the keyboard on that one.
And it's also common when typing on the computer to mix up sounds-alike words. In writing a story last night, I meant to write "chute" and when I proofed the copy, I'd actually typed "shoot." And that sort of mistake can get through several levels of proofing too.

i was in a spelling bee at regional level a long while ago - was given District of Columbia (don't know if they give multiple words these days) - spelled it right except.... of.... spelled that uv... well done... well done

 

[CharleyH]

Has anyone, like me, noticed the apparent inability of posters to distinguish betwee the words 'woman' and 'women'..?

I thought the world's literacy rate was supposed to be improving.

I have noticed that posters write the way they talk. I think it (woman/women) charming in a rather trailer park way.

 

[gauchecritic]

writing down how you hear the word spoken isn't a lack of intelligence. If you're going to follow that route (pronounced root) then you have to condemn a whole host of words that appear in an American dictionary. (Do I need to spell them out?)

I shouldn't have been surprised at all to have seen a national tabloid headline declaring "John Kerry Should Of Won."

 

[Stella_Omega]

Off topic, but I once had to sing a duet with another woman. Rehearsals went well, except for one word; she pronounced it "intil", and I pronounced it "until."

When I asked her to refine her stupid fucking hick accent she got all pissy and flounced off. I do not understand this poor attitude.

 

[MarshAlien]

Most posters are capable of spelling any word they use. Most posters have no interest in proofreading before they hit the "Submit Reply" button. Ergo, go err.

 

[starrkers]

Nope - sheer detestation. Don't confuse the two, pray. They are completely unrelated attitudes.

However, even if it were to be condescension, methinks that the occasional spot thereof would make for a refreshing change to all the politically correct appeasement and acceptance of pratspeak.

*snerk*

There is a shop in a nearby town called "Definately Different". I refuse on principle to go anywhere near it.

On forums a lot of the mispellings and misuse of words comes from mistranslation from brain to fingers while speed typing.
I regularly stuff up its/it's when typing and I do know the difference. Many of my misspellings are homonyms - they're/their/there being my most popular.

It's when they appear in stories that it bugs me - it shows a lack of pride in one's work.

 

[Stella_Omega]

*snerk*

There is a shop in a nearby town called "Definately Different". I refuse on principle to go anywhere near it.

On forums a lot of the mispellings and misuse of words comes from mistranslation from brain to fingers while speed typing.
I regularly stuff up its/it's when typing and I do know the difference. Many of my misspellings are homonyms - they're/their/there being my most popular.

It's when they appear in stories that it bugs me - it shows a lack of pride in one's work.

It's that they're/their/there confusion of yours that lost you all those votes for class president.

I just thought you should know.