Sorry, I know I shouldn't let it get to me but...

[Muddyfox]

and also the improper use of "we was going" instead of "we were going" irritates me in much the same way.

I were going to mention this as well

Simon

 

[thomas]

Didn't want to comment on that directly to you, I'm too polite for that, lol

You should of...harhahrar, okay, joke's getting old

It's just a forum - get over it Communication is about being understood - not showing off your grasp of correct grammar.

+1

Methinks this thread shouldn't of been started in the first place...

I beat you to that type of joke

They grate with me as well BUT this is a cycling forum, not an English language exam so I ignore them.

There are also people who write almost unreadable, unpunctuated, posts. I just cringe but read them. It's a cycling forum.

+1

I think that with forums the understanding of what is meant is more important than the odd typo, spooling mistake or grammatical error. I know that I incorrectly use of/have because people have complained before....but to be completely honest, I'm not really that bothered.

Most of my posts are written at the same sort of speed that I would think. I tend to check them over, but more making sure it's understandable (and most errors gone), rather than perfect.

Yes, correct use of English is important, but it's a bit sad when someone makes a post and the only reply is that they used a word out of turn.

I took English up to A level, but I'd be lost without my spell check. I'm not dyslexic, though I thought I was until 2 years ago when the documents saying I was, actually didn't but had some other learning difficulty (who knows ....it just meant I couldn't get some free grant at uni ).

With my UNI work I'm pretty good at going through it a couple of times, or getting someone to read over it for me. I did have some work last year which there was a mistake but I still got a good 2.1 or first for the work so it didn't really matter.

 

[telesonic99]

Once in a French restaurant I asked for 'le table' instead of 'la table'. Little did I know that I was basically uttering unintelligable twattery.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

I agree with the OP. I don't mind if people genuinely have trouble spelling, but to say "it's only a forum" as an excuse for poor grammar is bad. It's rude to those reading your posts, for a start: why should I go to the trouble of deciphering someone's abysmal spelling because they're too lazy to write in proper English?

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Once in a French restaurant I asked for 'le table' instead of 'la table'. Little did I know that I was basically uttering unintelligable twattery.

 

[Debian]

As you all were then, sorry I spoke I'm sure.

 

[Bayerd]

If you want your message to get across effectively, you'll make sure that there are no errors. The 'have' and 'of' error winds me up as well, as do other basic spelling and grammatical mistakes. I always tend to think 'thick tw@t' as I'm reading it, and as a consequence, some of the message gets lost.

Many job roles ask for excellent communication as standard for very good reason....

 

[mangaman]

As you all were then, sorry I spoke I'm sure.

Hello Debian - I would recommend "The Stories Of English" - written by one of the leading linguists around, by David Crystal.

He is very interesting about the positive impact of inputs into English from outside conventional sources.

Also about hypocrisy, like the split infinitive, which has no "wrong" features in English as such - other than the fact that one person didn't like it.

Text / e-mail / forum speak / English-speaking foreigners (US and Aussie for example) and even people who have English as a 2nd language, like Scandinavians, subtly change spoken English at an incredible rate, unique to English.

No other language has the ability to evolve / form new words / new structures and that is why spoken / written English changes are so flexible.

It's why English has more words than any other language, more synonyms for words, so we can express ourselves in more subtle ways and partly explains why English as a language is taking over the world.

 

[swee'pea99]

I'm with the OP too. You shouldn't let it get to you. (No real need to apologise tho'...)

 

[MacB]

The only time it bugs me is when a post is actually hard to understand, there's been the odd one where I've given up, but this is very rare. On the other hand there are some superbly constructed posts that are still a pile of shoot

 

[Keith Oates]

I've noticed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Globalti]

Neither am I complaining about, nor do I care about typo's and speed errors.

But basic and easily correctable errors of grammar there's not really any excuse for perpetuating, on a forum or elsewhere. Don't forget there are people who mainly read forums and assume that what they see written is written in a normal and correct fashion and therefore copy it.

I'm with you all the way Debian, I also hate the misuse of "of" instead of "have". It comes from ill-educated people not realising that the abbreviation "should've" actually means "should have" not "should of".

Presumably you wrote "typo's" as a plural above in irony instead of typos?

Another one that really annoys me is the Americanism "I just got...." in place of "I've just been...." or "work just got easier" instead of "work's just become easier". And yes, another common fault is "breaks" instead of "brakes".

There's no excuse for it; it's just sloppiness. It isn't contributing to an evolution of the English language, it's contributing to a degradation of one of the world's best languages, as spoken and learned by people all over the world. We should be setting an example, not murdering the language.

 

[Slowgrind]

I found that wearing looser underwear solved this problem!

 

[MacB]

I found that wearing looser underwear solved this problem!

I tried that but no joy, I eventually realised the only cure for excessive anal retention was to realise it doesn't matter and lighten up.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

I eventually realised the only cure for excessive anal retention was to realise it doesn't matter and lighten up.

When do you start?