MagiStream

Bad grammar is incredibly bothersome; it sets my teeth on edge. I especially don't like it when I discover it in my textbooks...don't these people have editors? I think correct grammar is very important on the internet. Like Ice said, the only way to present yourself (unless you're in a video chat/on YouTube) is through your words, and if your comment or post is full of errors, it is difficult to a) understand your message, and b) take you seriously once your message is understood.

I think the education system has a lot to answer for; the curriculum desperately needs to be overhauled. Thanks to my love of reading I picked up a lot of the conventions and could apply them effectively, but none of my schools concerned themselves with teaching us proper grammar, spelling, or punctuation beyond the most basic of levels. It wasn't until I had to take an effective writing course for university that focused exclusively on grammar, punctuation, and spelling that I officially learned things I really should have learned in primary school. I actually knew 90% of what I was being taught, but the remaining 10% that I didn't know was just ridiculous and embarrassing.

As a sidenote, I'm not a fan of the term "grammar Nazi". I don't think wanting people to use correct grammar, spelling and punctuation is really comparable to the fascist extermination of people because of their race, religion, or disability. I think the term demonizes people who are concerned with grammar and trivializes what the Nazis did. I'm not saying that people who say "grammar Nazi" intend to trivialize Nazi war crimes or demonize the use of correct grammar...if you use it, you're usually talking about yourself, and unless you really are sympathetic to Nazism you're not going to intentionally align yourself with their ideology. But the words themselves invite both of those outcomes, and I think we should stop doing ourselves a disservice and find another term. /$0.02

Add another one to the "Proper Grammar Brigade." It really irks me when people feel that poor writing skills are excusable because "we're not in school now" and rules don't apply.
I also don't feel that dyslexia is a proper excuse for poor grammar. Poor spelling, yes, but that is not the same thing.

Princess613 wrote:I also don't feel that dyslexia is a proper excuse for poor grammar. Poor spelling, yes, but that is not the same thing.

I will have to disagree with this; dyslexia can affect your ability to use proper grammar a lot. No matter how bothersome it might be some people with dyslexia can't help themselves when it comes to not being able to use correct grammar. I know this because we have dyslexia running in my family so I can see it first hand and I have read a lot of articles about it in an attempt to understand what dyslexia is.

The newest term for written dyslexia is dysgraphia - meaning difficulty with writing.

What is dyslexia
Writing with dyslexia

Princess613 wrote:It really irks me when people feel that poor writing skills are excusable because "we're not in school now" and rules don't apply.

I have to agree on this, if you have no disability or other things that affects grammar and spelling I think using proper grammar is in its place (or at least try). Just because a person is not in school using proper grammar is still a very good idea. I try to make my posts on the internet as grammatical correct as possible, even if I fail at it sometimes but at least I try because I want to get better at English grammar.

I can't help but wonder what those people that keep saying "We're not in school now." will say once they start looking for a job if they can't use correct grammar. I've heard a lot of stories both from the newspaper and from people I know about people my age (23) writing in chat speak when applying for a job or high school kids that hand their teacher an assignment again written in chat speak with no thought on grammar at all.

I have to agree with most of the people here.
Bad grammar is sometimes hard to read through, and it's just plain annoying when you know they can (probably) type better than that.
Some people really need to go back to preschool if they really are the age they claim to be, and I've met a few people on the internet who have English as their second language who are really trying to get better.
I can honestly say that I've met 10 year old with better grammar than some college students.
That makes me sad.

I do find bad grammar to be rather bothersome, however, I do also understand the complications of typos or what have you. I'm not unintelligent, I do know my grammar rules and regulations. However, I also tend to type very quickly (upwards of 300 keystrokes a minute) and when I type that quickly into something that does not automatically regonize a grammar or spelling error, I tend to typo a lot.

I don't know. I correct papers and things for my friends and relatives, but I'm not mean about it.

I really don't honest like how it bothers some people. My grammar bothers me but only because I have been called illiterate by alot of role players and I am clearly capable of understanding what I read and type but I think that there is a bit of miss use of the word illiterate by role players. Grammar and spelling are the reason why I stay away from Semi lit and literate rps that and the fact that people don't realize we all make mistakes and that it's hard to make mistake occasionally and I am sure everyone in this thread occasionally miss spells a word.

I really admit that there's really no excuse for improper grammar or punctuation but I'm just really lazy when it comes to some things.

Of course I've seen worse I once had roleplayer type so bad in an rp that I had trouble reading their posts and everyone said my posts where easier to read even though I get incredibly lazy and don't bother to punctuate things.

I'm not going to lie I am being kind lazy at the moment.

If there was any reason for me to type properply right now I would

I mean I like being able to read my books without typos but it is funny when you find one. But my friend goes through and reads text books just find out about history and she even points out typos. She tends to send letters to the editors of the text book company.

Megatronus wrote: I am clearly capable of understanding what I read and type

therein lies the problem. When you communicate in public areas where multiple people need to understand what you are typing, it's discourteous to just let your grammar and spelling fall where it may because, as you admitted, you are too lazy to make a coherent post (this one was not representative, by the way; I could still clearly understand what you are saying without straining or struggling to figure it out and that is all that matters to me). People online generally don't have time to discern your personal communication style. What you put out needs to be readable.

Yes, we all make mistakes. Misspellings happen or you don't catch a typo or your mobile device substitutes something asinine. I look past that. If, however, what is written is an unpunctuated text wall with chat abbreviations in an odd font with weird colors, I am not going to read that post and I will probably ignore all future posts from thst person.

If there was any reason for me to type properply right now I would

Actually, it's a requirement for this forum but I didn't see anything wrong with your grammar and punctuation. It looked like you were in a bit of a rush, perhaps, but that's it.

As a mod, I have to be somewhat picky about grammar and punctuation because it impacts post quality but my yardstick is a pretty broad one: if I can read it, it's fine.

yeah i was typing on my phone and i had an appointment to go too for something. So i was little rushed. But anyway. I have to agree that people who have really bad grammar bother me unless they are like 3 years old and are insanely adorable. 3 year olds are just one of the exceptions.

If a person won't put in the effort to make a legible post, I won't put in the effort to decipher it.

If I typed up a post full of chatspeak and such, removed punctuation and capital letters, I would still be able to read it alright. I know what I mean to say, and in my mind would add in all the missing bits. This is my opinion, but I think a lot of people who type like that don't see the problem in their own posts, because they can read it fine. Face-to-face communication and written communication are much different. Misunderstandings happen easily when you can't hear the tone of someone's voice, see facial expressions and body language, or hear the pause that might indicate a comma or period.

School is meant to prepare people for "the real world"... So not being in school is no excuse for sounding like an idiot. That is how I feel. I can be lumped in with those who don't bother to read posts that look like they went through a blender before "submit" was clicked. Mistakes are expected from everyone, and forgiven (or laughed at if they're humorous typos), of course. Oh, the fond memories of humorous typos changing the whole meaning of sentences...

I don't really mind improper grammar unless it's.. like... jarring to my brain to read. Like really abrupt sentences, fragments, or bad run ons. Spelling wrong on purpose, like "aweshum", doesn't really get on my nerves unless it's used a lot, and I don't mind text speak, but in some cases, like plz, thnx, or ttyl, I just say "Is it really that hard to type it out?"