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Spelling and Grammar

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JMeganSnow

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I will agree with Terry, but Ann is too slow for my liking. She takes too many words to say things for my liking. She just drones on and on too much.

(emphasis mine)

AYN. DragonMaci, your spelling of proper names is atrocious. Please make an effort to correct this.1

This thread was split from topic here.--JMeganSnow

Edited by JMeganSnow
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(emphasis mine)

AYN. DragonMaci, your spelling of proper names is atrocious. Please make an effort to correct this.

Oh come on! That's just predanticism. So what if I miss spell one name? It's not really a big deal. And just becuase I get one letter in one name wrong does not mean I am atrocious at spelling names. To say I am based on that is unreasonable.

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Oh come on! That's just predanticism. So what if I miss spell one name? It's not really a big deal. And just becuase I get one letter in one name wrong does not mean I am atrocious at spelling names. To say I am based on that is unreasonable.

Well, "predanticism" is not a word, did you mean pedanticism, perhaps? You also misspelled misspelled; it is not two words, it is one (it is not named after Miss Spell, nor is it akin to missing a shot). And to finish it off, you misspelled "because".

I would say you need some work in spelling. Or more concern for your readers, and how you present the English language. Or a decent spellchecker; those, however, will not teach you to spell.

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Well, "predanticism" is not a word, did you mean pedanticism, perhaps? You also misspelled misspelled; it is not two words, it is one (it is not named after Miss Spell, nor is it akin to missing a shot). And to finish it off, you misspelled "because".

I would say you need some work in spelling. Or more concern for your readers, and how you present the English language. Or a decent spellchecker; those, however, will not teach you to spell.

I thought I made it perfectly clear with my last comment that I don't like this sort of thing, so to do it again is disrepectful and rude. I consider messages typed on the internet to be similar to speech and I hate it when people correct speech since their is no need for it to be perfect. In the future please respect my wishes about this or I will complain to you in no uncertain terms and I won't be nice about it.

As for why it happens I tend to be doing a lot of things on the internet so I tend to type real fast and since I am not good at that I tend to make more mistakes like press keys in the wrong order or press the wrong key and accidently press two keys at once since the keyboard on my pc are very close. Also for the same reason I don't have as much time to make an effort and so do not tend to edit my posts as I type them. I am in fact generally a good speller.

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I consider messages typed on the internet to be similar to speech and I hate it when people correct speech since their is no need for it to be perfect.

Are you an Objectivist? Because an Objectivist would recognize that precise use of language is the key to understanding reality. It is only through careful understanding of the definition of each and every word that you can understand what is really going on around you and interact on an intelligent level with others.

"Close enough", especially when applied to language is a subjectivist position and just plain lazy to boot. Make no mistake, I'm horrible at spelling too, but I don't get upset about people correcting me (unless they're trying to avoid the fact that I just nailed them to a wall), I get upset at myself for being too lazy to go into Microsoft Word and type it there.

Your argument that people "get what I mean" is a short sighted viewpoint that's only end result is that some day someone is going to do something based on what they thought you meant but didn't and you're going to be a very heavy price that you'll no doubt blame on them instead of blaming on the person that caused the problem in the first place because of their imprecise use of language... i.e. you.

[Edited to capitalize "Objectivist." Oh, the irony. :thumbsup: --Matt]

Edited by Groovenstein
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I thought I made it perfectly clear with my last comment that I don't like this sort of thing, so to do it again is disrepectful and rude.

It isn't a matter of whether you like it or not, it's a matter of basic ettiquette and forum rules.

http://wiki.objectivismonline.net/index.ph...on.2C_and_style

Just because you want to type fast does not mean that we have to tolerate your carelessness.

Incidentally, I believe it's "pedantism". At any rate, it's not applicable to JMeganSnow's point.

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Oh come on! That's just predanticism. So what if I miss spell one name? It's not really a big deal. And just becuase I get one letter in one name wrong does not mean I am atrocious at spelling names. To say I am based on that is unreasonable.

You also misspelled "Vetinari" more than once . . . Discworld has no V in it . . . misplaced apostrophe in Vimes . . . you called J.K. Rowling TK . . . etc.

I just pointed out the most egregious example.

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It isn't a matter of whether you like it or not, it's a matter of basic ettiquette and forum rules.

More fundamental than that is the fact that there is a valid reason why it's necessary to use proper grammar. Grammar is not a set of arbitrary rules; the rules of grammar are created because, in order for a thought to be understood (i.e. for the individual concepts to be integrated into a single, concrete thought), it must be put constructed in a certain manner. The fact that grammar (and as a result, spelling) is so important to communicating clearly is precisely the reason why it is a breach of ettiquette, and I suspect why it is part of the forum rules.

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Please see the next post below for advice on how to enable a spellchecker.

(Update by sNerd: I re-wrote the post to which Jennifer had pointed and have added it below)

Edited by softwareNerd
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More fundamental than that is the fact that there is a valid reason why it's necessary to use proper grammar. Grammar is not a set of arbitrary rules; the rules of grammar are created because, in order for a thought to be understood (i.e. for the individual concepts to be integrated into a single, concrete thought), it must be put constructed in a certain manner. The fact that grammar (and as a result, spelling) is so important to communicating clearly is precisely the reason why it is a breach of ettiquette....

That's right.

Bad spelling and grammar should never be tolerated in any discussion in which ideas are to be taken seriously. Tolerating them will create a "Gresham's law" problem: bad discourse will drive out the good. Those who take ideas seriously will leave, and those who are too lazy to proofread their postings will remain.

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  • 3 months later...

I suggest that we use this thread to air our pet peeves about spelling and grammar with emphasis on the errors which occur frequently in this forum.

For example, members frequently confuse "there" and "their". "There" is used to indicate existence or to refer to some other place. "Their" is the possessive case of the third-person plural pronoun -- a substitute for "they's" or "them's" (as "his" is a substitute for "he's" or "him's").

There must be a better example of the use of "there" in a sentence, but I cannot think of it right now. John lives over there (pointing at John's house). When the Joneses learned that their property had been vandalized, their wrath was unleashed.

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Hm. Well, I value spelling and grammar, too. But I'll be the first to admit I'm the worst speller. Didn't this site used to have a built in spell checker, like the one on the Speicher's site? What happened to that? I keep having to import my whole post to Word and editing it there, since I'm usually at the library. Such a pain!.. Half the time I skip it whether I look like an idiot or not.

PS Actually, Spell Checks do help me on my spelling, because they tell me when I spell a word wrong. Otherwise, I'd just keep spelling it wrong! You should have seen my report cards in elementary school-- A, Reading; A, math; A, Social Studies; A, PE; C-, Spelling; C-, Penmanship. Those were too much monotonous writing. I always just wanted to start drawing instead.

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  • 1 month later...

Spelling in an online forum? Serious discourse, sure. If you're using a long post to expound on theories, okay. But a quick reply? Picking on everythign is counterproductive.

That said, I *am* a grammar- and spelling-Nazi, and it does color my opinion somewhat. But who are we to discount the thoughts of someone who may be slightly dyslexic? Dyslexia has little or no effect on overall intelligence.

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Spelling in an online forum? Serious discourse, sure. If you're using a long post to expound on theories, okay. But a quick reply? Picking on everythign is counterproductive.

That said, I *am* a grammar- and spelling-Nazi, and it does color my opinion somewhat.

It makes a lot of difference when you say that if your own spelling doesn't contain any errors.

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A little spelling-exercise:

How many checks would a spell-checker check if a spell-checker could check checks?

Now that I think of it: It can't check spells either. ;)

Felix casts silence-spell on himself without being checked ...

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