OT: Why can't anyone spell anymore?

Geoff Thompson said:

BTW, I agree with you, it's strange how it's become normal for
people to use horrible grammar and spelling that defies logic. I'm
talking about people who're earning over 100K a year here!

Click to expand...

Joo said:

As a final note, literary authors have often butchered sentence
composition, the spelling of words, punctuation, and formatting for
effect.

Click to expand...

Tom Melanson said:

Is it me, or do you notice how bad spelling has become in this
country? Does anyone care?
waste=trash
waist= part of your body between the ribs and the hips.
waiste? Duh! Got me here.
wait=to stay in anticipation of some event.
waite=Duh! Not in any dictionary of which I am familiar.
their=possessive plural.
they're=contraction of "they are"
its=possessive
It's=contraction of it is
And the grammatical and spelling "hits just keep on comin'".

We're not talking big words here. Just normal, everyday American
English.
It is getting so bad that it becoming unclear as to just what a
poster is trying to communicate. (Not only here, but at every
discussion group on the Net)
Is this the end our educational system has come to?
(Or, more correctly: Is this the end to which or educational system
has come?)
BTW: The dangling participle (not principal, principle or
particle..) apparently is now acceptable in "casual writing".
This is not a troll. I am just embarrassed at the level to which
Americans' writing ability has sunk. And yes, whenever I make a
grammatical or spelling mistake, I dearly hope someone will point
it out, because nobody is perfect, and nobody is too old to learn.
I am only a high-school graduate, but if I paid for a college
education that left me bereft of the ability to spell, I would
surely SUE--somone!
Rant over. :-0
We now continue with our regularly scheduled (and ofttime
misspelled) program....
(or for those in the British Isles, programme....)

Click to expand...

Tom Melanson said:

Is it me, or do you notice how bad spelling has become in this
country? Does anyone care?
waste=trash
waist= part of your body between the ribs and the hips.
waiste? Duh! Got me here.
wait=to stay in anticipation of some event.
waite=Duh! Not in any dictionary of which I am familiar.
their=possessive plural.
they're=contraction of "they are"
its=possessive
It's=contraction of it is
And the grammatical and spelling "hits just keep on comin'".

We're not talking big words here. Just normal, everyday American
English.
It is getting so bad that it becoming unclear as to just what a
poster is trying to communicate. (Not only here, but at every
discussion group on the Net)
Is this the end our educational system has come to?
(Or, more correctly: Is this the end to which or educational system
has come?)
BTW: The dangling participle (not principal, principle or
particle..) apparently is now acceptable in "casual writing".
This is not a troll. I am just embarrassed at the level to which
Americans' writing ability has sunk. And yes, whenever I make a
grammatical or spelling mistake, I dearly hope someone will point
it out, because nobody is perfect, and nobody is too old to learn.
I am only a high-school graduate, but if I paid for a college
education that left me bereft of the ability to spell, I would
surely SUE--somone!
Rant over. :-0
We now continue with our regularly scheduled (and ofttime
misspelled) program....
(or for those in the British Isles, programme....)

Click to expand...

Peter Gregg said:

Plus, have you read Phil's reviews? There are tons of grammer
errors. At first it was annoying, but then I realized it must be
the way people really talk in his region of the world, so I ignore
it.

The annoying part is when people don't capitalize, don't use
periods, run on and on, and make it just plain hard to read.

We also want it to be easy and comfortable for people to post. If
there is a choice of communications with spelling errors or no
communications at all, I prefer the comunications with the spelling
errors.

Names, on the other hand are different. Canon has a 1D, not a !D or
a D1

Pete

Steve Paradise said:

On a lighter note.... Maybe Phil can come up with a spell checker
in the preview section. Steve

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Joo said:

Should language be static? Or should it be fluid to reflect current
/ modern society? I would say that, historically, language is fluid
and not static, that it changes over time to reflect the current
society. As it stands, there are differences in the spoken and
written language used in different parts of the U.S. Is Coca-Cola a
'Pop' or a 'Soda' or a 'Soda Pop'? There are differences amongst
nations. Is a cookie a 'cookie' or a 'biscuit'? Is it 'color' or is
it 'colour'?

As a final note, literary authors have often butchered sentence
composition, the spelling of words, punctuation, and formatting for
effect.

Joo

P.S. There is a wonderful site, http://www.m-w.com , which can be used for
looking up the correct spelling of words. This does not mean the
person will necessarily use the words properly, but at least it
will be spelled properly. Also, a thesaurus is available at the
same site. But this not mean that the author will use the synonyms
in the correct context.

Tom Melanson said:

Is it me, or do you notice how bad spelling has become in this
country? Does anyone care?
waste=trash
waist= part of your body between the ribs and the hips.
waiste? Duh! Got me here.
wait=to stay in anticipation of some event.
waite=Duh! Not in any dictionary of which I am familiar.
their=possessive plural.
they're=contraction of "they are"
its=possessive
It's=contraction of it is
And the grammatical and spelling "hits just keep on comin'".

We're not talking big words here. Just normal, everyday American
English.
It is getting so bad that it becoming unclear as to just what a
poster is trying to communicate. (Not only here, but at every
discussion group on the Net)
Is this the end our educational system has come to?
(Or, more correctly: Is this the end to which or educational system
has come?)
BTW: The dangling participle (not principal, principle or
particle..) apparently is now acceptable in "casual writing".
This is not a troll. I am just embarrassed at the level to which
Americans' writing ability has sunk. And yes, whenever I make a
grammatical or spelling mistake, I dearly hope someone will point
it out, because nobody is perfect, and nobody is too old to learn.
I am only a high-school graduate, but if I paid for a college
education that left me bereft of the ability to spell, I would
surely SUE--somone!
Rant over. :-0
We now continue with our regularly scheduled (and ofttime
misspelled) program....
(or for those in the British Isles, programme....)

Click to expand...

--

• Canon EOS D-30 & PowerShot S100
• Maybe one day I'll take a decent picture. In the meantime, I'll

blame the equipment.

Click to expand...

Tom Melanson said:

Is it me, or do you notice how bad spelling has become in this
country? Does anyone care?
waste=trash
waist= part of your body between the ribs and the hips.
waiste? Duh! Got me here.
wait=to stay in anticipation of some event.
waite=Duh! Not in any dictionary of which I am familiar.
their=possessive plural.
they're=contraction of "they are"
its=possessive
It's=contraction of it is
And the grammatical and spelling "hits just keep on comin'".

We're not talking big words here. Just normal, everyday American
English.
It is getting so bad that it becoming unclear as to just what a
poster is trying to communicate. (Not only here, but at every
discussion group on the Net)
Is this the end our educational system has come to?
(Or, more correctly: Is this the end to which or educational system
has come?)
BTW: The dangling participle (not principal, principle or
particle..) apparently is now acceptable in "casual writing".
This is not a troll. I am just embarrassed at the level to which
Americans' writing ability has sunk. And yes, whenever I make a
grammatical or spelling mistake, I dearly hope someone will point
it out, because nobody is perfect, and nobody is too old to learn.
I am only a high-school graduate, but if I paid for a college
education that left me bereft of the ability to spell, I would
surely SUE--somone!
Rant over. :-0
We now continue with our regularly scheduled (and ofttime
misspelled) program....
(or for those in the British Isles, programme....)

Click to expand...

Joo said:

Should language be static? Or should it be fluid to reflect current
/ modern society? I would say that, historically, language is fluid
and not static, that it changes over time to reflect the current
society. As it stands, there are differences in the spoken and
written language used in different parts of the U.S. Is Coca-Cola a
'Pop' or a 'Soda' or a 'Soda Pop'? There are differences amongst
nations. Is a cookie a 'cookie' or a 'biscuit'? Is it 'color' or is
it 'colour'?

As a final note, literary authors have often butchered sentence
composition, the spelling of words, punctuation, and formatting for
effect.

Joo

P.S. There is a wonderful site, http://www.m-w.com , which can be used for
looking up the correct spelling of words. This does not mean the
person will necessarily use the words properly, but at least it
will be spelled properly. Also, a thesaurus is available at the
same site. But this not mean that the author will use the synonyms
in the correct context.

Tom Melanson said:

Is it me, or do you notice how bad spelling has become in this
country? Does anyone care?
waste=trash
waist= part of your body between the ribs and the hips.
waiste? Duh! Got me here.
wait=to stay in anticipation of some event.
waite=Duh! Not in any dictionary of which I am familiar.
their=possessive plural.
they're=contraction of "they are"
its=possessive
It's=contraction of it is
And the grammatical and spelling "hits just keep on comin'".

We're not talking big words here. Just normal, everyday American
English.
It is getting so bad that it becoming unclear as to just what a
poster is trying to communicate. (Not only here, but at every
discussion group on the Net)
Is this the end our educational system has come to?
(Or, more correctly: Is this the end to which or educational system
has come?)
BTW: The dangling participle (not principal, principle or
particle..) apparently is now acceptable in "casual writing".
This is not a troll. I am just embarrassed at the level to which
Americans' writing ability has sunk. And yes, whenever I make a
grammatical or spelling mistake, I dearly hope someone will point
it out, because nobody is perfect, and nobody is too old to learn.
I am only a high-school graduate, but if I paid for a college
education that left me bereft of the ability to spell, I would
surely SUE--somone!
Rant over. :-0
We now continue with our regularly scheduled (and ofttime
misspelled) program....
(or for those in the British Isles, programme....)

Click to expand...

--

• Canon EOS D-30 & PowerShot S100
• Maybe one day I'll take a decent picture. In the meantime, I'll

blame the equipment.

Click to expand...

Peter Gregg said:

Plus, have you read Phil's reviews? There are tons of grammer
errors. At first it was annoying, but then I realized it must be
the way people really talk in his region of the world, so I ignore
it.

The annoying part is when people don't capitalize, don't use
periods, run on and on, and make it just plain hard to read.

We also want it to be easy and comfortable for people to post. If
there is a choice of communications with spelling errors or no
communications at all, I prefer the comunications with the spelling
errors.

Names, on the other hand are different. Canon has a 1D, not a !D or
a D1

Pete

Steve Paradise said:

On a lighter note.... Maybe Phil can come up with a spell checker
in the preview section. Steve

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

John Lund said:

Yes, I care about the English language. I am not only a
photographer, I am a writer-photographer. I make it my business to
at least spell correctly (my wife and editor gleefully [it seems]
points out my comma shortcomings). So it behooves me to spell and
be grammatically correct, otherwise as you mention, laziness sets
in.

This, and the fast pace of the electronic world we have built, I
believe are the root causes of incorrect use of the English
language.

We are not alone. I work at a university and I think the most
slovenly of the posters here would be apalled at some of the
bastardization of the English language that is carried on here by
people with Ph.D after their names. Horrors!

And then there are those poor illiterate souls that were brought
through a school system using a phonetics-based spelling system.
Double horrors!

Just having this discussion about the language helps by making us
think about how we use it in our daily lives. Simply doing that
makes a dffierence.

Thanks for the thread and the thought.

JL

Tom Melanson said:

Is it me, or do you notice how bad spelling has become in this
country? Does anyone care?
waste=trash
waist= part of your body between the ribs and the hips.
waiste? Duh! Got me here.
wait=to stay in anticipation of some event.
waite=Duh! Not in any dictionary of which I am familiar.
their=possessive plural.
they're=contraction of "they are"
its=possessive
It's=contraction of it is
And the grammatical and spelling "hits just keep on comin'".

We're not talking big words here. Just normal, everyday American
English.
It is getting so bad that it becoming unclear as to just what a
poster is trying to communicate. (Not only here, but at every
discussion group on the Net)
Is this the end our educational system has come to?
(Or, more correctly: Is this the end to which or educational system
has come?)
BTW: The dangling participle (not principal, principle or
particle..) apparently is now acceptable in "casual writing".
This is not a troll. I am just embarrassed at the level to which
Americans' writing ability has sunk. And yes, whenever I make a
grammatical or spelling mistake, I dearly hope someone will point
it out, because nobody is perfect, and nobody is too old to learn.
I am only a high-school graduate, but if I paid for a college
education that left me bereft of the ability to spell, I would
surely SUE--somone!
Rant over. :-0
We now continue with our regularly scheduled (and ofttime
misspelled) program....
(or for those in the British Isles, programme....)

Click to expand...

--
...f8 and be there!

Click to expand...

Critter1 said:

On a similar thread on March 27, Steven Noyes wrote:

Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques for my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
It's rarely ever wrung.

Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect in every weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.

--- Sauce unknown

Click to expand...

DavidP said:

It be the reason for which I cannot speak, if I read more Japanese
manuals where be the translastor apparently a monkey.
--
The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://thewilkinsons.crosswinds.net
Photography -- just another word for compromise

Click to expand...

Cliff Chase said:

Sum of the peeple on this bored are from other countrees. You
should not make fun of them mr. smarty rocket surgen.

CC

Click to expand...

DMillier said:

Afterall, English was invented in England...

ps

Apparently, some of the differences between English and USlish are
not the result of some new-fangled invention by Americans but are
archaic spellings that the US has retained whilst the rest of the
English speaking world has modernised (Fall v Autumn for example)!

John Lund said:

Yes, I care about the English language. I am not only a
photographer, I am a writer-photographer. I make it my business to
at least spell correctly (my wife and editor gleefully [it seems]
points out my comma shortcomings). So it behooves me to spell and
be grammatically correct, otherwise as you mention, laziness sets
in.

This, and the fast pace of the electronic world we have built, I
believe are the root causes of incorrect use of the English
language.

We are not alone. I work at a university and I think the most
slovenly of the posters here would be apalled at some of the
bastardization of the English language that is carried on here by
people with Ph.D after their names. Horrors!

And then there are those poor illiterate souls that were brought
through a school system using a phonetics-based spelling system.
Double horrors!

Just having this discussion about the language helps by making us
think about how we use it in our daily lives. Simply doing that
makes a dffierence.

Thanks for the thread and the thought.

JL

Tom Melanson said:

Is it me, or do you notice how bad spelling has become in this
country? Does anyone care?
waste=trash
waist= part of your body between the ribs and the hips.
waiste? Duh! Got me here.
wait=to stay in anticipation of some event.
waite=Duh! Not in any dictionary of which I am familiar.
their=possessive plural.
they're=contraction of "they are"
its=possessive
It's=contraction of it is
And the grammatical and spelling "hits just keep on comin'".

We're not talking big words here. Just normal, everyday American
English.
It is getting so bad that it becoming unclear as to just what a
poster is trying to communicate. (Not only here, but at every
discussion group on the Net)
Is this the end our educational system has come to?
(Or, more correctly: Is this the end to which or educational system
has come?)
BTW: The dangling participle (not principal, principle or
particle..) apparently is now acceptable in "casual writing".
This is not a troll. I am just embarrassed at the level to which
Americans' writing ability has sunk. And yes, whenever I make a
grammatical or spelling mistake, I dearly hope someone will point
it out, because nobody is perfect, and nobody is too old to learn.
I am only a high-school graduate, but if I paid for a college
education that left me bereft of the ability to spell, I would
surely SUE--somone!
Rant over. :-0
We now continue with our regularly scheduled (and ofttime
misspelled) program....
(or for those in the British Isles, programme....)

Click to expand...

--
...f8 and be there!

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

John Lund said:

But that's right isn't it? English is one of the world's most
adaptable languages and the most changing.

Here I sit a Canadian using English that is somewhat like ye olde
English....we tend not to use programme for program....but we will
keep the double "L" and use "Z"....zeds not zees...for S's.

So who really cares as long as it is correct in someone's
English...American English....Oxford English dictionary.

As a writer who has lived in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., it
could get quite confusing at times. You might say I am tri-linqual.
As long as I can remember which market area the magazine I am
writing for resides...I get along.

Kinda fun actually....

Cheers ol' chap,

JL

DMillier said:

Afterall, English was invented in England...

ps

Apparently, some of the differences between English and USlish are
not the result of some new-fangled invention by Americans but are
archaic spellings that the US has retained whilst the rest of the
English speaking world has modernised (Fall v Autumn for example)!

John Lund said:

Yes, I care about the English language. I am not only a
photographer, I am a writer-photographer. I make it my business to
at least spell correctly (my wife and editor gleefully [it seems]
points out my comma shortcomings). So it behooves me to spell and
be grammatically correct, otherwise as you mention, laziness sets
in.

This, and the fast pace of the electronic world we have built, I
believe are the root causes of incorrect use of the English
language.

We are not alone. I work at a university and I think the most
slovenly of the posters here would be apalled at some of the
bastardization of the English language that is carried on here by
people with Ph.D after their names. Horrors!

And then there are those poor illiterate souls that were brought
through a school system using a phonetics-based spelling system.
Double horrors!

Just having this discussion about the language helps by making us
think about how we use it in our daily lives. Simply doing that
makes a dffierence.

Thanks for the thread and the thought.

JL

Tom Melanson said:

Is it me, or do you notice how bad spelling has become in this
country? Does anyone care?
waste=trash
waist= part of your body between the ribs and the hips.
waiste? Duh! Got me here.
wait=to stay in anticipation of some event.
waite=Duh! Not in any dictionary of which I am familiar.
their=possessive plural.
they're=contraction of "they are"
its=possessive
It's=contraction of it is
And the grammatical and spelling "hits just keep on comin'".

We're not talking big words here. Just normal, everyday American
English.
It is getting so bad that it becoming unclear as to just what a
poster is trying to communicate. (Not only here, but at every
discussion group on the Net)
Is this the end our educational system has come to?
(Or, more correctly: Is this the end to which or educational system
has come?)
BTW: The dangling participle (not principal, principle or
particle..) apparently is now acceptable in "casual writing".
This is not a troll. I am just embarrassed at the level to which
Americans' writing ability has sunk. And yes, whenever I make a
grammatical or spelling mistake, I dearly hope someone will point
it out, because nobody is perfect, and nobody is too old to learn.
I am only a high-school graduate, but if I paid for a college
education that left me bereft of the ability to spell, I would
surely SUE--somone!
Rant over. :-0
We now continue with our regularly scheduled (and ofttime
misspelled) program....
(or for those in the British Isles, programme....)

Click to expand...

--
...f8 and be there!

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
...f8 and be there!

Click to expand...

Bogey said:

My wife taught Kindergarten when they were introducing a program
called "Inventive Spelling". Grades were not reduced for spelling
errors. Children were encouraged to just "try" to spell words. Of
course, in Kindergarten, spelling is not as critical as it is in
other grades, but it should still have been important.

If we adopted the "Inventive Math" program, then most of the
cashiers in the US could feel better about themselves.

I bought 1/4 pound of roast beef at a local supermarket and got .4
pounds from the clerk.

Spellchecked by MS Word 97.

--
'Think Outside The Box.........Once you're in the box, it's too late.'

http://home.attbi.com/~keylargographics

Click to expand...

Bogey said:

My wife taught Kindergarten when they were introducing a program
called "Inventive Spelling". Grades were not reduced for spelling
errors. Children were encouraged to just "try" to spell words. Of
course, in Kindergarten, spelling is not as critical as it is in
other grades, but it should still have been important.

If we adopted the "Inventive Math" program, then most of the
cashiers in the US could feel better about themselves.

I bought 1/4 pound of roast beef at a local supermarket and got .4
pounds from the clerk.

Spellchecked by MS Word 97.

--
'Think Outside The Box.........Once you're in the box, it's too late.'

http://home.attbi.com/~keylargographics

Click to expand...