OT: Why can't anyone spell anymore?

DavidMillier · Apr 9, 2002

This is a very good point. The true reason for the existence of language is not to allow the creation of art or to share information out of goodwill - it is to manipulate the actions of others and it works better if you sound good...

Anh Nguyen said:
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...

--
Anh Nguyen

MKW26615 · Apr 9, 2002

I couldn't agree more.

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....)

-------------------------------------------------- M.K. Whitley'I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.'- Mark Twain

BooRadley · Apr 9, 2002

Even your original you left out an obvious word. The problem is our desire to express ourselves so quickly. In most cases, we are not lovingly creating timeless messages--we are imparting information quickly and informally.

Yes, it's annoying when one uses a synonym--their instead of they're--but it usually doesn't render the message unreadable. And I am also learning to accept the rapidly increasing number of acronyms that are becoming standard e-mail and forum shorthand.

This is the "third wave"...the age of information. Lots of information. Tons of it. I rather suspect there will be many more forms of shorthand that allow people to express their thoughts more quickly. Let's just hope it's efficient too. The danger is an increase in communication failures. Perhaps you remember the international team working on the Mars probe? One team was working in feet, another in meteres. We lost 3 years of development and $800 million dollars in equipment on that little communication breakdown.

There will always be people who love and respect the power of the written word. And those that don't.

Your humble servant,

BooRadley

Daniel Lauring · Apr 9, 2002

I find the spell checker has greatly increased my spelling accuracy. Yes, even on first attempts. By seeing the proper spelling over and over, I'm less inclined to make mistakes. I make the most errors when in a hurry to fire off a note between other obligations. Sometimes I cringe at my mistakes and wish I had used the preview button but, time is too valuable a resource for me to worry about it.

There seem to be two type of people. Those that mellow and become more tolerant as they age. I find myself in that category. Those that become more set in their ways and less tolerant. Seen too many of those.

There is also a saying that goes something like "Cranky old men were cranky yound men."...rebutts my theory.

I try to value everyones opinion...not based on their spelling. But, some really poor spellings and grammer errors do tend to cause me to have less confidence in the persons intelligence...and therefore, the information they are sharing.

Danny

Tom Melanson said:
Steve Paradise said:

Tom Melanson said:

country? Does anyone

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Ah! Spell Checker! This is the single greatest cause of bad
spelling, INMHO.
What's worse? It's not even right half the time!
My Wintel Spellcheck is totally bizarre! An educated 5th grader
can do better. At least the 5th grader has a mind.

Timothy Schaffer · Apr 9, 2002

Tom Melanson said:
(1) Is it me, or do you notice how bad spelling has become in this
country? (2) Does anyone care?

1 - This website is accessed world wide, so you can not use the term "this country".

2 - No.

Jamooche · Apr 9, 2002

Well done! Too many people make themselves sound foolish when they use poor grammar. My favorite is when people don't understand how or when to use an adverb.

-Jamil

DavidMillier · Apr 9, 2002

The Mars Climate Orbiter hardware cost $193.1 million not $800 million. Small beer compared to the projected cost of the space station...

BooRadley said:
Even your original you left out an obvious word. The problem is
our desire to express ourselves so quickly. In most cases, we are
not lovingly creating timeless messages--we are imparting
information quickly and informally.

Yes, it's annoying when one uses a synonym--their instead of
they're--but it usually doesn't render the message unreadable. And
I am also learning to accept the rapidly increasing number of
acronyms that are becoming standard e-mail and forum shorthand.

This is the "third wave"...the age of information. Lots of
information. Tons of it. I rather suspect there will be many more
forms of shorthand that allow people to express their thoughts more
quickly. Let's just hope it's efficient too. The danger is an
increase in communication failures. Perhaps you remember the
international team working on the Mars probe? One team was working
in feet, another in meteres. We lost 3 years of development and
$800 million dollars in equipment on that little communication
breakdown.

There will always be people who love and respect the power of the
written word. And those that don't.

Your humble servant,

BooRadley

Dale Cotton · Apr 9, 2002

Several people have written to except those for whom English is a second language. The problem they have is the same problem native speakers have: English is bizarrely irregular both in spelling and in verb case. For the spelling we can thank the Dutch post-Guttenberg printers for (to whom "tho" simply didn't look right without the "ugh"), but the blame for the verbs is all ours.

Around the time that Columbus discovered the Americas the king/dictator of Spain at the time did his country an inestimable favour - he forced total regularisation on the nation. Thence forth people doed each other a favour instead of did. They spelled words fonetikallee. It's kind of late now, but if one of the English monarchs of the Renaissance had been similarly foresighted the savings in man-hours would have been inestimable.

Incidentally, like Sir Winston, dangling participles is something up with which I will not put.--- Dale Cotton, Canada

DavidMillier · Apr 9, 2002

It clearly didn't help you spell "young" or "person's" or "everyone's" or "grammar"

Daniel Lauring said:
There seem to be two type of people. Those that mellow and become
more tolerant as they age. I find myself in that category. Those
that become more set in their ways and less tolerant. Seen too
many of those.

There is also a saying that goes something like "Cranky old men
were cranky yound men."...rebutts my theory.

I try to value everyones opinion...not based on their spelling.
But, some really poor spellings and grammer errors do tend to cause
me to have less confidence in the persons intelligence...and
therefore, the information they are sharing.

Danny

Tom Melanson said:

Steve Paradise said:

Member said:

country? Does anyone

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Ah! Spell Checker! This is the single greatest cause of bad
spelling, INMHO.
What's worse? It's not even right half the time!
My Wintel Spellcheck is totally bizarre! An educated 5th grader
can do better. At least the 5th grader has a mind.

Click to expand...

Daniel Lauring · Apr 9, 2002

Nope, but you should have seen how I spelled anof before. ;-)

DMillier said:
Daniel Lauring said:

There seem to be two type of people. Those that mellow and become
more tolerant as they age. I find myself in that category. Those
that become more set in their ways and less tolerant. Seen too
many of those.

There is also a saying that goes something like "Cranky old men
were cranky yound men."...rebutts my theory.

I try to value everyones opinion...not based on their spelling.
But, some really poor spellings and grammer errors do tend to cause
me to have less confidence in the persons intelligence...and
therefore, the information they are sharing.

Danny

Tom Melanson said:

Steve Paradise said:

DavidMillier said:

country? Does anyone

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Ah! Spell Checker! This is the single greatest cause of bad
spelling, INMHO.
What's worse? It's not even right half the time!
My Wintel Spellcheck is totally bizarre! An educated 5th grader
can do better. At least the 5th grader has a mind.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Tom Melanson · Apr 9, 2002

Joo said:
The ultimate goal of language (spoken or otherwise) is to
communicate thoughts between entities. (this is just my opinion).
To this end, has the author failed in communicating their thoughts,
in spite of the errors in his/her written message?

This is precisely my point. It is getting so bad that communication is beginning to suffer and writers are failing to get their message across in a clear, easily undertood manner. I'm not a pedant. I'd just like to see our educational system turn out students that possess basic English skills upon graduation.

Nice to see so many interested in this subject. Apparently, I am not the only one to have noticed this trend and to be somewhat dismayed by it.
At any rate, thanks for the lively discussion!

Greg M · Apr 9, 2002

Jamil Abbasy said:
Well done! Too many people make themselves sound foolish when they
use poor grammar. My favorite is when people don't understand how
or when to use an adverb.

-Jamil

I am not a very good speller. I find myself opening Word from time to time so that I can make sure that I spelled a word correctly. I don't want to sound like an idiot.

I apologize to those whose first language is not English, or should I say American English. I am amazed at how well many of you communicate through writing.

color - not colour Just had to throw that in.

Nicholas J · Apr 9, 2002

Tom Melanson said:
Is it me, or do you notice how bad spelling has become in this
country?

Did you know that the internet and DPReview is available to the rest of the world as well. Oh sorry, you probably thought the world ends at the US borders. Put down that american english dictionary and pick up an atlas for a change. You'll see that there are other coutries and alot of people do speak other languages.

Tom Melanson said:
We're not talking big words here. Just normal, everyday American
English.

See previous comment.....

Tom Melanson said:
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)

You've obviously never travelled outside your country. It's difficult to communicate in ALL foreign coutries if you can't speak the lingo.

Tom Melanson said:
I am just embarrassed at the level to which
Americans' writing ability has sunk.

See first comment - you're asuming all people here are americans.

Not everyone in the world has english as a first language. it's some people's second or even third language. Instead of critisizing rather be proud and thankfull that people from other coutries are trying their best to learn YOUR language!

Nicholas

Tom Melanson · Apr 9, 2002

Rodneyk said:
Is this the end that our educational system has come?
or
Is this the end to which our educational system has come?
or
Has our educational system really come to this end?

You are making a big assumption that the posters here are:
A). American.
2). Speaking there primary language.
III). High school graduates.

Rodney

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 · Apr 9, 2002

Tom Melanson said:
Rodneyk said:

It is getting so bad that it is becoming unclear...

Is this the end that our educational system has come?
or
Is this the end to which our educational system has come?
or
Has our educational system really come to this end?

You are making a big assumption that the posters here are:
A). American.
2). Speaking there primary language.
III). High school graduates.

Rodney

Click to expand...

You have inadvertently made my point: "2) Speaking THERE primary language."
No, speaking their primary language.
Nuff said.

Tom Melanson · Apr 9, 2002

Nicholas J said:
Tom Melanson said:

Is it me, or do you notice how bad spelling has become in this
country?

Click to expand...

Did you know that the internet and DPReview is available to the
rest of the world as well. Oh sorry, you probably thought the world
ends at the US borders. Put down that american english dictionary
and pick up an atlas for a change. You'll see that there are other
coutries and alot of people do speak other languages.

Nicholas J said:

We're not talking big words here. Just normal, everyday American
English.

Click to expand...

See previous comment.....

Nicholas J said:

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)

Click to expand...

You've obviously never travelled outside your country. It's
difficult to communicate in ALL foreign coutries if you can't speak
the lingo.

Nicholas J said:

I am just embarrassed at the level to which
Americans' writing ability has sunk.

Click to expand...

See first comment - you're asuming all people here are americans.

Not everyone in the world has english as a first language. it's
some people's second or even third language. Instead of critisizing
rather be proud and thankfull that people from other coutries are
trying their best to learn YOUR language!

Nicholas

Happy to say, Nicholas, that you are wrong on all counts.
I do know the internet is international.
I most assuredly have travelled outside my country, the USA.

I am not assuming anything, except that Americans should be able to read and write "general American English".

This is a post from an American to Americans. It was not directed at those for whom English is a second or third language.

JonnyBeGood · Apr 9, 2002

Thank you for your answer to
this opinion.
My english is really not good
enough to give an adequate answer
without insulting someone.

Juergen

Nicholas J said:
Tom Melanson said:

Is it me, or do you notice how bad spelling has become in this
country?

Click to expand...

Did you know that the internet and DPReview is available to the
rest of the world as well. Oh sorry, you probably thought the world
ends at the US borders. Put down that american english dictionary
and pick up an atlas for a change. You'll see that there are other
coutries and alot of people do speak other languages.

Nicholas J said:

We're not talking big words here. Just normal, everyday American
English.

Click to expand...

See previous comment.....

Nicholas J said:

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)

Click to expand...

You've obviously never travelled outside your country. It's
difficult to communicate in ALL foreign coutries if you can't speak
the lingo.

Nicholas J said:

I am just embarrassed at the level to which
Americans' writing ability has sunk.

Click to expand...

See first comment - you're asuming all people here are americans.

Not everyone in the world has english as a first language. it's
some people's second or even third language. Instead of critisizing
rather be proud and thankfull that people from other coutries are
trying their best to learn YOUR language!

Nicholas

DavidMillier · Apr 9, 2002

Hi Nicholas

As one Londoner to another, do you know how many spelling and/or typos there are in your post?

;-)

Just being mischievous...

Nicholas J said:
Tom Melanson said:

Is it me, or do you notice how bad spelling has become in this
country?

Click to expand...

Did you know that the internet and DPReview is available to the
rest of the world as well. Oh sorry, you probably thought the world
ends at the US borders. Put down that american english dictionary
and pick up an atlas for a change. You'll see that there are other
coutries and alot of people do speak other languages.

Nicholas J said:

We're not talking big words here. Just normal, everyday American
English.

Click to expand...

See previous comment.....

Nicholas J said:

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)

Click to expand...

You've obviously never travelled outside your country. It's
difficult to communicate in ALL foreign coutries if you can't speak
the lingo.

Nicholas J said:

I am just embarrassed at the level to which
Americans' writing ability has sunk.

Click to expand...

See first comment - you're asuming all people here are americans.

Not everyone in the world has english as a first language. it's
some people's second or even third language. Instead of critisizing
rather be proud and thankfull that people from other coutries are
trying their best to learn YOUR language!

Nicholas

DanteM · Apr 9, 2002

Rant…
Rant…
Somewhat humorous…
Rant…
Rant…
Irrelevant to Canon SLR Forum...
Rant…
Rant…
Makes me feel like not posting, for fear of being ridiculed...
Rant…
Rant…
Could be misinterpreted as arrogant…
Rant…
Rant…
Which dictionary meaning of "Troll" were you referring to?
Rant…
Rant…

Like Photography, communication is an art form; I’m glad that not all photographs are taken with a shallow depth of field...

If misspellings or bad grammar bother you then do not read my posts you’ll get ulcers!

BTW I have seen this same post several times on this forum , just worded differently, There should be a slang term for them.. But I can't think of a good one.

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....)

--Thanks,Dante

BryanS · Apr 9, 2002

Nicholas J said:
Oh sorry, you probably thought the world
ends at the US borders. Put down that american english dictionary
and pick up an atlas for a change. You'll see that there are other
coutries and alot of people do speak other languages.

Well, it appears that this thread finally hit upon one of my pet-peeves... invented words that aren't really words. Somebody tell Nicholas that "alot" isn't a word no matter how much everyone tries to make it one.

--Bryan http://www.siverly.net

OT: Why can't anyone spell anymore?

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