• 🇳🇿 🇲🇲 🇯🇵 🇨🇳 🇦🇺 🇦🇶 🇮🇳
    Australian & Asian
    Drug Discussion

    Welcome Guest!
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
  • AADD Moderators: swilow | Vagabond696

When is poor spelling/grammar ok? Discuss literacy...

I'm entering in quite late into this post having read just the first few and nothing more recent ...

Poor spelling and poor grammar is never ok.
 
lostpunk5545 said:
^ No, but the question is kind of annoying.

I realise you were trying to say I instead of in, but it required extra effort on my behalf to decode that, that wouldn't have been required had you checked it previous to pressing submit :)
Click to expand...

That was a typo not a spelling mistake obviously (i would hope so anyway)

ironic none the less =D hehe

moebro - yeah yeah yeah

i'm outta this thread, it just shits me...
 
magpi said:
we also now accept the american consept of spelling as aposed to the correct english spelling
Click to expand...

NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!

!!!!!!

I'll kill the whole 293,655,404 of you before you indoctrinate me with your dumbed down phonetic spelling.

Fuckers...
 
I like to spot spelling mistakes. I like to muse on alternate words to be in place of said spelling error. It's not important, it's just something I like to do. If spelling isn't your bag - well, that's your choice. If you want to look at it as the beginning of the end of intelligence - that's your choice as well.

In academic areas, school/university/career progression, spelling and grammar are critically important. But if you're in that position, you probably already know that.

The internet? SMS? Live and let live in this case :)
26.gif
 
SMS:

Hey M8 watcha doin l8ter on we shld get 2gef4 for sum beerz =)

NE146T9

................................
 
I still prefer to use normal language (read: spelling) and grammar when SMS'ing or posting ... I just found that it is nice to be able to read it without having to do any deciphering or exerting too much energy.
 
Literacy

Hi,

Having to proof read a lot of documentation, I'm surprised at the poor level of literacy (spelling/grammar/tense) that 'we' have in general. Now, i'm no English major - my literacy, I would say is below par. On the Internet, I simply write what comes in to my head. If I'm lucky, I'll give it a quick proof read - nothing serious. If I write something on paper, I try and make sure it's at least readable! ;)

Now, considering my poor literacy, I take a light view on this… What I do find amazing though, is that some people make really simple mistakes - There/Their/They’re – Simple stuff. These mistakes are being made by professionals - people who are in positions of power who should know better!

Do you think our education system is more concerned with 'passing exams' that teaching students the basics?

Do you think people are lazy? Do you think in general, we just don't care?. Is it due to the 'out of sight out of mind' mindset....?

What are your feelings on literacy? Is it something we really need?

F

PS Sorry for any grammar mistakes;)
 
ah...

someone else who shares my hate of bad grammar!!

my uni degree was very focussed on the use of the english language, so i'm pretty picky on how people use it..

i don't mind the occasional faux pas (or, as the english call it) fuck up, with something if you are writing online or to friends..

but if you are sending an email of importance, or writing something that other people can read, for gods sake proof read it...

spell check covers your ass for spelling... its doesn't stop you from looking like a total fuckwit otherwise...
 
During my driving test yesterday, the tester was telling me that his wife, who is a teacher aide for a primary school, was teaching 12 year olds who read at a grade 3 level. These children are going to HIGH SCHOOL next year, and they read at the level of an 8 year old. What the fuck is going on?

One thing i will always thank my parents for is instilling in me, a love of books and reading, which is still with me, to this day. It has actually become a running joke in my household. My husband knows when my payday rolls around, because I come home with a few books.

Friskk, i don't know the answers... but i have some questions of my own ;)...

What do you think is the reason for the literacy problems in primary schools? Are the teachers doing their best, but the parents aren't doing their part? Are the teachers fighting an uphill battle? Have the teachers stopped caring? Has the level of education dropped? Noone in my grade 7 class (last year of primary school in QLD) couldn't read at, at least, their age level. Most of us were reading books that kids were reading in high school.

What is going on? I don't know, but something has definitely gone wrong. :| We're going to end up with a generation of morons, and they'll be running the country.
 
When I attended primary school, the Queensland government placed greater importance on spelling than on grammar. Thus, in my final year of High School, we had to attend basic grammar workshops in hopes to get us ready for QCS. I’m still quite hopeless with my basic grammatical techniques though.

I think spelling/grammar etc is best known when practiced, especially through activities such as reading. With how big class sizes are becoming at the present time, even in primary school, there is less one on one teaching time available at school. I have noticed that there is 'reading time', in which the kids pick a book and read independently, and only ask for help if they don't think they can pronounce a word - this during the initial stages of their intellectual development.

When children are learning to read, leaving it up to independant learning time (as done) in my opinion is quite stupid because some kids may have no idea what they are doing and are not able to seek adequate help. More pressure is being placed on the parents to teach their child how to read… but what if they work late nights etc? Hopefully today the curriculum focuses on basic literary techniques.
 
I do Professional Writing as part of my Arts degree, and it amazes me that I still have so much to learn about the English language. I consider myself to be fairly articulate and savvy in the ways of writing, but it is so much more complex than I was lead to believe!

Now, what this makes me think is that there's a line you have to draw between "being lazy" and "language evolving". I wonder if, in the 1600s, the grasp of "language" as a concept was firm enough to understand that it was changing, and therefore to stop it from changing. We are all soooo knowledgable now that instead of embracing changes in language, we shoot people down for making mistakes.

I'm completely tight-arsed when it comes to spelling, but much more lenient about grammar than I was before I did this subject. There's a difference between being articulate and being completely over the top. I feel that some of the rules of English are only there because they were before, not because they are sensical or necessary.
 
I honestly don't remember being taught grammar in school, or even being reminded about the importance of it before important assignments, exams, CATs etc. I learnt more about the formal rules of writing in uni than I did in high school - before nearly every assignment we had to hand in we'd get a little lecture on correct spelling and grammar, which I assume means that there are tons of people at university level that still don't understand it.

I think a lot of people just don't care about it, to be honest. The number of resumes I've seen at work where people fuck up the simplest things is astounding. I actually proof-read a friend's resume a couple of years ago and when I pointed out a mistake he just shrugged it off as irrelevant - his experience and education is more important, right? I told him that at my old job, resumes with poor spelling and grammar went straight in the bin.

Obviously there's heaps of people that have genuine difficulties with spelling and grammar, but I think there's also a lot of well educated, intelligent people that just don't see it as particularly important.
 
samadhi said:
What is going on? I don't know, but something has definitely gone wrong. :| We're going to end up with a generation of morons, and they'll be running the country.
Click to expand...
I'm not picking on you samadhi, but I really think this attitude in general is offensive. Literacy is important for communication purposes, but it isn't necessarily a reflection on anybody's overall intelligence. My brother's spelling and grammar are shite, but he's really talented with mechanics and electronics (and handyman stuff generally). He never completed high school, so it's a pretty good testament to his ability to utilise logic and retain knowledge. Similarly, I grew up with a guy who can barely read or write at all, but he taught himself to play more than one musical instrument by ear (he can't read sheet music), and he was good enough to have made a career out of it for years...again, I think it's a sign of intelligence that he did this without even a high school education, let alone anything higher.

Then there's dyslexia...I read about a guy in the US who was a high school teacher for years before anybody found out he couldn't read because he was dyslexic. He knew everything he needed to be able to teach, and he was cluey enough to have pulled it off without anybody knowing for YEARS...that's not stupidity.

The point is, intelligence is not something which can be measured by one yardstick. There are different types of intelligence, and different applications for intelligence. I think it's insulting, insensitive and elitist to tell someone they're a moron because they're not skilled at something which honestly isn't that high on the table of survival skills.

Anyways, them's my $0.02 on the issue...
 
^understood Raz. That last statement made me sound like a pompous arsehole. I should have explained myself. Actually I shouldn't have sounded like a pompous arsehole. :\

The language used was over the top, it was said out of frustration. Having said that, though, i look at someone like George W Bush, who can't seem to form a complete sentence, and is president of the USA. That's fucked. My concern is that we're going to have so many kids that can't read and write at an acceptable level, we're going to have someone like that as Prime Minister.

Sorry if i caused offense, i certainly didn't mean it. I do think it is a concern, though, that we could potentially end up with a generation of adults, who, in falling through the cracks of the education system, can't read & write at a functional level. Even if you're brothers spelling and grammar are shit, i'm sure he can read & write functionally. These kids are 12 years old, and can only read at a 7 or 8 year old level and are about to enter high school. What hope in hell have they got, considering the overpopulation of highschools and the increasingly neglectful atmosphere of classrooms?

I do know that intelligence isn't measured by one yardstick. I have quite a few friends who didn't complete high school, and have never gone to uni (I began a course in uni but didn't complete it), and these people are really smart. They build houses, they, like your brother, are great with electronics and the like. That's not my issue at all. I totally recognise that intelligence isn't purely measured by whether someone attended university or hell, how many times someone has read the complete works of Shakespeare. I actually scoff at that notion. I will, however stand by my opinion that, it is important to be able to read and write at a functional level.

My nephew is dyslexic. He was lucky that he attends a school that is small enough to provide relatively pesonalised, one on one education. The teachers picked up on his reading difficulties and he's being treated now. What frustrates the fuck out of me is that such a large number of kids are falling through the cracks. Overpopulation of schools is a major cause of this (hell, even at my high school - 11 years ago - we had 40+ kids in some classes) as well as the extra stress being placed on teachers regarding discipline of students. Teachers can't discipline at all nowadays, for fear of being sued by opportunistic parents, so they tend to stop caring. When the teachers stop caring, the kids stop caring...

Again, i apologise to you for causing offense, but i can guarantee that i wasn't speaking about people with learning difficulties, people that may not have the best spelling and grammar or people that didn't finish school. If i was, then i'd be dissing my nephew, husband and numerous friends. :(
 
Last edited:
Friskk, I think that in the cases of they're/their/there - well, actually i don't know, i only speak for myself, but i know i use the wrong one online and stuff a fair bit, even though i'm well versed in the english language and certainly KNOW which one to use, i just...i don't know....type the wrong one i guess?

Though I am totally in agreeance with you and muzby (and any others, can't remember) that in official/professional documents, bad spelling and grammar is absolutely unacceptable. I am amazed (working in PR/marketing) looking over heaps of brochures, flyers and other promo material for companies how many spelling mistakes are contained in them - these are documents which have been triple checked by both the company and the graphic designer before going to print 8) and will now be "selling" their product to the rest of the world????

I find that totally poor.

Online for some reason I find the worst....I think because in my head I kind of say it out loud...so I think that's why my usage of homonyms? or is it homophones? the ones that sound the same spelt differently (one/won their/there/they're)....for some reason I just make heaps of mistakes with them online.

I think my english usage is on the whole, of a pretty high standard, and i do think that literacy is important for a number of areas of society. I'm totally with raz that it's not the be all and end all indicator of intelligence, but I don't think you can argue with the fact that for many jobs/functions of society, it is absolutely necessary.
 
^ There's a big difference between writing what you're saying in your head and constructing a piece of academic writing. I'm as anally retentive as they come with regards to grammar, but I still type "your" instead of "you're" from time to time, if I'm trying to get something down quickly.

A truer test of comprehension probably comes from proof-reading and editing what you and other people have written.
 
my english is weak - the degree of focus given to the subject in schools is a joke imo.

being unable to properly communicate is like having bad vision, sure it might "work" but you're missing out on a lot.

personally, i think reading is one of the best ways to learn - it got me a long way at a young age.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top