Grammar Nazi-ing....(After a trip to GD)

[YellowRubberDuckie]

I've got to say this because it's driving me fucking crazy! When you want to pluralize something, you do not use apostrophe s. You ad an s or es and in some cases the word changes all together. When it's someone's family name, such as Smith, it's not Smith's, it's Smiths. Did you not pay attention in 3rd grade when your teacher was explaining this to you!? Good God. :nuke:
OH GOd, and at work, there's an auto note that goes in and instead of saying mortgagors, it says mtgr's. :grr: It makes me insane like 60 times a day! <end rant>
Thanks, I think I feel better now.
Duckie

[RebelOne]

1. I feel your pain. I totally give up on some of those posters.

I am a copy editor, which means that I make my living correcting grammar, spelling and punctuation. So every time I see all those errors, it affects me like nails running down a blackboard. But people on these forums get pissed if you dare to correct their grammar and spelling. So I just hold myself back from trying to correct them.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

2. They don't like their stupidity being pointed out.

I used to do the same thing back in college, and it's effected me.
Duckie

[BikeWriter]

3. It affected you or effected you?

:rofl:

[oneighty]

11. Bee nice know

Hahahahahaha

180

[SammyWinstonJack]

39. .

:yoiks:

[RebelOne]

57. Affected is the correct word.

Look it up in your dictionary, if you own one.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

67. It had an effect on me...So I used the right one.

[RebelOne]

76. It affected me and it had an effect on you.

Actually, two different meanings.

[Heidi]

4. As a former editor

and AP Stylebook addict, I feel your pain, RebelOnbe. :hi:

[LynzM]

64. I hear that, dude

I used to copy edit and proofread in college, for the college paper. :eyes: Brilliant writing, that stuff. I still can't turn that part of my brain off... I catch typos/errors in everything I read, even when I'm not actively looking for it. :hug:

[Robb]

5. What Heidi said

I feel a distinct pain in my spine when apostrophes get sprinkled into stuff like Essence of Emeril.

BAM! You're WRONG! AGAIN! :D

[Jade Fox]

6. Arianna Huffington wrote a whole post about the apostrophe...

misuse plague recently. Apparently it's happening everywhere!

I've got a co-worker who cannot figure out that "alot" is not a word. I don't know why her supervisor doesn't say something. It's embarrassing for us all.

[ScreamingMeemie]

7. I am guilty of this. I just don't get too into the way something is

spelled, misspelled or grammarscrewed on a message board. Even though I am a pretty good speller (did I tell you my daughter was in the National Spelling Bee? Speller 107? ;)), sometimes my mind is moving swifter than my hands and things just happen. My house is made with too much glass for me to get the rocks ready. :hi:

How's your weekend going? I'm putting off going out on a review. I hate working Saturdays.

[Kerrytravelers]

15. I'm with you. I'm thinking about what I'm saying and I miss a ton

of grammar. Spell check sometimes doesn't catch it. And for me, it's a discussion board, not a dissertation. I personally don't like it when someone follows up with a post correcting my spelling. Perhaps someone has a visual processing disorder (it's actually more common than most people realize) and they don't see the errors when rereading - I work with Special Ed kids in a Learning handicapped program, this is something I work with on a daily basis. I also tell parents who have kids that have spelling/grammar difficulties that it actually is a sign of intelligence. Their minds are moving faster than their fingers can't keep up with.

So, please don't make fun of me or call me stupid. My lack of spelling ability isn't the sum total of who I am.

[ScreamingMeemie]

18. MrG is dyslexic, we now believe (they didn't have testing in the 70's)

He is one of the most intelligent people I've ever met. He just cannot spell, and takes his time when speaking so as to make sure he is getting his point across. One of the reasons he is not an active member of DU is because people get so wrapped up in mistakes. If I can understand your point, I'm not going to begrudge you your use, or lack of use, of apostrophes, commas...etc.

I always tell myself that when someone needs to rag on my skills, it's because they can't debate the point anymore. :) It makes me feel better when I am in GD.

:yourock:

[Kerrytravelers]

20. I'm very sorry if MrG has been hurt by snarkiness over his spelling on DU.

That is really troubling. We are suppose to be a warm, welcoming place and yet we tear each other apart over such little things like spelling. You can tell when you read if someone just slapped a bunch of words together not caring (or possibly drunk...) or if they make particular spelling errors.

:loveya:



Edited for a spelling error! :rofl:

[LaurenG]

8. Actually I forget, I just do it without thinking

I still do not understand who and whom. It's (it is, so it needs an apostrophe)not rational but I just must not have paid attention in the third grade.

[Minnesota Libra]

9. I'll REALLY GET IT FOR THIS but........

......for those people's whoe's language skill's are so much higher than our's maybe they should teach language skill's in school's instead of wasting time's here with us poor unedumated soul's. :sarcasm:

[Benfea]

13. Is learning your own language really THAT hard for you? -NT

[Minnesota Libra]

16. Benfea, In case it wasn't apparent enough.........

.......I was using humor and sarcasm :sarcasm: to make the point that one person - and now two people - desperately needs to lighten up a tiny little bit. In case you haven't noticed NO ONE is perfect, least of all those who think they are! :grr:

[Benfea]

19. Then I missed what exactly you were being sarcastic about.

My pardons, but there always seems to be someone making the point I assumed you were making in threads like these.

Occasional mistakes are understandable, but repeated grotesque manglings of the language are inexcusable unless you have a learning disability.

[ScreamingMeemie]

21. "unless you have a learning disability"...and unfortunately, we never

stop to ask before tearing into somebody. If you can understand what is being typed (as you can most times with the errors that are being griped about here), why fret over it? Life is too short to expect everyone to be up to our own standards. Pointing out errors is snobbery in my opinion. As I mentioned above, my husband is a very intelligent man (I'd place him above most here on this board, but I'm biased ;)) and yet you all would rip him apart over his dyslexia...which he shouldn't have to confess to a bunch of people on an internet message board just to be "vetted" as "one of us". That is what I'm saying. It is ridiculous to get upset over language usage. It's also poor debate. Attack the message, not the messenger. :hi:

[Benfea]

22. Then you ARE taking that position.

I can understand if someone is speaking English as a second language, but there's no excuse for not knowing how to speak/write the language you grew up with.

The occasional typo or mistake is understandable, but in most cases, the extra effort it takes to figure out what a poster meant to say is simply not worth it. If you can't be bothered with learning your own language, then I can't be bothered with whatever you have to say in your post.

Dyslexia is a totally different situation. In every other message board community I've been a part of, if someone has dyslexia, the community learns of it and is understanding about it.

[ScreamingMeemie]

24. Why should MrG have to defend himself by telling you personal info

about himself? Why do you care? This is my point. I am sick of people being so anal on this board as to end a debate by commenting on someone's grammar usage. MrG being a dyxlexic and not feeling like he should have to disclose it on a message board should in now way affect the idea he puts forth. It is not a totally different situation. It is always rude and smacks of snobbery to me.

Thank you.

[Kerrytravelers]

25. There are all kinds of conditions that fall under the umbrella of dyslexia

Learning processing disorders take on all types of forms... some people can't process sounds, atmospheres, certain letters... etc. There is no need to be over critical. This isn't a college dissertation, where these errors will be proofread out by kind friends who want to help. It's message board. All kinds of people come here. Some are highly educated, others didn't graduate high school. Some people have been seriously injured, others are English Language Learners. Others are simply forgetful and neglect hitting spell check every time they post. Some are thick skinned and let unkindness roll off their backs, while others take things deeply personally. Unfortunately, we can't know everyone's personal state, so we must be kind to everyone.

[ScreamingMeemie]

29. Thank you Kerrytravelers.

For MrG, it just wasn't worth having to explain himself twenty thousand times over to people who get uptight about the grammar thing. He lets me do the "talking". ;)

If people want to take that as embarassment on his part...I guess so be it. He just doesn't have the time nor want. :) :hi:


By the way...thanks for sharing the lovely pics of your family the other day. I was so busy, and I meant to comment on them.

[Kerrytravelers]

33. You're welcome, MsG!

And tell MrG I'd love to see him back here!

I was having fun that day with my new scanner. I also put those pics and others in a Power Point presentation I'm going to surprise my mom with!

[ScreamingMeemie]

34. That will be cool! Are you going to do background music?

I did a montage to "Kodachrome" for my mom's 60th birthday. Being totally clueless with computers I amazed everyone. I am a scanner addict now.

[Kerrytravelers]

36. I want to. I have to figure it out first.

I usually just play around until I figure it out. I started early. It's her birthday gift--- in October! :)

[Benfea]

26. Why on Earth would he be embarrassed about it?

None of the dyslexics I know are embarrassed about it and will tell you up front that they have dyslexia. There's absolutely nothing to be ashamed of and no need to keep it private.

Sorry, but I'm not going there. I post on a number of boards crawling with youngsters spewing all manner of undecipherable pap. Even when you manage to figure what it is they're trying to say, you immediately regret having done so. 99.99% of the time it's simply not worth the effort.

PS — unlike your implication, I do not generally climb all over someone for bad language in their posts. Unless I know they're speaking English as a second language or have a specific disablility such as your husband, I simply stop reading the post and move on to something more interesting. There is almost never a point in getting into an argument with stupid people.

[ScreamingMeemie]

27. Look around at the way people are treated here when they have

a tendency to use bad grammar. I said that MrG shouldn't have to share any info he doesn't wish to, not that he's embarassed about it. I only implicated those people who posted in agreement with the general idea that bad grammar equates a stupid person. Sometimes it's not a stupid person. I refuse to let proper grammar usage sway me in a debate or otherwise.

The point of my post is that is not worth the time or trouble to get all wrapped up in when dealing with members of a message board.

PS-MrG is very proud of who he is. He just doesn't feel the need to share every detail of his life with people he doesn't know in order to somehow pass a skill test in order to be taken seriously. There is no embarassment in that.

[Benfea]

30. With the exceptions I noted, people with bad grammar ARE idiots. -NT

[ScreamingMeemie]

31. I disagree...People who don't see the forest for the trees are. -Your loss

:hi:

[Montauk6]

75. I will disclaim this one with "if the shoe fits..."

I really cannot decide which is more offensive, MrsGrumpy: people who post with poor spelling and/or grammar, or people who post with poor spelling and/or grammar while being critical of people who post with poor spelling and/or grammar.

And I do agree with your disagreement with the idea that bad grammar ipso facto equals stupidity (OH NO! A SENTENCE BEGINNING WITH A CONJUNCTION!!!!... the horror...)

[Kerrytravelers]

35. My teaching aid was brought up in a home where the family wasn't

extremely educated. Their speaking and writing grammar was very poor.

My aid is now 53 years old. She is a wonderful human being who is marvelous with Special Needs children. Everyone- teachers, staff and kids alike- love and respect her. She is like an angel sent from Heaven. The kids can't pull one over on her. She is bright, sharp and knows how to get through to kids and work with them.

She is always asking for help on her grammar. She makes mistakes in her writing and her speaking. I would never think of correcting her (unless she asks me to.) I don't consider her an idiot. She is a brilliant, intelligent, caring person with more common sense than anyone I know (myself included.)

I can not believe you would say that people with bad grammar are idiots... and in caps, too.

I don't do this very often, but I am going to put you on ignore. I know you won't care and will find great pleasure in ripping me apart and diagramming my sentences and my spelling. If you must, go ahead. However, I simply can not have this kind of negativity in my sight if I can help it.

[Common Sense Party]

72. George Bush has bad grammar. He's an idiot. So far, your

theory holds up!

[Gormy Cuss]

81. There are other reasons for poor grammar and poor spelling.

Ask someone who was raised in poverty whether poor grammar is the mark of an idiot.
Not everyone had the advantage of a decent education.

[DanCa]

51. If I could recommend a reply your post would get one.

I guess grammar police are alot like George Bush. He doesn't care about disabled people either.

[Minnesota Libra]

37. Benfea, I AGREE it is NOTHING to be shamed about BUT........

......maybe, just maybe, a person doesn't think a possible learning disability is anyone's business but their own. :shrug:

Come on one and all, is bad language usage the very worst thing you will ever be asked to endure. Let's put this all in perspective here, there are much bigger fish to fry these days. Plus, some people may be in absolutely desperate need of a hobby besides just their monitor screen. :rant:

[DanCa]

48. Grammar police dont care about people with disablities.

Didn't you know that ? That's why they always equate poor spelling with having a mental handicap or poor education.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

47. seconded!

its just a message board...

[Orsino]

10. At work, our ticketing system renders everything in all caps...

...and since we use a lot of acronyms that need pluralizing, I've reluctantly adopted the apostrophe-s for clarity. It still makes me wince, though.

[Benfea]

12. The Internet is the second worst thing to happen to the English language.

The worst being TV sportscasters, of course. >.<

[fishwax]

14. Spelling/Usage Nazi-ing (after reading your post)

--"ad" is a noun (short for advertisement)
--"add" is a verb

You need to add a "d" to the "ad" in the third sentence :D

Of course, I'd be willing to accept the suggesttion that this was an intentional mistake, intended as satire :)

[SammyWinstonJack]

40. Of course it was.

:yoiks:

[YellowRubberDuckie]

68. It was probably more like me being so pissed I missed a letter.

sorry...I can't fix it now. But let's just pretend it was intended as satire. :evilgrin:
Duckie

[AirmensMom]

17. Good rant, YellowRubberDuckie.

Here are some others that drive me batty.

"My cat puked it's guts out. The mess landed on Jack and I." :banghead:

[RebelOne]

79. AAARRRGGG!!

It surprising how many people do not know the correct usage of it's and its. I wonder how they ever passed English in school.

[no name no slogan]

23. YOUR NOT SERIE'S, ARE YOU?!?!?!?

:P

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

28. I hear ya...those post's are FRUSTRATING.

:evilgrin:

:spank:

[hopein08]

32. I hate to be the FCC, but needless use of "fucking" bugs me more...

So I promise to watch my apostrophes much more closely when I can read five threads without seeing that word used as the only adjective in the English language.

So sorry to snark, but that's my rant. I was thinking of starting a whole post about it, but this works just fine.

[GalleryGod]

38. Ah, yes...the DU F-Bomber Squadrons...point well taken.

My least favorite DU predilections.

[Common Sense Party]

73. I couldn't agree more. If you can't say it without the F-bomb,

it probably isn't worth being said.

And, no, it doesn't make a person sound "cool" or "edgy" or "tough."

Just vulgar.



"Profanity is the common crutch of the conversational cripple." -- David Keuck

[RebelOne]

77. I agree. I hate that word.

I think the posters that use it are mostly high school and college people trying to sound grown up.

[Oeditpus Rex]

41. Oh, sigh...

I'll say it again: Some people are good with numbers; others are good with words. It's the rare person who's good with both. Every brain is different.

When I see people factoring X and Y and cosines and other Math Stuff, I just :crazy:. I cannot grasp such concepts. Words are my forte.

But I suppose there're Math Nazis in the calculus community, too. :eyes:

HowEVer — to those who say "It's just a message board," I would remind you that it's also part of that "new media" that many claim are rising to dominance. Would you accept and excuse a similarly low standard for a newspaper?

[ScreamingMeemie]

46. Ummm...I don't fancy myself as anything other than a human being.

A newspaper is in business to process and edit the written word. I am not new media...I am not an editor...I am "We the People" with warts, misspellings and all. Apples and oranges. :hi:

[Oeditpus Rex]

49. I understand that

But it isn't my point.

It isn't apples and oranges, but accepting and excusing bruised apples because they're being sold at the corner store rather than Nob Hill.

Humans will make mistakes, and we should accept that. But we should not say it's acceptable to make them in one circumstance but not in another.

And :hi: back atcha. :hug:

[ScreamingMeemie]

50. I'm paying for the newspaper...and its accuracy.

I'm not paying you for your opinion is what I am saying.

I'm off to do a damned field review I should have done this morning if only I weren't so lazy. Hour drive there...hour drive back...:cry: Thank god for spell check on my report program. :)

[WritingIsMyReligion]

62. Aye, aye, Rex.

I'm one of those dual-brained people, though I hate math so much that I tend to suppress my ability at it. :blush:

[maveric]

42. Dont let it bother you. Be TOLERANT of other people's educational level.

Dont be so anal.

[JitterbugPerfume]

43. some people are

just anal. They can't help it

[Jamison]

44. I applaud your grammar Nazi-ing.

It's one of the things that sets this place apart from Free Republic where "We's do'nt hav no grammer or propur speling."

If I make any spelling or grammatical errors, please feel free to point them out, I won't take offense.

[DanCa]

45. The religious write stikes again.

Okay so than I guess you guys don't want people with hand tremors posting right? You know you can always put the post on ignore. Gee I bet you people wont talk to, or worse, correct people with speech problems too.

[fishwax]

52. tee hee

"religious write" :D

[Kerrytravelers]

53. Yes. Ignore has become my friend, sad to say.

I'm just tired of such unnecessary negativity.

But, since I have spelling errors, I guess that just makes me an idiot. :eyes:

[DanCa]

54. Grammar police just don't care about people with disabilities.

They are allot like George W. Bush and the religious right in that respect. If your not one of the perfect people than your insulted and belittled. So much for the famed liberal tolerance. I'd bet the grammar police correct people with stuttering problems too when they are talking to them.

[Kerrytravelers]

55. I'm beginning to wonder if the grammar police are covering for

their own short comings by lashing out at other people.

Just thinking out loud here. :shrug: I just hope the grammar police aren't teachers . It would be devastating for a student (regardless of age- child to adult) to feel like an idiot for poor grammar and spelling.

[DanCa]

56. The Grammar Police arent being paid to police this forum though.

That's what really gets me. It's not thier job to point out other peoples' mistakes. They probably got a superiority complex and want to get off on putting others down. Hey I got a 3.5 GPA I just don't go around bragging about it.

[Kerrytravelers]

58. Hey! I received a 4.0 in my Grad program! Yippeee for me!!!!

:eyes: I guess I'm suppose to feel better about myself now. :shrug:

[RebelOne]

59. Eats, Shoots & Leaves should be on everyone's must-read list.

[gristy]

60. I picture many folks who repeatedly make grammar and spelling mistakes

as folks who just can't be bothered. It's not important to them that they make their points clearly and with a minimum of distraction for discerning readers. I suppose there are some who try very hard, use dictionary.com, and have access to and use a grammar resource, but mistakes still get through. But others just don't care. Oh, well.

[Lars39]

61. I've got news for you ducky, the rules were changed

and not everyone has been in a school setting or a work setting that has demanded "correct" punctuation.

[Rabrrrrrr]

63. That's "altogether", not "all together".

And saying "I have got to" is awful. "I have to" is sufficient. Or a more emphasized "I simply have to" works as well.

"I have got" <-- not good sentencing <-- verbing a noun, not good literacy. :-)

(and someone else pointed out the "ad" instead of "add", so I will not, even though I actually have, cuz I just have got to) <-- many errors in that last part

Otherwise, yes, I agree with you! Makes me feel very sad when people don't use apostrophes correctly; or otherwise write sloppily (not typos, mind you - I'm talking just being sloppy and uncaring about getting a point across). <-- note that I did not write "acrossed", another abomination that makes me wild with fury.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

65. Poor grammar/spelling drives me INSANE...

But I do know that there are some people with disabilities on this very board, and I respect that. I grammar-nazi in that I point out egregious mistakes....nicely. No sense in ripping into people.

[TOhioLiberal]

66. I think its...

...kinda like 'Hey, we're not freepers! We can spell.' How many times have you looked at a low-post count with bad grammar and spelling and wondered 'troll or not?'

I am of the live and let live category. Good spelling and grammar are nice, but not necessarily important. :shrug:

[SoCalDem]

69. Grammar Nazis unite

orrrrr would that beeeeee Nazi's

[Mythsaje]

70. My personal pet peeve

is the apostrophe used to denote the possessive use of the pronoun "it." People! I-T-apostrophe-S is a contraction of "IT IS." I-T-S is the possessive form of "IT."

Arrgh!

That is all. Please return to your regularly scheduled life.

[Kali]

71. Being a typical wishy washy liberal,

I can see both sides - sometimes the spelling and grammar is pretty teeth-gritting, but on the otherhand I would rarely feel comfortable pointing it out to someone unless I really wanted to insult them. And god knows, I misspell and "mis-apostrophe" myself.


Also I can't make the spell check work. Anybody have instructions? It just shows a blank spaces for me - do I have to cut and paste or something?

[Hissyspit]

74. I hate the use of "that" when it should be "who." Sometimes it can

make a big difference. Some would say it is acceptable use or they are interchangable, but it shouldn't be (because it is depersonalizing and sometimes confuses) and they are not.

[RebelOne]

78. Actually, "that" is also correct.

But if it applies to a person, I always use "who."

[gristy]

80. I agree, and it drives me crazy

who for a person, that for an inanimate object