Internet Spelling Errors.....

[skinsguy]

Of course, I was inspired by one of the closed threads in the main forum. There are a couple of spelling errors that I see on the internet all the time - even by those you would assume would know better (columnists and alike.) The two that really annoy me the most are "loose" when one should use "lose" and "rediculous" when the correct spelling is "ridiculous".

I always assumed everybody had that squiggly red line underlining a misspelled word, but maybe not? :confused: Don't get me wrong though. I've accidentally used the wrong form of a word - like right instead of write. Nobody is perfect, but still, it seems like a few of these words are being adopted as being used correctly when that is not the case at all.

Which words have you guys noticed being used incorrectly on a regular basis?

[mredskins]

Paging Firstdown to this thread, STAT!

[MTK]

I'm really convinced our schools failed us when it comes to spelling and grammar. That and people are just lazy.

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by Mattyk

I'm really convinced our schools failed us when it comes to spelling and grammar. That and people are just lazy.

To this point, I'm pretty tough on it in the workplace. I have one young analyst who is very strong analytically but a terrible speller and writer. I've told him that unless you clean that up and improve it I will never be in a position to promote you, no matter how good you are at the analysis. He's young and he's got time, but it has to be taken seriously because if you can't intelligently communicate your thoughts then all the quality thought and analysis in the world doesn't get anybody anywhere.

It's a fundamental skill, if you don't have it you're nearly worthless in a corporate work environment.

[mredskins]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

To this point, I'm pretty tough on it in the workplace. I have one young analyst who is very strong analytically but a terrible speller and writer. I've told him that unless you clean that up and improve it I will never be in a position to promote you, no matter how good you are at the analysis. He's young and he's got time, but it has to be taken seriously because if you can't intelligently communicate your thoughts then all the quality thought and analysis in the world doesn't get anybody anywhere.

It's a fundamental skill, if you don't have it you're nearly worthless in a corporate work environment.

I hear what you are saying but there are some folks where that rule doesn't exist for them. We have two senior analysis in my office who are basically math genius. They make in the $150 - $200k range. Every cost model I make has to be blessed by them before the Army ever looks at them. With that said I am shocked whenever they spell their names correctly. They have such poor writing skills.

Any cost model or presentation they put together must be hand down and then rewritten/tweaked so that it can be read at a high level.

I have developed countless power point presentations for them so that their numbers can be understood by the customer.

It amazes me but they are so good at what they do folks turn a blind eye to their spelling/grammar.

[JoeRedskin]

I'm not lazy, I am intensity challenged.

[Alvin Walton]

One of my peers at work refuses to use the caps key in his emails.
Drives me crazy to see everything in lower case including his initials.

[ArtMonkDrillz]

Originally Posted by Alvin Walton

One of my peers at work refuses to use the caps key in his emails.
Drives me crazy to see everything in lower case including his initials.

I get copied on emails like this from a person in a very high ranking position at a pretty big national retail chain all the time and I laugh at every one of them. Either this person is just to busy to bother using the shift key or to write complete sentences or she doesn't have a great grasp on the English language. In any case, I find it kind of amazing.

[skinsguy]

I've noticed that the higher up in the food chain one may be in my agency, the less computer skills present.

Honestly though, if someone posts on a forum board and their post has a lot of misspelling, such as accidentally getting a couple of letters switched, that doesn't really bother me. I just chalk that up as wanting to post something as quickly as possible.

But, it's those that seem to spell everything else correctly and use pretty decent grammar, but always seem to insist on misspelling ridiculous and lose. That makes me think they really do believe those words are rediculous and loose. I have actually witnessed school teachers on other forums use the same spelling.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by Alvin Walton

One of my peers at work refuses to use the caps key in his emails.
Drives me crazy to see everything in lower case including his initials.

Ugh, I see crap like that all the time at work. Just amazes me. A message board is one thing, but in a professional environment? No excuses.

[firstdown]

My speeling sucks and I really had no clue how bad it was until I started posting on the internet. My mother would flip if she knew how bad I am with spelling and grammar. My mother is like one class from having a DR. degree in both. Not sure how I got that by her all those years but some how I did. I'll say its not my teachers fault it was mine because I did not try in school and spelling and grammar did not come easy to me and it shows I did not try. Math did come easy so even though I did not care in school I'm still good in math. If I could go back in life that's one thing I would change. I had spelling check here but when my computers got fried I have not figure how to install spell check for posting.

[mlmpetert]

Originally Posted by firstdown

My speeling sucks and I really had no clue how bad it was until I started posting on the internet. My mother would flip if she knew how bad I am with spelling and grammar. My mother is like one class from having a DR. degree in both. Not sure how I got that by her all those years but some how I did. I'll say its not my teachers fault it was mine because I did not try in school and spelling and grammar did not come easy to me and it shows I did not try. Math did come easy so even though I did not care in school I'm still good in math. If I could go back in life that's one thing I would change. I had spelling check here but when my computers got fried I have not figure how to install spell check for posting.

I would highly suggest installing Chrome. Its easier to use, its faster and less clunky and best of all it has a spell checker just like if you were typing in a email or word document.

[Monkeydad]

Comprehensive Resource for Internet Spelling Errors:

http://www.thewarpath.net/members/firstdown.html

[saden1]

I am more intarested in what your trying to say. Coherent sentences are a bonus.

[mlmpetert]

Theres no spell checker in IE and all the add ons you can get straight up suck. It drives me nuts. I have to use Microsoft IE for work because of compatibility issues with certain sites i need to go to. I use Chrome at home and it has spell check and its 100% better and faster but im stuck with IE for work.

When I was in 10th grade my school tested me for spelling and I placed at a 4th grade level. My normal spelling is so bad microsoft and google spell checker cant even make a suggestion or come close to the word im looking for (several times daily). For some people spelling is not a strong point. Some people may also have dyslexia or at least a mild form of it and not know it. Poor spelling isn’t normally indicative of laziness although there are counter measures you can take.

For most of my posts that are more than 2 sentences long, I paste it in a email first for spell checking then repost it in the forum. The problem is its unrealistic to expect people to always think to do that for 1 or 2 sentences or statements, which thread titles are.

As someone who has struggled with spelling my entire life ive adapted when using IE and use certain tricks, but I still make mistakes regularly. If you want to blame someone blame Microsoft IE. They easily could implement spell checker like chrome or firefox but don’t, likely as a effort to push their Office products.