The challenge not to correct bad spelling

[WeeRussell]

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It's very rare seeing spelling gaffe's irk me as I'm not really too bothered by it. But there are two spelling things which actually make my skin crawl and I'm not sure it's something a dyslexic person would struggle with? Happy to be corrected as I just don't know.

When people spell lose as 'loose', and when people use 'should of', 'could of', and 'would of' just instantly makes me shake my head as I feel that both of these are just lazy and, to me, they are so painfully obviously wrong that there's no excuse for it. But then on the flip side I'm sure I have made plenty of daft spelling and grammar mistakes throughout my life. I cruised through school as I hated it, so there will no doubt be massive gaps in my education/basic knowledge that I'm just completely oblivous to.

I think the “should of” for some comes from the way we pronounce should’ve? Doesn’t make it correct but I don’t think it’s a necessarily lazy one, or any more obvious than other spelling/grammatical errors that people make every day.

[nonshinyfinish]

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I am impatient with poor spelling also, but I think autocorrect has a lot to answer for. That and not reviewing what has been typed before hitting send. I used to work with a chap that always ended his messages with his name “C Lawless”
Autocorrect always changed his signature to Clueless, which on reflection wasn’t far from the truth.

The bit in bold is the major problem, rather than autocorrect. Of course autocorrect will get some things wrong, but if people don't glance back over a message before sending it, I'd stake my mortgage that there would be far more errors with autocorrect turned off.

(For the record, my favourite ever autocorrect fail was someone's attempt to type "we're reliant on hourly buses" converted to "we're reliant on your nudes".)

[J-C]

Fat finger small keypad syndrome

[Jim44]

I’ve got to admit to a feeling of smug amusement when I see a spelling or grammar pedant pointing out someone’s mistake or typo with a similar or bigger one of their own. Should that be ‘his or her’ own? Oh, the pitfalls of the English language.

[Hibbyradge]

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I’ve got to admit to a feeling of smug amusement when I see a spelling or grammar pedant pointing out someone’s mistake or typo with a similar or bigger one of their own. Should that be ‘his or her’ own? Oh, the pitfalls of the English language.

Their is perfect.

It is amusing when that happens and embarrassing for the pedant. I should know. It's also a remarkably common occurrence.

[matty_f]

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I think Apple have a lot to answer for with the rogue apostrophes.

Quite often, perfectly sensibly written words will be autocorrected into something nonsensical and it’s not easy to catch them all.

The autocorrect on iPhone, which despite having it disabled to the best of my knowledge, is an absolute nightmare for just outright changing words in a sentence, but it does it retrospectively, so you can type it and move on with it looking fine, then it's AI decides that you've used the wrong word so changes it.

It's infuriating.

[Pedantic_Hibee]

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The autocorrect on iPhone, which despite having it disabled to the best of my knowledge, is an absolute nightmare for just outright changing words in a sentence, but it does it retrospectively, so you can type it and move on with it looking fine, then it's AI decides that you've used the wrong word so changes it.

It's infuriating.

I’ve been on the receiving end of so very many of your autocorrects, some with hilarious consequences 😂😂😂

[Silky]

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Does anyone else wince when they see something spelt wrongly and then spend the next minute or so arguing internally about whether to post a correction?

I've managed to resist doing so up till now although I did PM someone to point out a mistake they frequently made so as to avoid them any public embarrassment. I think it was well enough received but I doubt I'll repeat it.

I know it doesn't really matter if the poster's meaning is clear, but I do find it quite uncomfortable.

I do. A lot. I have an English degree and the situation you describe is how I feel often. It's funny, I tend not to be too het up about it on the Internet but at work it gets on my nerves, even in emails and Teams chats. I don't think I'd message someone on social media, or here for example, about a mistake. I think I would just let it fester with me!

[RyeSloan]

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I do. A lot. I have an English degree and the situation you describe is how I feel often. It's funny, I tend not to be too het up about it on the Internet but at work it gets on my nerves, even in emails and Teams chats. I don't think I'd message someone on social media, or here for example, about a mistake. I think I would just let it fester with me!

Yeah the setting is important.

Posts on here and WhatsApp or whatever don’t really matter.

At work though there should at least be an attempt to check the email before sending!

And while I get dyslexic point there is no getting away from the fact that someone consistently misspelling stuff at work can create a poor perception of themselves without them even realising.

Loved the Clueless anecdote and as for what irks me is the There / Their and To / Too mistakes that people make all the time.

[pollution]

A badly placed apostrophe in a headline gives me a severe headache. Honestly.

[heretoday]

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I do. A lot. I have an English degree and the situation you describe is how I feel often. It's funny, I tend not to be too het up about it on the Internet but at work it gets on my nerves, even in emails and Teams chats. I don't think I'd message someone on social media, or here for example, about a mistake. I think I would just let it fester with me!

I'm afraid the ship of good English grammar left harbour a long time ago - never to return. I've managed to stop being too annoyed by the whole business but rather to persuade myself that language evolves today as it always has, only faster thanks to internet trends.

The kids saying "like" every second word and "so" at the start of spoken responses will no doubt acquire other habits in time depending on whose influence they fall under.

How would Jane Austen feel about this? "Hey, I'm good! Take care!"

[OldEast]

"So" or "Well" at the start of a sentence or spoken answer bug me. I failed every class test at school and started work at 15 but I still managed a grasp of written English. I've said on here before, what gives me the greatest pain is the continued misspelling of Hibs players names. Some come along with their usual offended white knight attitude and say the poster could be dyslexic. Bollocks! When every other word in the post is correctly spelt it's sheer laziness. I just can't understand it. I'd be embarrassed for one and secondly if I wasn't sure I'd look it up online.

[Hibbyradge]

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I've said on here before, what gives me the greatest pain is the continued misspelling of Hibs players names.

Don't get me started on pronunciation!

[Edina Street]

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Does anyone else wince when they see something spelt wrongly and then spend the next minute or so arguing internally about whether to post a correction?

I've managed to resist doing so up till now although I did PM someone to point out a mistake they frequently made so as to avoid them any public embarrassment. I think it was well enough received but I doubt I'll repeat it.

I know it doesn't really matter if the poster's meaning is clear, but I do find it quite uncomfortable.

By all means point it out politely, but please don't make a grammar error or typo yourself whilst doing it. But I am all for pointing out each other's grammatical mistakes. In fact, I would say that years of having my bad grammar pointed out by other internet users has resulted in both my grammar and dialect changing a little. Hopefully for the better.

Please feel free to point out any grammatical errors you think I may have made in this post. And no need to do it by personal message. You have my permission to do it in front of everyone.

I personally would not point out another user's grammatical mistakes however, as I do not feel that my own grammar is good enough, and I am far from a bilingualist or multilingualist.

[Hibbyradge]

This popped up on my phone (But Gods instead of God's or Gods'???);

If you cannot resist the the urge to let someone know they JUST USED A DOUBLE NEGATIVE FOR GODS SAKE, there is actually a reason.

OK, sorry. Back to the point…

The Urge To Correct Others Grammar is Actually A Form of OCD

The Urge To Correct Grammar is Actually A Form of OCD
Apparently, this is a form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) called Grammatical Pedantry Syndrome. In fact, there is actually a gene that you were born with causing this.

“Now there’s evidence that a variant of that gene, FOXP2.1, may actually cause us to obsessively correct other people’s grammar, or should that be, to correct their grammar obsessively?“

If you have time, you might find this interesting https://blogs.illinois.edu/view/25/76120