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| Any other grammar nazis around these parts?
Posted: 6/25/2009 6:19:44 AM | ^^^^I agree.
Also their, they're and there
where and wear
your and you're
break and brake
to, two, and too
woman and women
should of and should have
orientate/disorientate
and yes, irregardless (regardless (lol) of it's uses) | |
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| Any other grammar nazis around these parts?
Posted: 6/25/2009 7:49:33 AM |
Spelling and grammar have NO bearing on whether a person is able to communicate (intelligently) or not. Just that their mode of communication differs from yours.
The Tower of Babel comes to mind.
Spelling and grammar have an absolute bearing on whether a person is able to communicate effectively. "Communication" means the conveying of ideas. If the other party can't figure out what one means, written or verbally, that is not communication. Assuming a basic level of literacy, the responsibility doesn't rest on the receiving party to understand what is put forth by the conveying party (referring to the language, not necessarily the information itself). It's not my responsibility to presume that the speaker or writer meant to use one word instead of another, to try and follow a path of double-negatives, or to figure out which definition is intended in their use of a non-standardized word or phrase.
Language does evolve, and new words appear in English all the time. But those changes are the result, generally, of technology. Widespread sloppiness doesn't not lend legitimacy to words and phrases, therefore "ain't" will never be a proper word. It may appear in the dictionary but is always denoted as colloquial, improper, or non-standard English - irregardless (heh) of people's desire to use it. | |
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| Any other grammar nazis around these parts?
Posted: 6/25/2009 1:50:35 PM | | Here's another one, a favorite of mine. Contrary to the regular usage of 's to form a possessive, as in "the boy's hat", the possessive of "it" is "its", with NO apostrophe. The form "it's" always means "it is". Gwen, as a teacher of English and grammar, would you like to explain just why that is? | |
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| Any other grammar nazis around these parts?
Posted: 6/25/2009 3:17:13 PM | | Borogroves, because possessive pronouns such as "hers," "theirs," "ours," and "yours" have no apostrophe--"it," though it can be something other than possessive, falls into this category. | |
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| Any other grammar nazis around these parts?
Posted: 6/25/2009 5:00:08 PM | | My take: the attention a person pays to what and how they write--especially in their profile, is an indicator of their level of attentiveness/respect for themselves and possibly their mate. It also says something about how serious they are about finding someone. The poorly written profile makes a big statement all by itself. | |
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| Any other grammar nazis around these parts?
Posted: 6/27/2009 12:37:59 PM | While it is nicer to receive messages with proper grammar and spelling it is not a real turn-off for me. There are some very intelligent people that just cannot spell and do not take the time for spell check.
I have a wonderful and creative friend that can not spell to save her life, but her artwork and home are things of beauty. She is the loyal kind of person that enriches my life. Had I cared about her spelling I wouldn't have the honor of knowing her. This is just one of the reasons I always feel sorry for the Grammar Nazis. | |
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| Any other grammar nazis around these parts?
Posted: 6/28/2009 2:29:09 PM |
Just as in the classroom--I don't expect but demand that my students write in standard English.
Would that be standard U.S. English or standard U.K. English?
I can understand you would require U.S. English in the classroom given that you teach in the U.S. but these forums are frequented by native speaking people from other English speaking countries. I am a native of the U.K.(Scotland) who has lived here for almost 12 years and have observed many differences between the two versions of the language(I'm sure differences occur between us and the other native English speaking countries.
The spelling of certain words are definitely different - honor/honour - and many others. We both have different words to describe the same thing, we call a car 'hood' a 'bonnet' which is also a specific item of head ware. We also attach different meanings to the same words To a Brit 'fag' means a cigarette, to an American it is a totally different meaning!
The most important difference is phrasing, a Brit phrases a sentence different to his American counterpart which can lead to misunderstandings. I work for a defense contractor here on the U.S. which contains a mix of U.S and U.K. people(all the U.K. people have U.S. citizenship and any necessary security clearances) which means when we write a technical proposal we have to 'think American', i.e. phrase our document as an American would to avoid misunderstanding.
Someone once said 'Britain and America are two countries separated by a common language - I believe Churchill) which brings up some interesting situations. A few years ago I visited the 8th Air Force museum near Savannah where there were many stories of language confusion - "some Brits had been invited to dine with some Americans, on arrival the Americans invited the Brits to 'wash up' which resulted in confused looks from the Brits. 'wash up' to the Americans meant 'freshen up', wash hands, touch up makeup - to the Brits it meant wash the dishes after the meal!! | |
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| Any other grammar nazis around these parts?
Posted: 7/1/2009 12:14:09 AM | incorrect spelling in any profile or post is a huge turn off for me.
i don't consider myself a "spelling nazi" but to me incorrect grammar signifies a possible lack of education and an inability to communicate via the written word.
key slips, typos, are common.....my long fingernails often get in the way.....but when the error is obvious i completely lose interest in whatever i am reading.
i love the fact we are all different beings but the basics can't be ignored, not by me anyway!
.....with spell check a part of our daily lives it may also mean the writer is perhaps a little lazy or shock, horror doesn't know how to use it.
when i first started posting here i remember being appalled by the lack of capitals but came to realise that it made for easier reading.
i'm always open and ready for change but i'm afraid the blatant misuse of the english language is not one of them.
my pet peeves are.....
loose/lose
dinning/dining
their/thier
there/they're
.....and the ultimate no-no to me is your/you're
now, where did i put those jack boots? | |
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| Any other grammar nazis around these parts?
Posted: 7/1/2009 12:40:45 AM | My main pet peeves are:
-People that don't understand how to construct a compound sentence
-People that continually use an ellipsis instead of a period or a comma
-People that say "I could care less" instead of "I couldn't care less"
-People that use text speak
-People that don't understand singular/plural possession
-People that don't know when to use "I" and when to use "me." Go through someone's pictures on this site or on myspace. It will be captioned with something like "my friend Susi and I."
Even when I'm texting, I still spell everything out and use proper punctuation. I actually have a quick text saved in my phone that says, "your last message made absolutely no sense." I have found that some of my friends are too lazy to read over what they just wrote to make sure that it says what they wanted it to say. I guess an extra 3 seconds out of their lives is just too much to ask. | |
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| Any other grammar nazis around these parts?
Posted: 7/1/2009 5:46:59 AM | I will admitt that I often misspell words, either typo or otherwise. Also,, I have my own issues with grammer, appropriate use of commas, and etc..
I can reread my message before posting and all seems good. But, if I go back and reread it an hour or even 5 minutes later, I find multiple misstakes. Which, I will end up doing with this posting. lol
So, I don't have much room to judge anyone to harshly. With the exception of, constantly misspelled basic words or a whole sentence of abbreviations. | |
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| Any other grammar nazis around these parts?
Posted: 7/1/2009 6:04:32 AM |
Spelling and grammar have NO bearing on whether a person is able to communicate (intelligently) or not. Just that their mode of communication differs from yours.
Communication stops when someone can't understand what's being said because it is so poorly spelled.
The "it doesn't matter" crowd always amazes me. I am not too stiff about grammar, but simple spelling errors littered throughout a relatively small post or e-mail turn me off completely.
I take into account things like language barriers or the amount of errors, but too many always turns me off. | |
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| Any other grammar nazis around these parts?
Posted: 7/1/2009 7:26:59 AM | No, I couldn't care less, I make mistakes too sometimes. I think it would be a very superficial thing for me to turn someone down over. I prefer to focus on the message and the intent behind the message than the format it was delivered in.
It also feels like a very pointless reason to throw anger towards others. Life is short, don't waste it on hate, especially not superficial hate.
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| Any other grammar nazis around these parts?
Posted: 7/1/2009 7:48:08 PM | When reading profiles, I don't even get as far as grammar. It's the spelling that turns me off. I seldom get through reading a whole profile before I click it off because of poor spelling. Are men poor spellers or do they not proofread? Whichever it is, it's a turnoff for a lot of us.  | |
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| Any other grammar nazis around these parts?
Posted: 7/1/2009 9:18:34 PM | | when you talk about someones spelling i,m for one that misspell words most of the time b/c i did not finsh high school so when you say something about that your calling us uneducated people so just get off our backs about this .damn i,m just so sick of this crap | |
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| Any other grammar nazis around these parts?
Posted: 7/1/2009 9:28:16 PM | I am married to a brilliant man--engineering and medical background--who cannot spell to save his life.
Not graduating high school doesn't mean you can't learn to spell.
I pride myself on my use of grammar and writing mechanics, but even I make mistakes. I love the dictionary, and I use it often.
Some people like to collect things; I'm a grammar nazi.
Don't take it personally, unless you actually want to improve your spelling. If that's the case, then good for you! What a great example you'll be for others. | |
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| Any other grammar nazis around these parts?
Posted: 7/2/2009 12:58:35 AM | ghenderson12 I sympathize with you. I know lots of good smart people didn't finish high school. I feel for those people who haven't been blessed with a lot of education.
It will always be a handicap for you though if you can't write well, on POF and other places. If I couldn't write well I would look around and try to find an adult education class somewhere and learn to write better. Or you could get some books about grammar at the library and study them, and use a dictionary when you write.
It's important if you want to make a good impression when you are writing to people online to use good grammar and spelling. It's just something that is important. | |
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| Any other grammar nazis around these parts?
Posted: 7/2/2009 2:49:37 AM | Any time I am posting I use dictionary.com, I still mis-spell words, I don't always know where an apostrophe goes or a hyphen. I try and not judge to harshly someones errors. But it makes it much easier when reading emails, if there is some sort of sentance structure. And I really hate the "text" typing, but for those using a phone to access their emails, it is much easier for them to use that type of commnication.
And the fact that my keyboard is wireless, it takes a crap on me at the worst times, and will not space at the correct times either. Or the fact that some posters made me spew my drink all over it hasn't helped either.
Ok who out there can count my typos? | |
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| Any other grammar nazis around these parts?
Posted: 7/2/2009 7:44:51 PM | | I'm glad there's no spell check on here. As the OP said, we all occasionally make errors . But there are those who go above and beyond. I must admit it's quite the turn off when a woman can't write a basic sentence, spell common words or figure out when to start a new paragraph... | |
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