Spelling

daviddeer · Post by **daviddeer** » Sat 25 Aug, 2007 9:10 am

Should we adopt 'Fine Art' standards when it comes to spelling?
I have observed many errors on this site from distinguished members of august bodies. I of course don't include colloquial or national differences. Should we be concerned when the leaders of our community dangle participles and split infinitives, often placing prepositions in the middle of a sentence, after all people here rattle on about standards. Or should we use English 'like what it is wrote'. Have you found examples and what do you think?

I'll start stirring the pot

With appologises and best wishes

No excuse for bad spelling http://www.spellcheck.net/

//hurriedly checks previous posts for errors

Spit · Post by **Spit** » Sat 25 Aug, 2007 10:42 am

i fink u shud try 2 typ as gud as u can, i 8 chavspk, lyk.

Nah, I don't think it matters too much, as long as you're understood. I do hate the sort of txt stuff above, (Monglish, as we call it in football forum circles) though - kids may find it easy, but old duffers like me have to read it twice! When I do read it I find myself mentally putting on a 'Kevin the teenager' type voice & attitude

osgood · Post by **osgood** » Sat 25 Aug, 2007 11:57 am

The 'English' language is being continually changed in many ways and I don't like that much. On forums such as this one, obviously some people can't spell every word and may not have the skills to use spell checkers. Some people also don't know how to capitalize, but I think we have to make allowances.

I use Firefox for browsing and it seems to have a built in spell checker as it underlines errors in red. I only have to right click on the underlined word and click on the correct spelling to fix it.

Roboframer · Post by **Roboframer** » Sat 25 Aug, 2007 6:39 pm

You can tell a lot about a person by their spelling, grammar, punctuation etc etc. Not so much from posts in forums like this though - and it helps to see the handwriting that comes with it too.

I think the most frequently misspelled word I see on forums is 'deinitely'
which a lot spell 'definately'

Also hate to see huge blocks of text with no paragraphs.

Merlin · Post by **Merlin** » Sat 25 Aug, 2007 6:44 pm

Roboframer wrote: I think the most frequently misspelled word I see on forums is 'deinitely'
which a lot spell 'definately'

Or is that definitely.

Roboframer · Post by **Roboframer** » Sat 25 Aug, 2007 6:51 pm

Is there an F in definite

I was so concerned about not misspelling 'misspelled' and looking silly!!!

But anyway - brings me to a point I forgot - typos I can live with!

Merlin · Post by **Merlin** » Sat 25 Aug, 2007 7:11 pm

lol

John there is an F in..... in everything. I learnt that from a Pongo with a cap on and no peak on a Parade ground. No, wrong I was a Matelot, so its an Amble ground..

osgood · Post by **osgood** » Sat 25 Aug, 2007 7:22 pm

Merlin Framers wrote:Pongo......Matelot........Amble ground..

Translation ,Please???

Merlin · Post by **Merlin** » Sat 25 Aug, 2007 7:29 pm

Sorry Ormond.
Military speak......

Its like... Fly Air Force.. Sail Navy... Walk Army.

Army... Where ever the army goes the PONGO's

Royal Air Force... Crabs. Coz they fly and walk sideways.

Royal Navy.. Matelots. see

http://www.axfordsabode.org.uk/rn-ships/sail02.htm

The Army have their beloved Parade ground. A hallowed ground.
The Navy just cannot march as a band of men/women, so we just used to amble everywhere.

Post by **prospero** » Sat 25 Aug, 2007 9:38 pm

One thing that irritates me a lot is the use of the word "literally". It must be the most misused word in the language.

Two examples from todays TV:

"The Great Fire of Rome was literally burnt into the memories of the people".

Painful.

"Westlife literally stepped into TakeThat's shoes".

Also, why is it that newsreaders have never heard the word "hyperbole"?

I have heard it pronounced "hyper-bowl" on numerous occaisions.

Moglet · Post by **Moglet** » Tue 28 Aug, 2007 7:07 pm

One of my pet peeves is the mispronunciation of the word "harass" and its derivatives. Frank Spencer has a lot to answer for.....

kev@frames · Post by **kev@frames** » Tue 28 Aug, 2007 7:19 pm

if mye personal own eglish was ne goode, I wod be a jornolist, newsredder, or a writere.
as it iss, I acksherly mak pitchure frams at tihs moment in thyme.
Literally.

my pet haye iss any worde or phrase (mis) used as punctuation, like, you know, innit.

Mind you, actually, at this moment in time, mis-use or abuse of the english language, and its structure, doesn't seem to hurt people in high office much- eg. John Prescott, GW Bush (!)

which goes to show, it aint how you say something, or even what you are saying that matters, its just how people listen to it. Actually, per-se. Innit, like.

best regards
Kev, innit.

Merlin · Post by **Merlin** » Tue 28 Aug, 2007 7:46 pm

As this thread has taken a slight twist, I will add my pet hate.

When people add... "You know" on the end of every (so it seems) sentence.

I really do want to stop them and say. "Actually, I do not know, so tell me" but that would only lengthen the; probably, boring conservation anyway.

You know what I mean!

Roboframer · Post by **Roboframer** » Tue 28 Aug, 2007 7:50 pm

At the end of the day, as long as you get the message across, when all is said and done, what does it matter, is the bottom line - guys.

Actually I hate spell checkers - I use them like I'd use a dictionary or thesaurus - for a word that bugs me - I'd prefer to see warts and all posts - I know the difference between a bad spell of wethur and a typo - also the failure to preview before posting - all says a lot about a person.

Plural and singular apostrophes are things we see little of - 'The child's toy' .... 'The childrens' playground'

My biggest typo - which I usua;;y catch, is a semi-colon instead of an 'l'

Spit · Post by **Spit** » Tue 28 Aug, 2007 8:30 pm

Merlin Framers wrote:When people add... "You know" on the end of every (so it seems) sentence.

Every interview of a footballer must drive you round the bend!

osgood · Post by **osgood** » Tue 28 Aug, 2007 11:27 pm

On the radio down here, when referring to multiple 'incidents', people quite often say 'incidences', which to me sounds very wrong. I understood that it should be 'incidents'.

I have not been able to clarify this using online dictionaries, so I am asking you guys up there, whose ancestors invented the English language, which is correct? - 'incidents' or 'incidences'?

Merlin · Post by **Merlin** » Wed 29 Aug, 2007 2:57 pm

Thats a good one.. Found this

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/incidences

and the derived form:

http://www.wordwebonline.com/en/INCIDENCE

Still none the wiser though

yet more

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/incidences.html

osgood · Post by **osgood** » Wed 29 Aug, 2007 8:13 pm

John,
I think the last site says it all. The two words 'incidents' and 'incidence' have different meanings and some people are confusing the two.

'Incident' is an occurence, but 'incidence' is frequency!