Spelling...Grammar...A Jedi craves not these things...

Okay, so, I've taken several months of just reading through post after post before I came to the decision that joining ATS was right for me. I have to say, that there are many, many intelligent people up here whom are quite articulated and have brought up some excellent discussions and provided outstanding rebuttals. There is, however, an epidemic of, what I call the 'I think I'm smarter than I really am' Virus, that has woefully penetrated the majority of the American culture, and I fear that it has affected many of the posters up here.
Personally, I'm a firm believer that, since we can not debate face to face, that how and what we type in our posts is of the utmost importance, because it's the most accurate way of reflecting our true feelings and thoughts.
There is a certain level of decorum that many, if not most, of the people up here strive to maintain, and I'm noticing that many of the people up here hold both the site, and it's members to a higher standard.
I think that is the first key to success on boards like these.
That being said...it's come to my attention that in regards to many, many people up here...the spelling and grammar and word usage is absolutely atrocious!
I'm assuming that a lot of the people up here are college graduates, or at the very least, high school graduates.
That being the case, why is it so hard to use appropriate spelling and conjugation?
These are things we learn in elementary school, and are the basic building blocks of written communication.
So, if some of you are as bright as you claim (a point that I'm not disputing), then in order to convey your thoughts as accurately as possible, use proper spelling and grammar!
It's really not that difficult, most web browsers have spell-check built in!
Yes, I'm what's considered a 'grammar nazi', but it's only because I expect people to put as much time and effort into conveying their thoughts as coherently as I do.
There are certain (what's to be considered little) things that just unnerve me.

The words 'there', 'their' and 'they're' are so often misused that there is the potential to take an otherwise intelligent post and turn it into drivel.
'There' - indicating location.
'Their' - indicating possession of a concept, trait or object.
'They're' - a contraction of 'they are', indicating intent or an action.

Along those same lines, 'to', 'too' and 'two' are as often misused and even a child, for the most part, understands the difference.
'To' - linking a verb with a noun.
'Too' - indicating 'also', or 'as well'.
'Two' - a quantifier, the number between one (1) and three (3).

Spelling...
I'm just going to topically touch upon this...
Learn how to spell! If you are too lazy for that, at the very least use an online dictionary or enable your browser's spell-check. Seriously people, use your mind as your tool when posting. Think before you type.

The use of apostrophes. I'm not going into a whole diatribe about their misuse, but I will just copy and paste the entry (NO, not from wiki!) from the Merriam-Webster site. Learn how to use them correctly people!
Main Entry: apostrophe
Function: noun
Etymology: French & Late Latin; French, from Late Latin apostrophus, from Greek apostrophos, from apostrophos turned away, from apostrephein
Date: 1727

: a mark ' used to indicate the omission of letters or figures, the possessive case, or the plural of letters or figures

Expressing yourself properly is the best way to not only get your point across adequately, but to get people to stop, read thoroughly, and actually think about what it is you're saying. ATS does it's best to hold it's posters to a higher standard, and that's exactly why I joined. Personally, I find it hard to take someone seriously if they can't convey their thoughts in an intelligent, concise, coherent manner. If many of you are as smart as you think you are, then conduct yourself accordingly. And, just so that you all are aware, I do not think I'm any smarter than any of you, nor am I even a college graduate. I do, however, believe in proper language structure because it is the yard stick by which others look upon our posts.
If I've made any of you angry with this post, good. Perhaps it will motivate you to hold yourself to the standard that's expected.

I have no idea if this thread will be shut down, and I'm hoping that, if it is, at least some people will read it and come away from it with, perhaps, the notion of just how important the written word is. Language, when used efficiently, is a weapon, used to slay the beasts of ignorance and bring about the possibility of, at least to a lesser degree, illumination.

If this thread should stay alive, I'm turning it over to the people to use as their podium to discuss, or complain about, some of the ways that the butchering of language has become a blight on intelligent and civil discussion.

My sociology teacher taught me that words precede thought. That without words, we can not adequately convey the thoughts we have in a concise manner. If you learn more words, you can better display your inner most thoughts in an extremely effective way.

I've learned that one should never engage in any conflict that they are unprepared for. People who bring knives to a fight...get shot.

I concur and recently posted a mini-rant Here about misspelling in titles...

My conclusion? They're doing it on purpose!

Or is it their????

Seriously though, it was brought up that spell-check doesn't work for titles and is not 100% anyway...and many of our Members do not speak/write English as their first language, which is understandable.

i got the gist of your argument but gave up reading about a quarter of the way through.

why? practice what you preach dude. your spiel was so long and badly laid out that i just couldn't be bothered with it.

while your pet peeve may be spelling ... mine is, "readability".

in other words ... i want to "read" material ... not decipher it.

so if someone writes a lot with no paragraphs and what they're writing isn't interesting ... i get bored and stop reading. same applies with anyone writing with a lack of grammar and once more the reader has to decipher the content as well as read it.

only people who write really interesting content can get away with bad spelling and grammar.

Blah Blah Blah seriously there are more important issues in the world then you're spelling and grammer spiel.
Seriously mate i read about 5 lines of what you said and thought "oh my god dude get a life".

Do you know what is expected of one in a real English class? If you have one grammatical or spelling mistake in your written work, you FAIL. Harsh? Not really, since your writing skills can make or break your argument.

And for those people who make excuses for lack of writing skills, how can you defend such a butcher job of the language? People learn skills by standards being raised, not lowered.

I've often felt the same urge. The sheer number of misspelled words and especially titles really turn me off.

Readability is another key issue I would raise, choose your thoughts carefully and lay them out in logical fashion.

That said there are some people who do just that and are a great pleasure to read. Precisely why ATS is my favorite site.

Yep.

[edit on 20-1-2010 by spectre76]

t's come to my attention that in regards to many, many people up here...the spelling and grammar and word usage is absolutely atrocious!

******

That being the case, why is it so hard to use appropriate spelling and conjugation?

Please remember that many many of our members speak English as a second or third language since we have many many people from all over the world posting here; therefore, many posts may not be up to American "College Thesis" level. You never know the nationality and native language of the person you are reading

This topic has been discussed over and over here.

Thread closed.


[edit on January 19th 2010 by greeneyedleo]