Spelling and grammar police (RANT)

z31maniac wrote:

novaderrik wrote:

carguy123 wrote: Regardless of your feelings or issues the fact is that the only avenue we have to our brains on the internet is the written word. Misteaks can and do change meanings. As with anything, the more you do it the better you get at it. So at least attempting to say what you mean (and spell it correctly) will make you get better as time goes on. I for one, have no trouble with the people who are trying. It's those that refuse to even attempt to TRY that get my goat. They might as well not even post if they aren't going to do it in a manner that people can understand the points they are trying to make. I believe we need a sarcasm font to save a lot of people's feelings.

Irregardless..

AAhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, that one drives me insane! Irregardless/ain't/etc. When did sounding like a hillbilly after a 12-pack of Natty Light become acceptable?

Ain't ain't a word?

carguy123 wrote: Regardless of your feelings or issues the fact is that the only avenue we have to our brains on the internet is the written word. Misteaks can and do change meanings. As with anything, the more you do it the better you get at it. So at least attempting to say what you mean (and spell it correctly) will make you get better as time goes on. I for one, have no trouble with the people who are trying. It's those that refuse to even attempt to TRY that get my goat. They might as well not even post if they aren't going to do it in a manner that people can understand the points they are trying to make. I believe we need a sarcasm font to save a lot of people's feelings. what is a "misteak" ?

carguy123 wrote: Actually it is important. If you are going to the trouble to type then you need to go to enough trouble to make sure your communication is getting through or else why bother?

If the task at hand is repairing cars, then typing is not an essential skill, and since the internet is a recent resource, then you have to give car guys who are not journalists or secretaries the benefit of the doubt that they have never learned to type. Many of them are still hunting and pecking with two fingers, and stuff is going to get through.

Yeah, I realize that capitalization is the difference between helping your Uncle Jack off a horse, and helping your uncle jack off a horse, and that punctuation is as important for clarity, but really if the reader isn't smart enough to figure out the intent of a fellow car guy then it's just as much their fault as it is the non-typists fault.

The OP's point is complain about typos from a journalist or editor who should know better, but not from a car person who has probably never been trained to type properly. And I concur.

but really if the reader isn't smart enough to figure out the intent of a fellow car guy then it's just as much their fault as it is the non-typists fault.

No it's not! The reader has no idea what point the writer is trying to convey. It is up the writer to convey the point, not for everyone else to try to figure out what they are trying to say.

Either communicate or don't bother.

Typing, spelling, communication is a skill anyone can and must learn. Practice makes Permanent! So the more you try to get it right the better you'll become at it.

As you said, the internet is a resource and you need to be able to spell to use it. Just try doing a search with a misspelled word and see what you get. Clear communication skills are a necessity for anyone in any job.

Mistakes happen and most people are pretty tolerant about mistakes on this list, but that's not the case on many others.

poopshovel wrote:

Boy, it would be awfully quiet in here if there was a test to get on the internet.

carguy123 wrote:

but really if the reader isn't smart enough to figure out the intent of a fellow car guy then it's just as much their fault as it is the non-typists fault.

No it's not! The reader has no idea what point the writer is trying to convey. It is up the writer to convey the point, not for everyone else to try to figure out what they are trying to say.

On car forums I can usually figure it out pretty easily. Maybe I'm just smarter. Maybe I'm just more used to old school gearheads and mechanics that talk in vintage slang most of the time, too, and couldnt' spell a word correctly if their lives depended on it, but could diagnose and fix any problem on any car just by listening to it.

I just have a real issue with people on car forums that are grammar and spelling nazis when the real point is enjoyment of cars, not perfect typing skills.

poopshovel wrote:

And spell checker won't clear that up, will it?

Ian F wrote: You can often tell someone is a noob on this forum since the paragraphs only work if you return twice, whereas single return breaks turn into one long paragraph.

yeah, what's the deal with that?

poopshovel wrote:

this is no challenge to me. for whatever reason "where" and "were" COMPLETELY kicks my butt sometimes though.

Why should the internet, or any other written communications, be exempt from showing a 5th grade level of command of the English language? If we as adults allow our spelling and grammar to degrade to such a degree, how are we supposed to motivate our children to do well and compete against the onslaught of foreign competition?

"Costco gives you and offer but then the dealer tags all sorts of stuff on the backend, but they usually at least have the car."

And instead of AN is another that makes me crazy.

Question: if you and a friend are having a conversation and they use incorrect grammar, do you correct them?

You can think what you like, but correcting minor spelling or grammar errors on an internet forum is simply impolite. If you honestly can't understand what someone is trying to communicate then politely ask them to rephrase it, or offer your understanding and ask if you're correct.

More typically, people correct spelling and grammar not to gain understanding, but to berate someone. As I said, that's just rude. It's rude in person and rude on the internet. This is real life, and some people are rude. But don't try to justify it as anything else. It is what it is.

Chris_V wrote: On car forums I can usually figure it out pretty easily. Maybe I'm just smarter.

Posts on this forum are for the most part easy to understand. On the other hand I sometimes see posts on other car forums where I have no idea what they're saying. Sometimes it's because they're texting from a phone and are using shorthand, but more often it's because their spelling and/or grammar is so atrocious.

I agree that correcting people is rude (and usually pointless) but I wish they would take a minute to read what they wrote before they hit the Add Post button.

fast_eddie_72 wrote: You can think what you like, but correcting minor spelling or grammar errors on an internet forum is simply impolite.

If done properly it is helpful. Most people want to improve themselves and if they are doing something wrong they don't want to continue to look like an a$$.

It is not inherently rude, but I agree that some people are rude about it. Usually when I see people being rude in here it is on repeated offenders who make a big point out of not changing just to make the point they CAN.

Txters are where I've seen it the most. Are there any phones out there that still don't have full keyboards for typing?

Also keep in mind the internet is just one avenue to the brain. We don't have the advantage of seeing you talk or hearing your inflection. Images are formed in people's minds based upon your posts.

I'm sure not everyone is a hick from backwoods Arkansas (pick your state) that married their sister and only have one front tooth, but most of the ones who refuse to learn appear that way to me.

In reply to carguy123:

If done properly it is in a personal message, not in a thread in a public forum. In public, indeed, it is inherently rude to correct someone's grammar and/or spelling. And making a minor error doesn't make someone look like an a$$. Correcting them in public, however...

I actually had someone correct me on a mistake I made consistently. He sent me a private email and I was grateful for the information. It was clear that he had my best interest in mind and I appreciated that. Had he made the same remark in a public forum, it would have been for a different motivation. More often than not, people do that to call attention to themselves. They succeed in doing so, but not in the manner they intended.

In reply to fast_eddie_72:

I disagreed with your first post, but by the time I wrote a response, and then read your post above, I realized you were right. It is rude to publicly criticize someone. The only possible intent is ridicule.

If I had a friend that was saying something that made him sound stupid, I would privately and as gently as possible, tell him, so that he wouldn't publicly make a fool of himself. If I did it publicly, what kind of a friend would I be?

Fast eddie and I agree on something.

z31maniac wrote: "Costco gives you and offer but then the dealer tags all sorts of stuff on the backend, but they usually at least have the car." And instead of AN is another that makes me crazy.

This one gets me all the time - my phone's little inference engine likes to finish words incorrectly. When I'm zipping off a text or email without a good proof-read I cringe to see it. At least a post here can be ninja edited.

poopshovel wrote: Fast eddie and I agree on something.

My work here is done.

Meh, being publicly shamed is a great motivational tool.

Agreed.

If you make a mistake publicly, you should be prepared to accept a little constructive criticism, publicly. IMO, if more people said what was on their minds, we'd all be a lot better off.

Now, can people please stop asking for advise?

In reply to z31maniac:

Yeah, I suppose it can be. But it's still impolite. And the bigger point I was making is, more often than not, it has little to do with correcting spelling or grammar, and everything to do with being a "know-it-all".

There are much better ways to motivate people.

fast_eddie_72 wrote: In reply to z31maniac: Yeah, I suppose it can be. But it's still impolite. And the bigger point I was making is, more often than not, it has little to do with correcting spelling or grammar, and everything to do with being a "know-it-all". There are much better ways to motivate people.

"Lighten up, Francis"

I hope you realize the level of thought you're putting into taking the high road, is just as bad as correcting grammar.

I'm suspecting he's feels he's been made to look bad or ignorant with some corrections in the past.