Poor english

[Anonymous]

Don't start me off................

'Could of' intead of 'could have'...................

'Cheap prices' and 'hot temperatures'.

'Less people' instead of 'fewer people'

'There's' instead of 'there are'

And best of all, the unnecessary apostrophe, as seen in my local petrol station: 'Petrol can's must be used' and 'Crisp's, 50p'

Don't they learn 'em nothing no more ?

Just call me Victor...........................................

Paul

and....

there or their when one means they're

or there when meaning their, and vice versa

A few other recent gems:

wright instead of right
finely instead of finally
hole rather than whole
all ways rather than always
mach when meaning match
overuseing, not overusing
'made it's own electric' rather than electricity

 

[RogerS]

..... So why do we get that feeling when our English is better than someone elses?

......

Steve.

Call it grammar? Correct spelling? Use of vocabulary? Is that too much to ask?

 

[RogerS]

The Owl and the Nightingale - for Digit

 

[Steve Maskery]

In a street in Nottingham is a restaurant sign:
The Thingie - formally known as the Whatsit"
I can't remember the actual names, but you get the idea. Presumably it is informally known as "The Ignoramus".

I once went to pub locally which had a big blackboard on the wall with the various dishes on it. I counted 7 spelling mistakes and, with as much tact as I could muster (draw your own conclusions) pointed them out to the prop.

"We've just had that done by a professional signwriter", was his reply.

In the days when I did magic, I used to carry a little trick in my pocket. It was a small cricket bat, on which I drew chalk crosses which then disappeared, jumped about and reappeared. I have bee known to use the chalk to correct apostrophes, plurals and the like.

It does grieve me to see such a poor use of a language I love, especially the deliberate misuse as in text-speak. But above all it is a matter of being understood. Full stops, commas and hyphens are there to make the text easier to read and understand.

As Lynne Truss points out, there is the world of difference between "extra marital ***" and "extra-marital ***".

I think thatpart of the problem is that people see things written incorrectly so often that many don't even know that it is wrong at all.
S

 

[Londoner100]

For many years (even at school) I was labeled as thick, it is only three years ago after a training session I was classified as dyslexic (why is that such a hard word to spell.) Now this has not given me a green light to blame everything on dyslexia as other things did not help. When I left school we had teachers strikes and no real focus on grama. Most of the people I work with are really good, whilst some are not so patient. gramma, spelling and punctuation do not mean that much to me sometimes and as for the short term memory loss .........................................sorry where was I? We have a few people at work who are fantastically talented people who really struggle to write a sentence, but its easy to get labeled as uneducated. I admire people who find works easy and can construct a sentence that makes sense straight away. On the subject of text talk ( R U OK) even I get wound up by this. It is quite funny when even my spell checker laughs at me.

all the best Ian

ps dyslixia RULES KO

 

[Digit]

The Owl and the Nightingale - for Digit

That's correct Rog, probably the earliest recorded poetry in the vernacular of the day. I can make out about one word in three, how did you do?

Roy.

 

[Anonymous]

Eye al ways troy to right prepay tho eye still youse the spelling chucker two make shore it's wright.

 

[mailee]

I agree it is not 'thick' to spell badly but I do think it is down to the education someone receives. By and large many English people are lazy when it comes to learning a language and few speak any other than English. I have met many Chinese students who do speak very good English and could put many of the English youth here to shame. So why is it that a foreigner can speak better English than a born and bred English person? Education! My sister who is much younger than me was educated in the ITA method of reading and I imagined she would not have a good grasp of the English language but luckily at senior school they educated her in the correct English and her English and grammar are very good now. Actually Steve I do remember meeting a sign writer who was a member of the Dyslexia Association and asked hm how he managed, he told me he just got his customers to write down what they wanted. :lol:

 

[Steve Maskery]

I haven't had much experience of working with people who are dyslexic, but what little I have had has led me to believe that they try harder than most to make sure that they get it as right as they can. It's laziness and apathy about the language that saddens me most, not a medical handicap.
S

 

[BradNaylor]

I have to confess to being something of a pedant when it comes to spelling and correct grammar.

I went to school in the sixties and seventies when grammar was not being taught as a discipline and 'self-expression' was all. Consequently I have absolutely no idea what a 'definite article' or a 'past participle' are.

I do however, read. If people read widely good grammar, spelling, and punctuation is absorbed into the sub-conscious and then anything that is wrong just looks wrong.

Bad use of the language comes down to either ignorance or sloppiness. Ignorance I can excuse; sloppiness and laziness however, in my opinion reflects badly on the character of the individual involved.

When I write a letter or email, make a post on a forum, or even send a text message, I take care to ensure that my spelling, punctuation, and grammar is reasonably correct. (I am taking particular care with this post! :lol: )To me it is simply a matter of good manners and personal pride.

When I see bad use of the language, I assume that that person is either ignorant or lacks manners and pride.

Cheers
Dan

 

[Digit]

I find that to be very true Dan, but reading seems to be a dying art amongst the young.
We had an advert in a shop window locally for some years. Beautiful script, gold paint, the works.

All Work Gauranteed!

And the owner of the shop never noticed either!

Roy.

 

[dennis]

As bad grammar seems to upset several members of the forum, could I suggest that posts are restricted to those who are always grammatically correct. The forum would then be down to an elite clique of masters of english, but what would happen if horror of horror one of these elite actually made a mistake would it be 3 misspellings and your out or could exceptions be made for the elite.One thing I am sure of is that there would be very few posts compared to now but they would have the satisfaction of knowing that what few posts there were at least they would be grammatically correct.I like many others on this forum have got through life perfectly well without being good at grammar,and I certainly dont intend to change to keep these few who think that they are better than others because they are good at grammar happy.

Dennis

 

[Digit]

Hang on Dennis! Nobody has suggested they believe themselves to be 'better' because they had the good fortune to have a somewhat better eduction than others.
I belong to an archaeological forum and on it is a pro archy, his posts tend to be indecipherable due to a lack of capitalisation, punctuation and poor grammar.
This devalues his field work as he is unable to disseminate his findings, and that is the sort of problem we have been talking about.

Roy.

 

[mailee]

Ha ha, I did have to laugh at that Dennis as it reminds me to check my spelling and grammar occasionally. I have a degree in English and still make mistakes. Not that my English is bad but I try to type too quickly and post without checking. I would definitely not be posting if that was the case. :roll:

 

[Jake]

I hate americanisms (except from the mouths or fingers of americans who are of course perfectly entitled to be barbaric) and txtspk, but, as far as spelling and grammar is concerned, although I prefer reading nicely honed language, I'd rather hear what people say whatever their writing style/ability.

I spend a great part of of my working day arguing and debating and finessing the use of language with all sorts of clever people - and there is no-one immune from unprecision, grammatic mistake, typlos and general fluck-upsin commucating what they mene e very now and then, no matter how superior they are (or think they are).

 

[Digit]

Very true.

Roy.

 

[Green]

so if I had a terrible childhood and was more pre-occupied with avoiding a beating and/or getting a roof over my head than attending english classes and learning perfect grammar I shouldnt be posting here?

You people

 

[Jake]

Some of you people, please. :lol:

Ignore them.

 

[MrJay]

Don't start me off................

'Could of' intead of 'could have'...................

'Cheap prices' and 'hot temperatures'.

'Less people' instead of 'fewer people'

'There's' instead of 'there are'

And best of all, the unnecessary apostrophe, as seen in my local petrol station: 'Petrol can's must be used' and 'Crisp's, 50p'

Don't they learn 'em nothing no more ?

Just call me Victor...........................................

Paul

Errant ellipses is another one.

 

[Tusses]

the world is closing in - language is getting mixed up / diluted . its changing. My Daughter doesn't get taught correct grammar in secondary school - it just seems to be the way it is !

I would like it to be the way it used to be - if it ever was ! ? !

but it isn't - so I don't fret about it.

I excelled in art science and maths - and was always useless at spelling. To me - it was illogical, (in my analytical mind) so not worth learning ! I mean - why take up memory space space with stuff that has no logic :?: