Do spelling and grammar mistakes bother anyone?

[me_in_japan]

Or is it just me? I was sent a link to a kickstarter today by a friend of mine, and while the project itself seems reasonable enough, the description of the project goals was so riddled with spelling and grammar errors I just had to give up and close the window. I dunno, maybe it's just me - I'm an English teacher in a JHS/HS here in Japan and it's my job (amongst other things) to spot spelling and grammar errors. I do it so often I don't even have to think about it anymore. The thing is though; if a 12 year old girl from a country where the native language looks like this: こんにちは。これは日本語です。can learn to write correctly spelt and punctuated English, using (ohmegawd!) cursive letters, why is it that adult native speakers of the language seem to be incapable of correctly using their/they're/there own language? I'm not bothered about stuff like forum posts, where a certain amount of minor mistakes are fine if that's what helps folks chat naturally, but in correspondence with customers, either via email or on sites like kickstarter, if someone can't be arsed spellchecking their own material then I can't help but suspect their business will suffer from the same slapdash approach.

What say you all? Do spelling and grammar matter, or am I being a boring old fart of an English teacher?

Ps: this rant of mine applies only to native speakers. Anybody who is even trying to learn a foreign language gets nothing but respect from me. Mistakes a-go-go is fine and dandy. Likewise if you have dyslexia or some similar issue that prevents you from spelling things correctly, all fine and good.

*edit* hmmm. Some of that Japanese up there was causing the rest of the post to not show up. The miscreant has been...dealt with.

 

[moetle]

I blame people typing like this for the last ten years: I c u, r u rdy?

It makes my brain skip a notch, and i am dyslexic

Moe

 

[QuietiManes]

It bothers me a bit. I'm not the best with spelling and grammar but I figure people should know the basics, like the difference between they're, there, and their.

It bothers me a hell of a whole lot when I see an English assignment my son is working on in grade school that the teacher just printed off some American teachers wikipedia page, so half the words are spelled wrong as far as the Canadian language goes. Worse yet, it was being marked as if "color" was the correct spelling. I f'kin' freaked right out, I tell ya what.

Best I can figure, it's a mix of reliance on spellcheckers and teachers not being paid enough (in so much that it limits who becomes a teacher and what they have available to give kids in terms of time and care). I saw a recording of a guy talking on Big Ideas, speaking about how a slight change in priorities, like paying teachers %50 more or even double (and really bumping up their training and support), would start a tide of astounding prosperity and improvements in the world.

 

[RayzrYR]

It bothers me in context.
A quick update on a personal blog/ forum post etc, sms, a quick note, I'm not bothered.
If someone is trying to sell me something, I'll care a great deal. (If you can't be bothered to spell correctly, how can what you are selling me be any good?)
I REALLY care when it is a business/professional memo or letter. I see it all the time at work, in emails, in official work memos and updates (and we receive many in my company). It makes me think that the "professionals" who work above really don't care about what they send out, so what else don't they care about? I mean, a quick spell check would pick the sort of errors I'm thinking of.
I used to care much, much more, in an everyday/ general kind of way, but think about how much the English language has changed, it is constantly evolving. I'm a fan of Shakespeare. We don't talk like that any more.

 

[laurence]

Noot oily doo speeilng msiktkaes uspet me, butt aslo granmmer misstakes anoy mi!

 

[Aliengod3]

I can excuse a 12 year old student writing in a second language, especially Japanese because the sentence structure is a bit different. Grammar and spelling errors only bother me when it involves grown adults writing in their native language who should know better. When people are 20+ years old and cannot properly distinguish between the variations of "there" and "to", it gets a little irritating.

 

[Legacy Account]

I blame English teachers

 

[PegaZus]

Only get upset in context. Kickstarter? Spell check that damn thing. Twice. A rapidly dashed comment? Not so much.

During the last two weeks of training, I've had some downtime while waiting for the rest of the class to finish their assignment, so I've gone back and spell checked my old work notes. I keep a link to a txt file via Notepad on my bottom tool bar, so I just have to click it, jot the time and type a quick note. Handy little tip there, people. Got a decades worth of work, and former coworkers know it. They call me up from time to time asking if "I remember". So, a quick search of my notes per quarter, and I can give them nearly the exact time something was created and what the name of the Excel file they're looking for is.

I digress. I've been horribly disappointed at my horrible spelling. Lots of them are just quick, so I can be forgiven. But after having to correct my "its" for the seventieth time in one note package, I'm a little miffed at myself. Its all I can do to not scream.

And yes, that was done for effect and a joke. Trying to make MiJ's eye twitch a little.

 

[TrystanGST]

As others said, how upset I get is contextual. If the poster/writer is not a native english speaker, they get some slack. If it's an informal communication, slack. If it's a published article by an english major on a major website, not so much.

 

[yxalitis]

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 chequer tolled me sew.

 

[RuneBrush]

Drives me mad too. I appreciate that not everybody can have perfect grammar or spelling but there is no excuse for being fundamentally illiterate when you're doing something online. Most browsers incorporate a spell checker now and although regional spelling variations do occur (such as some countries missing essential letters out of words ; ), 99% of something should be spelt correctly. Apostrophised words are also really easy to understand the correct application - you're (you[a]re) and your makes me twitch...

What's scary is when people don't read what they've typed because they clearly so deluded they think they don't need to!

 

[Dragonsreach]

I do have a pet "annoyance" about blocks of text without punctuation, as this makes comprehension very difficult, especially for people using English as a second language.
But I love Language, having been introduced to books and literature at an early age.
Language and by extension the written word is the greatest adaption the human race has developed.

But as defined by Me-in-Japan to see a Kickstarter project with multiple spelling and grammatical errors is an indication to me that the persons setting it up are careless and unprofessional.
Therefore even with a bargepole, I would not!


Having trawled through a great many job applications the ones that generally stand out as badly composed and spelt are the ones that get rejected.



(EDIT: I managed to type all this on a touchpad with very fat fingers so there should be no excuse for anyone to be careless).

 

[Einion]

What say you all? Do spelling and grammar matter, or am I being a boring old fart of an English teacher?

Might be before your time but we've had a few debates about this here previously.

Spelling and grammar do certainly matter in the right context; like the Kickstarter you mention (or anything business-related), it just gives a bad impression - slapdash/careless/ignorant or what have you. I don't buy the excuse that it's a big effort for some people because that's exactly what that is, an excuse, not a reason. It's a natural enough thought that if they can't take the effort to present themselves properly then can we expect similar high standards applied to production, or to other important aspects of the business like customer communication and shipping...?

The thing is though; if a 12 year old girl from a country where the native language looks like this: こんにちは。これは日本語です。can learn to write correctly spelt and punctuated English, using (ohmegawd!) cursive letters, why is it that adult native speakers of the language seem to be incapable of correctly using their/they're/there own language?

Bottom line is of course: because they don't care. It's as simple as that, when you can't make the effort to learn and remember the difference between its and it's, well, it reflects poorly on the individual but get enough of them - and there are buckets now, including far too many graduates from uni - that it begins to drag down the overall standard of the language. Although Spacemunkie's comment was at least partly in jest teachers do have to take some of the blame, although individual laziness/CBA attitudes are certainly hard to overcome.

Einion

 

[Bloodhowl]

I really hate Grammar mistakes. But she's getting on in years, so I really shouldn't get too mad. :rotfl:

 

[10 ball]

:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:

 

[uglybug]

Very funny poem yxalitis.
You should post the kickstarter link so we can determine our spelling grammar annoyance thresholds.
I have always had spelling issues, and grammar was not much better for me, but that said I take the extra time needed to go over what I write to limit my mistakes. If I were to do something important such as create a kickstarter I would be running everything through spellchecker then a grammar checker before having someone else who has the skills to proofread it for me.

I'm not sure paying teachers more would solve the problem of today's students. The #1 reason people give for becoming a teacher is to have summers off. Another thing is many teachers have their favorite subjects, my 4th grade teacher was all about math and science he hated English. We only opened our English book twice the whole year and that was because he got mad at the class, of course we closed the books an hour later because he was only punishing himself by having to teach it.

 

[KruleBear]

(EDIT: I managed to type all this on a touchpad with very fat fingers so there should be no excuse for anyone to be careless).

On this theme, is there a way to turn the auto correct off on the iPad while leaving spell check on? I get abused by Apples auto correct on a regular basis.

As others said, how upset I get is contextual. If the poster/writer is not a native english speaker, they get some slack. If it's an informal communication, slack. If it's a published article by an english major on a major website, not so much.

I agree completely. I do not get concerned with imperfect grammar, as long as it is understandable what is being communicated, but I am amazed how poorly several of my fellow engineers write up documents at work.

 

[freakinacage]

I blame English teachers

Bastards!!

I hate some mistakes, some are more forgivable. Official correspondence has to be spot on though

 

[cassar]

guilty as charged. Im not very smart but i can lift heavey weights lol

 

[Kalidane]

Grammar and spelling are very irritating within context. I think even more annoying is incorrect word selection in a business context. It reflects poorly on both the individual and organisation when external communications contain words the author does not know the meaning of.