How's Your Spelling?

I do get a bit fed up with people who use text talk.

I'd rather someone spell everything wrong, but do their best, rather than that stuff.

 

This is a topic that interest me as a non- native speaker. My spelling and grammar are often better than those of many native speakers I know, simply because I learnt the words and rules as new items instead of putting the language I hear into written form.

I learnt the verb "buy" and its tenses as a new word (and repeated buy bought bought endlessly), and the verb "bring" with the brought brought as separate entities. I would never confuse the past tenses, but it's surprisingly common to see that someone brought something in Asda. (Then again, they might just have a warm relationship with the staff )

In the same way, I couldn't write "could of done" as I learnt the structure as a structure, and wasn't writing down something I grew up hearing.

Funnily, I was in a job a (long) while ago where we had to find a team to handle professional chat which required quickly typing conversation in a live situation. After testing, the best writers were selected, all of them were non- native speakers



However, when it comes to spelling mistakes or unclear writing in a forum like this, the word is free and without judgement. We talk about things that matter, and the output doesn't matter a spiff as long as it's somewhat readable. It's definitely the content, not the form that is important and I'm very happy that there is no criticism whatsoever when it comes to writing style or errors.

Apparently his arithmetic wasn't that great either, but fortunately he married a lady who was able to do it for him.

 

I reckon he did. He got that apple from somewhere

 

Doh

 

Not intending to offend anyone but, I try to avoid being critical towards others. A simple gimmick if you like. Make a fist. Now extend the index finger, in the mode of pointing at someone. Now observe the remaining fingers. These are now pointing towards me etc. So the moral of this little test is. YOU point the finger and several fingers may point back at you.

Applying even in a lighthearted manner can break-up friendships. I have observed this from other forums.

Remembering my school days. What a thought. I gained top marks in english and maths. Now, I ponder over the spelling and/or the adding up of the shopping bill. We change as we get older. We are unaware just how we have become influenced by today's world. Americanisms, text messaging etc. Even our handwriting has taken a tumble. Remember in class. Now make that gentle curve in the letters. I have to admit. My handwriting has always left a lot to be desired. Family and friends often say. Mike you write like a doctor. Sod amytscwiggle de do. From my med study days, I can still hand write a prescription. R/ Mist mag trisil et vellor. Nowadays doctors don't have to prescribe as such. The computer does it for them.

So. For me. When reading a members comment. I find that I have gained a new way of reading. Speed reading was once a subject. Now. Our brain automatically tunes into. Gardening. Growing/planting etc. So! all credits to our grand creator and how wonderfully we are made. Our brains takes up the subject. Spelling and grammar now become of little significance. Test it out. You pick a thread and straight way, you are in contact with the writer.

 

How's my spelling..... .
No, usually I don't have a problem, however, l do get the odd momentary loss, ( old age creeping up with me )

 

I sometimes get irritated by the spelling and grammar in some posts, but that is my irritation and shouldn't be allowed to affect other people. Generally you can understand the meaning and a glance at the keyboard sorts out many misspellings; as you can see that an adjacent letter was caught. Predictive text can be a disaster.
My spelling is worse these days, because I hand write less and my work dictates the vocabulary I use.
If you go back to the time when English began to be written down, it was written phonetically; so scribe A may well write down something different to scribe B etc. For example just look at Chaucer, in the original Middle English, or Shakespeare in the Elizabethan English of his time; the same goes for grammar. Language was a lot more fluid back then and with the growth of printing and literacy became more standardised. "Rules" of grammar and spelling were a big thing in the late 19th and early 20th century especially among academics and "educated" people. Such prescriptive attitudes have since relaxed.
Fortunately English continues to evolve, to add new words and usages with no authority attempting to impose a "straitjacket".

 

Not everybody can always see their errors of course with their postings my grand daughter is dyslexic and although now 18 years of age and a fully trained lifeguard at her local swimming pool she only managed to get through school with lots and lots of professional tuition. I can type and easily miss out words and my spelling is naturally poor.I constantly it seems, to be correcting my posts.

 

I spend half of my life saying sorry..sometimes we just talk about how sorry we are...so so sorry

 

I have a couple of times... as a joke and alter Victoria's hot weather once..guilty to the gallows ..take her down

 

that's 3 times already....

 

@Selleri "Einstein wasn't that good at arithmetic either"
.. His wife did it for him lol.
That's a new one on me, you can learn all sorts on this forum. I'm a top notch chef by the way even though Mrs J.R does it all for me

 

As a theoretical physicist you don't need to be good at mathematics or arithmetic; you just need to be able to imagine a situation and work it through. Most of Einstein's work began as thought experiments.