The Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation Thread [Merged]

[Panthera tigris FC]

I think YT's comments "one of the things that give me the sh!ts is the use of the word criteria as a singular noun. If you want to use a word of 3 or more syllables try and get it right..Our beloved administrator committed this error in a post yesterday or today.." ,coupled with the fact that I did recently use the word criteria as he mentioned, is a fair indication. Do you agree or do you think it's a coincidence and he was referring to some other site administrator and their incorrect usage of the word?

I didn't avoid the swear filter.

Let the pedants bask in the only thread dedicated to such behaviour. ;D

As you pointed out in an earlier post it is almost inevitable that one will make a grammatical/spelling error when they are pointing out the errors of others.

All in good fun really.

 

[LeeToRainesToRoach]

This is exactly what I hate about the holier than thou grammar police on this thread. It really disappoints me that people have left this site because they were made to feel inferior when their poor grammar/spelling was highlighted. If someone feels the need to educate others they should do so in private rather than risk humiliating them by publicly pointing out their deficiencies.

I agree that it's poor form to belittle individuals over spelling/grammar on this forum, particularly if what they are trying to convey is clear enough. A mistake here or there is of course unremarkable, but when the same error crops up repeatedly, it sticks in the craw of some of us!

 

[Rosy]

All in good fun really.

Are you a teacher too?

I find it really interesting that certain teachers on here seem to delight in singling out others' errors and often humiliating them. There have been a few over the years. I can't imagine a good teacher making a public example of someone who doesn't quite grasp something. A word in quiet and a bit of support would do far more good. Then again that wouldn't help pump up their tyres of superiority I suppose.

I'm happy to sit in a corner and wear a dunce's cap. I am not happy for other people to feel they have to leave the site because their spelling and grammar aren't quite up to scratch. That's not fun at all.
Those who can, do; those who can't, teach.

 

[Rosy]

I agree that it's poor form to belittle individuals over spelling/grammar on this forum, particularly if what they are trying to convey is clear enough. A mistake here or there is of course unremarkable, but when the same error crops up repeatedly, it sticks in the craw of some of us!

I see plenty that stand out too. Loose/lose is one that always gets my attention. I have no issues with that kind of thing being discussed on here. I find it disappointing when individual culprits are singled out publicly though. If someone feels they have to educate others a PM would be far more appropriate. I've never really seen any spelling/grammar mistakes that prevent people conveying they want to say though. I'd much rather put up with errors than have people belittled.

 

[poppa x]

Starting an answer to any question with "yeah no" really annoys me.

 

[YinnarTiger]

By "and thus a pedant" are you saying ex-teachers are pedants or ex-maths teachers are pedants?

Most teachers of any discipline. I pointed out that I was a maths teacher because my students used to display a "what would you know?" attitude to any time I pointed out errors in spelling, punctuation, history etc.

I don't think I've ever corrected any one over language use in any of the discussions on this forum.

I agree that it's poor form to belittle individuals over spelling/grammar on this forum, particularly if what they are trying to convey is clear enough. A mistake here or there is of course unremarkable, but when the same error crops up repeatedly, it sticks in the craw of some of us!

Agreed.

I found this thread the other day and was amused by the lists of common mistakes made by posters. I regarded it as a fun thread. Rosy is certainly not alone in her misuse of the word crieria but yesterday's post prompted me to respond in this thread rather than the thread in which it was posted. I don't think any posts in this thread are intended to humiliate anyone, rather they are a fun way of educating people in the correct use of language.

 

[Panthera tigris FC]

I find it really interesting that certain teachers on here seem to delight in singling out others' errors and often humiliating them. There have been a few over the years. I can't imagine a good teacher making a public example of someone who doesn't quite grasp something. A word in quiet and a bit of support would do far more good. Then again that wouldn't help pump up their tyres of superiority I suppose.

I hope you aren't referring to me here. I don't recall ever correcting grammar or spelling on these forums. I agree that a good teacher doesn't humiliate their students. In fact, with a few rare exceptions that are quickly stamped out by the mods, I don't recall seeing much of this going on at all.

Those who can, do; those who can't, teach.

I'll assume that was tongue in cheek, but it is a saying that I detest. The ability to effectively teach in a specialised area (or at all, for that matter) isn't all that common. The difference a good teacher can make in inspiring and educating is phenomenal. They generally do it for far less money than could be made in the private sector as well.

 

[TigerForce]

Sorry, I'm an ex-teacher (of maths!), and thus a pedant, but one of the things that give me the sh!ts is the use of the word criteria as a singular noun. If you want to use a word of 3 or more syllables try and get it right.

Our beloved administrator committed this error in a post yesterday or today.

It's either "the criterion is" or "the criteria are".

I played a board game the other day and rolled 3 dices.......... ;D

 

[Ian4]

Great bump. Good thread.

"I couldn't give a rat's arse" even moreso...

prefer rats tossbag tbh. thankyou blighty.

I hope you feel better for telling people my post gave you the sh!ts.

what? our Rosy trying to escape the swear filter?

I hope you feel better for telling people my post gave you the sh!ts.

OMG, yes she did.

I hope you feel better for telling people my post gave you the sh!ts.

one more time, just to make sure. fkn hell Rosy, you really did

 

[Total Tiger]

 

[mld]

*smile* is what the swear filter gives when you type *smile*.

 

[TigerForce]

sh!ts is what the swear filter gives when you type sh!ts.

even when you type sh!ts with a true exclamation mark.

 

[Ian4]

sh!ts is what the swear filter gives when you type sh!ts.

really? i always type that word with the !!! just to avoid the swear filter. i thought all swear words get replaced with "smile"

 

[LeeToRainesToRoach]

really? i always type that word with the !!! just to avoid the swear filter. i thought all swear words get replaced with "smile"

Only the bad ones.

test: *smile*

 

[TigerForce]

really? i always type that word with the !!! just to avoid the swear filter. i thought all swear words get replaced with "smile"

test: B!n. ;D

 

[Rosy]

what? our Rosy trying to escape the swear filter?

OMG, yes she did.

one more time, just to make sure. fkn hell Rosy, you really did

really? i always type that word with the !!! just to avoid the swear filter. i thought all swear words get replaced with "smile"

I didn't avoid the swear filter and we all know what thought thought. Thanks for the confession about avoiding the swear filter yourself though.

 

[YinnarTiger]

I played a board game the other day and rolled 3 dices.......... ;D

:hihi

 

[Rosy]

I hope you aren't referring to me here. I don't recall ever correcting grammar or spelling on these forums. I agree that a good teacher doesn't humiliate their students. In fact, with a few rare exceptions that are quickly stamped out by the mods, I don't recall seeing much of this going on at all.

I'll assume that was tongue in cheek, but it is a saying that I detest. The ability to effectively teach in a specialised area (or at all, for that matter) isn't all that common. The difference a good teacher can make in inspiring and educating is phenomenal. They generally do it for far less money than could be made in the private sector as well.

No I wasn't referring to you at all. I asked if you're a teacher tongue in cheek when you said it's all in good fun. I thought you'd said in the past that you were a scientist.

Fact is there is a history of teachers, or who claim they are teachers, on here who have singled individual posters out for their grammar and spelling. I don't judge all teachers on that like I don't think all teachers are good.

I had to contact Luther College about the behaviour on here of one of it's senior teachers and request they block access to PRE from the school. He kept joining in various names, making trouble, spamming me with messages and harassing other posters with put downs in regard to their spelling and grammar. Another teacher similar, although not from a school computer, highlighted others' shortcomings. He did so in various identities too. Another teacher decided to leave the site rather than agree to moderator requests not to highlight spelling and grammar mistakes. They had a couple of forum mates who had grammar/spelling errors in their posts. They ignored that but pointed them out in others' posts as a put down if they didn't agree with what they were posting.

Yinnar said it's fun to educate people on here. Singling someone out publicly for a grammatical error and patronisingly saying "If you want to use a word of 3 or more syllables try and get it right." is a strange way to have fun educating people.

I don't care that Yinnar chose to make an example of me. I have no perceptions of perfection in regard to my spelling and grammar but I get by ok. Some people struggle though, for various reasons, and I find it very sad that they are made to feel inferior by those who need to single them out.

I feel very strongly about that due to an incident of my own in the past. I was an immature 17yo who meant well but thankfully I was alerted to how my actions hurt another's feelings at a very low time. It's one of the very few things I'm ashamed of in my life. I don't like seeing similar behaviour happening on here and whether you've noticed it or not it does, and has, happened.

 

[TigerForce]

I had to contact Luther College about the behaviour on here of one of it's senior teachers and request they block access to PRE from the school.

Geez....a senior teacher. That is strange.

I feel very strongly about that due to an incident of my own in the past. I was an immature 17yo who meant well but thankfully I was alerted to how my actions hurt another's feelings at a very low time. It's one of the very few things I'm ashamed of in my life. I don't like seeing similar behaviour happening on here and whether you've noticed it or not it does, and has, happened.

That's interesting. Tell us more Rosy........it's a boring time of the year. We're you a wild girl? ;D

I must admit, on a forum, it doesn't really matter about the spelling errors people make as long as their reading is clear enough to understand, but in formal matters such as 'job descriptions', there definitely is a lot of hypocrisy involved especially when a recruitment consultant judges your resume and body language on whether you're good or not to be forwarded to a company interview, and yet they make basic spelling errors when writing job descriptions. I've seen plenty.

 

[Panthera tigris FC]

No I wasn't referring to you at all. I asked if you're a teacher tongue in cheek when you said it's all in good fun. I thought you'd said in the past that you were a scientist.

One can be both.

Fact is there is a history of teachers, or who claim they are teachers, on here who have singled individual posters out for their grammar and spelling. I don't judge all teachers on that like I don't think all teachers are good.

I had to contact Luther College about the behaviour on here of one of it's senior teachers and request they block access to PRE from the school. He kept joining in various names, making trouble, spamming me with messages and harassing other posters with put downs in regard to their spelling and grammar. Another teacher similar, although not from a school computer, highlighted others' shortcomings. He did so in various identities too. Another teacher decided to leave the site rather than agree to moderator requests not to highlight spelling and grammar mistakes. They had a couple of forum mates who had grammar/spelling errors in their posts. They ignored that but pointed them out in others' posts as a put down if they didn't agree with what they were posting.

Fair enough. Your website, your rules. If you don't like it you'll be banned or you can vote with your feet (keyboard?) - I can dig it. As for the other teacher that you refer to, they have a different view on the events, but my previous statement holds.

Yinnar said it's fun to educate people on here. Singling someone out publicly for a grammatical error and patronisingly saying "If you want to use a word of 3 or more syllables try and get it right." is a strange way to have fun educating people.

I don't care that Yinnar chose to make an example of me. I have no perceptions of perfection in regard to my spelling and grammar but I get by ok. Some people struggle though, for various reasons, and I find it very sad that they are made to feel inferior by those who need to single them out.

I feel very strongly about that due to an incident of my own in the past. I was an immature 17yo who meant well but thankfully I was alerted to how my actions hurt another's feelings at a very low time. It's one of the very few things I'm ashamed of in my life. I don't like seeing similar behaviour happening on here and whether you've noticed it or not it does, and has, happened.

Of course I have seen it happen. I just don't see it very often and it is dealt with swiftly by yourself or other mods. I agree that on a footy forum grammar police are unwelcome and would discourage contributions from individuals who may not have the 'perfect' grammar of others. The power of this site is the diversity of contributors and opinions.

My point was that on this particular thread there will be plenty of observations on grammatical and spelling errors. Whether individuals want to make it personal and the targets of those observations likewise is the issue. On this thread you have pointed out one of my own errors (to be fair it was in response to me pointing out another error), but I take that as all good fun. 'Tis the point really (IMO).