Txt speak, when typing on a regular computer keyboard, is just pure laziness.
Other words people often get mixed up (not that I'm bothered):
their - there
to - too
of - off
Join the most popular community of UK swingers now
Login
Is grammar important in the forums?
Quote by Vix
Totally and utterly agree. Obviously, there are people who do have a genuine problem (but we love her none the less for it ;))
We do, & I'd love to meet her one day.
Quote by Vix
but I find the term 'dyslexic' being used more and more by people who are NOT. They just don't bother.
I certainly get the impression from some posts that the poster just can't be bothered, & that does irritate me. I cannot take seriously what such people say sometimes.
I am guilty as charged your honour.
I tend to judge my grammer and spelling, use of text speak etc by the lenth of the post I am sending. As a male I easily get sidetracked whilst reading a long post. I therefore gear my posts to how long they are. The longer they are the more text speak etc I include.
I take the points above and will now be known as the "boring poster"
:lol: :lol: :twisted:Taff666 :twisted:
Anything goes if it gets a message over,something of a personality or a train of thought - you couldn't get two more different styles than Judy TV and the funk but both convey something of themselves and their ideas.
My most made mistake with my naff typing skills is spelling People Peopel!Do it EVERY time - correct it if I remember to!
My most made mistake with my naff typing skills is spelling People Peopel!Do it EVERY time - correct it if I remember to!
Quote by Mister_Discreet
I'm not sure that grammar is the real issue here.
For me, it's the thought put into a post that counts. I'm only annoyed by bad grammar, text-speak or bad spelling if it's clearly symptomatic of laziness, an 'oh, that'll do' attitude to taking part in the discussion.
It's usually quite easy to spot posts where errors are present, but they are genuine unintentional mistakes, and the content is still thoughtful and interesting. We all make mistakes from time to time, especially in the heat of discussions, and sometimes it's more important to strike while the iron is hot rather than go and look up the spelling of a long word or two!
Throwing in my two pennies worth I think Mr Discreet has hit the nail on the head here. It all comes down to if the person is trying to make a good impression. Many is the time I have read through somthing I just posted and had to edit it, as it sounds odd, or stupid. Sometimes we pouring our souls out into a post and things go a little ary on the spelling or grammer front during the initial type up.
At the end of the day though we are putting somthing into the post, bad grammer, bad spelling, text speak are all signs of some lack of thought, but not in themselves the killer. A post with no content as well is what is going to give leave a bad impression, at least for me.
If the post is comical, a quick witty reply then miskeys I think are part of the price for speed. Also we are not all at our best here, often posting late at night after working all day, mistakes will happen. What matters is we care, and it is obvious that we are trying to be easy to understand. Like presents, it is the thought that counts.
I won't comment on Grammar as used on SH, other than to say that I too deplore 'textspeak'. However, if you have any doubts about the point, purpose and rationale for Grammar I suggest you read some of the top American authors. Cormac McCarthy would be a good start: I LOVE his books (the film version of 'All The Pretty Horses ' was on TV the other night) but they are HARD WORK. There is no punctuation of any kind and it is ,well, confusing to say the least. Also, read 'Eats Shoots and Leaves' by Lynn Truss; very good book.
Sexpert
I don`t have a problem with grammatical errors as there isn`t a grammar checker around ...is there? (I bet there`s a grammatical error in here somewhere! One thing that always makes me laugh is when somebody pedantically points out a grammatical error only to find, normally too late that their post contained a spelling or grammatical error)
The content and spirit of a post is SURELY the most important thing BUT some of the examples given in this thread are surely an indication of the spirit intended and the attention they deserve?
Textspeak I fear is the way things are going. There are many words today which are relative newcomers existing under the name of convenience (all apostrophied words such as isn`t, can`t...also telly, car,moby, brekkie(sp?), brb,fwiw,rtfpmsl , nite) Granted many of these examples would not be used in a formal letter or email. Or would they? In a few years time maybe?
Personally I think it`s a dumbing down of a colourful, cosmopolitan language. However I reluctantly agree that it makes far more practical sense to spell a word phonetically. Also the inclusion of "hiphop" speak such as "DA" Are these not valid additions to an ever changing language though? 
Who are we to argue?
The content and spirit of a post is SURELY the most important thing BUT some of the examples given in this thread are surely an indication of the spirit intended and the attention they deserve?
Textspeak I fear is the way things are going. There are many words today which are relative newcomers existing under the name of convenience (all apostrophied words such as isn`t, can`t...also telly, car,moby, brekkie(sp?), brb,fwiw,rtfpmsl , nite) Granted many of these examples would not be used in a formal letter or email. Or would they? In a few years time maybe?
Personally I think it`s a dumbing down of a colourful, cosmopolitan language. However I reluctantly agree that it makes far more practical sense to spell a word phonetically. Also the inclusion of "hiphop" speak such as "DA"
Are these not valid additions to an ever changing language though? Who are we to argue? I sometimes use the wrong words, and I sometimes put the apostrophe where it shouldn't be, "Eats Shoots and Leaves" is trying to put me right. However, if you see me do it I have balls-ed up, I really try not to. I take the trouble to read the post before I send it, I use an on-line spell checker, and I do think it's important.
It's important because the entire meaning of what we write can be changed by word order or punctuation. It doesn't happen when we speak these things because context, expression, and hand movements all help to make things clear, but here we only have the written word, so lets use it.
As a warning that using a spell checker is not the answer to properly proof reading the things we write I commend the following poem -
Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.
Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.
Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My spell-check tolled me sew.
*sauce unknown
It's important because the entire meaning of what we write can be changed by word order or punctuation. It doesn't happen when we speak these things because context, expression, and hand movements all help to make things clear, but here we only have the written word, so lets use it.
As a warning that using a spell checker is not the answer to properly proof reading the things we write I commend the following poem -
Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.
Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.
Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My spell-check tolled me sew.
*sauce unknown
Sex God
The problem with poor grammar is it can result in a sentence having more than one meaning. For example, without proper attention, the child's behaviour becomes unpredictable. What did I just say? Is it the child or his behaviour which requires attention? I don't know and neither do you because the grammar is ambiguous. In normal face to face conversation, precise grammar is usually not necessary because the non-verbal forms of communication can compensate, but good writing is without the luxury of laziness. When all you have are words, they have to be the right ones and they have to be in the right order if you want to be sure of being understood.
I think casual writing such as what you're reading now can get by without being too precise. We're not going to kill someone for the lack of a semicolon (The command "Execute not pardon" will have two very different effects on the prisoner depending on how you punctuate it!)
Spelling mistakes can also change the meaning of a sentence, but the intended meaning can usually be inferred by context. (Unfortunately for readers of the SH forums, a lot of the poor spellers can't manage a complete sentence so there is no context.)
With a bit of effort on the part of the reader, which frankly I resent, the meaning of a badly written forum post can usually be worked out. I have more difficulty trying to glean the intentions of those with crap vocabulary than those whose grammar or spelling is poor. Recently in the forum, someone asked a question which I thought was too subjective for a definitive answer and I said so. Someone who thought they knew what subjective means asked if I meant ambiguous. When people don't know the meaning of the words they're using, it doesn't matter how good or bad their grammar is; they will always talk shit.
I think casual writing such as what you're reading now can get by without being too precise. We're not going to kill someone for the lack of a semicolon (The command "Execute not pardon" will have two very different effects on the prisoner depending on how you punctuate it!)
Spelling mistakes can also change the meaning of a sentence, but the intended meaning can usually be inferred by context. (Unfortunately for readers of the SH forums, a lot of the poor spellers can't manage a complete sentence so there is no context.
)With a bit of effort on the part of the reader, which frankly I resent, the meaning of a badly written forum post can usually be worked out. I have more difficulty trying to glean the intentions of those with crap vocabulary than those whose grammar or spelling is poor. Recently in the forum, someone asked a question which I thought was too subjective for a definitive answer and I said so. Someone who thought they knew what subjective means asked if I meant ambiguous. When people don't know the meaning of the words they're using, it doesn't matter how good or bad their grammar is; they will always talk shit.
