Spelling standards on ATS need improvement

Amusing that anyone thinks that there are really bad spellers here who struggle.

Or, that ESL members struggle. (they are among the better spellers).

I'd say 99% of those who post missives with crappy spelling and formatting just don't give a darn.

They are what I refer to as 'Barf-posters'.

They just want to metaphorically "barf on your shoe" and quickly move on. They are using the FireFox browser and see the little red underlines everywhere and they could care less.

Some -may- have fuzzy thinking and many -may- have minds of a six-year old, and many =may= be humor-impaired. By that I mean the only joke they can make is to pretend to spell badly.

(ahem).

Now this is just a sociological observation in a post about spelling, and not a slam on anyone, nor would I EVER insult anyone's spelling. If you post on ATS, aww, we lurve yas.





[edit on 2-12-2007 by Badge01]

If you hold yourself to high standards,

those around you will eventually follow suit or simply leave your presence.

If you hold others to high standards,

you will be constantly disappointed.

Sri Oracle

Originally posted by Badge01
They just want to metaphorically "barf on your shoe" and quickly move on. They are using the FireFox browser and see the little red underlines everywhere and they could care less.

Ooh, ooh, ooh, I've always wanted to discuss this.

"...care less"...

In Oz we always say "couldn't care less", emphasis on the not part of couldn't.

But in US movies/tv and on the web I always hear/read could care less.

To state the obvious, when I hear that, I assume that the speaker has a lower place to which his opinion could fall. Whereas we are saying we've already hit bottom...

Thoughts, anyone?

reply to post by Sri Oracle


First, who is holding anyone to any standards here?

No one can influence anyone to do anything.

However, we can, within T&C, comment. Commenting only makes those determined to set lower standards more entrenched.

OTOH, I'm totally down with youse guys leaving me presents. (happy b-day to me...)

To the poster below (you) or above (me), 'care less' is just an 'unstated understood' form.

I.e. "They could care less (but it's hard to imagine how)". However the 'not' version is also correct and is the preferred version, perhaps.

Sorry to dampen your parade.



[edit on 2-12-2007 by Badge01]

reply to post by Badge01


Ah hah! So it's the equivalent of rhyming slang that doesn't rhyme?

Such as: Tom = jewellery and bagger = suit...

Tomfoolery = jewellery and bag o' fruit = suit, except that in spoken usage the rhyming part of the rhyme is dropped, meaning that "rhyming" slang does no such thing and is, therefore, utterly incomprehensible to a non-native rhyming slang speaker...

So a Yank doesn't say, but his/her audience does hear, "but it's hard to see how."

Just as Terence Stamp is forced to explain, in The Limey, that "He's me new China" actually means "He's my new china plate, ie mate."

My favourite rhyming slang is for wife: Trouble and strife, which, when shortened, turns into "trouble". Which has a certain understandability to it anyway...

Originally posted by HowlrunnerIV
In Oz we always say "couldn't care less", emphasis on the not part of couldn't.

But in US movies/tv and on the web I always hear/read could care less.

Well, here's one person's take on it. And I'd say that I pretty much agree. I've also been known to give people a hard time when I hear them say "could care less".

www.worldwidewords.org...

That's not what I meant on the 'word or phrase' understood.

In fact there's another word left out/understood.

It's 'could not care (any) less'.

I shall attempt to use the 'not' in future badinage.

The sentence 'Stop!' is diagrammed:

Subject:Verb
(You):Stop. The 'You' is understood.

Knotty, naughty Badge (not) out.

"the rod up your butt must have a rod up its butt."

ok, ok...ok

Gave me 2 monies and I will learn you to speak gooder english gooder

thats my 2 cents/pence/rupees

I've always wanted to discuss this.

"...care less"...

In Oz we always say "couldn't care less", emphasis on the not part of couldn't.

But in US movies/tv and on the web I always hear/read could care less.

To state the obvious, when I hear that, I assume that the speaker has a lower place to which his opinion could fall. Whereas we are saying we've already hit bottom...

Thoughts, anyone?

I brought up this very question at a meeting of... let's call them 'linguistic professionals'.

The answer (or should I say 'excuse'?) - and you could actually SEE they were making it up as they went, because they weren't really aware that they were saying it wrong, but were too embarrassed to admit it - was a faux-nonchalant: "Yeah... ehm, it's meant to be ironic..."

Ironic?

Right...

I would've asked them about their definition of 'ironic', but was too afraid of the possible answer...









[edit on 3-12-2007 by Vanitas]

No one can influence anyone to do anything.

REALLY?
I take it you don't read newspapers and/or watch the other media?

This is NOT meant as an offence.

It's just that, as a freelance journalist, I know only too well that the ONLY way to influence the "masses" is via the media. And language is precisely the turf where their influence is the greatest.

Originally posted by NuclearPaul
I know bad spelling or grammar can be irritating, but the fact is a lot of people DO struggle with it, and I would hate to see their views surpressed because of it.

So would I. Absolutely!
But I don't think anyone here was talking about the people who just don't know how to spell. Rather, it was about the very many (not just here, of course) who don't WANT to make the effort to spell correctly.

(I have the nagging suspicion that such people consider it some sort of "civil disobedience" or whatever heroic act applies... )




[edit on 3-12-2007 by Vanitas]

Originally posted by Noscitare Well, here's one person's take on it. And I'd say that I pretty much agree. I've also been known to give people a hard time when I hear them say "could care less".

Is it not usually preceeded by something as..

"LIKE I could care less" or "As if I could care less"...?

BTW I invented mI OwN PunKTwoashun stile.

I have to agree with at least an attempt to find the right spelling.I'm not talking about simple typos.

I've just updated my macbook and I now have a spellchecker in Safari.

How suh-weet is that. Little red lines all over my page. Well only because I making sure it works.

And if you don't think it's cool - or you're a mac hater.

Then may your next crap be a hedgehog.

Monkey

/// This isn't YouTube, and I mean that it is not normally populated by very young folk you are still learning/understanding.

This is ATS and is supposed to have a higher standard of discourse. Spelling mistakes happen, of course...we all do it whether in the heat of the moment, or because of a bad keyboard...or [insert reason here].

I think the gist of the reason the poster who started this thread was, the continuing spelling mistakes...not spelling, exactly, maybe contextual mistakes by the same writers, over and over. SO...perhaps it should die now, as we realize that everyone is Human....

Finally! Right on! I've found da damn puh'fect spell checker! Right on! No mo'e makin' silly unavoidable missnatch'd in mah' posts. Yippee! Right on!

I'm a terrible speller and have struggled with it on this forum for some time. Some of my past posts are abysmal in regards to the spelling so much so i chose to use different words to get my point across thus loosing the continuity of my posts to be honest i was also a bit ashamed .
Then read on this thread about switching to firefox which i have done, now i am a awesome speller
Thank you for the advice i am very happy now

reply to post by MinMin


I'm glad that we could help. If you need anymore help with stuff like this, just ask, ok?

TheBorg

My syntax might be a little off, but "conspiracy theorists" have the worst spelling I've ever seen. They seem to know stuff that we don't and with a 4th grade reading/spelling level. I said something similar earlier in the thread, but it's absolutely true. The morman masons and the illuminatti are running things, no matter what we do.

Can I still spell?

Three things I want to say.

1. Today I was replying an email from a client. I typed the nonword 'calender'. It looked wrong to me, but when I typed 'calendar', it didn't look any righter. For a few nasty seconds I'd forgotten how to spell a very simple word. It's been happening a lot lately. Either I have a brain tumour or I've been on the Internet too long.
   
   
2. The use of the letter Z in words like 'realize' and 'organize' is no more 'American' than the use of the letter S is 'English'. This is a myth propounded by those chipheads at Microsoft. In fact, both spellings are acceptable on either side of the Atlantic - and anywhere else that English is spoken, written and loved. Also - British chauvinists (particularly Antipodean ones) please note - the 'American' spellings of words often have more historical authenticity than the English ones. An example is the word 'gray' - that spelling is older than 'grey', although, being English-educated, I prefer the latter.
   
   
3. Just to maintain my reputation for nastiness - has anyone else noticed that, on the whole, the sceptics have better spelling, grammar and style than the believers? Makes you think, that does.