reely bad spelling

Plan_for_Chaos

Azari wrote: »

I tend to agree.

For words like 'typos' and 'photos' it's discretionary. For words such as 'hes' (he is) and 'theres' (there is ) it's mandatory (as far as any rule can be considered mandatory when there is no controlling authority).

Now who would have thought a disagreement about grammar on an online forum could be settled with both parties conceding a little. I always have found it bizarre that spelling and grammar can be such a contentious subject.

giantmutantbroccoli

Intelligent people understand the importance of clear communication and will always strive to communicate as clearly as they can.

I don't think that is strictly true, Azari. I'm not saying that intelligent people don't try hard to make themselves understood, but even when they do try, mistakes, misunderstandings and learning disabilities can and do still happen. A friend of mine has dyslexia and her spelling is attrocious - I might not be the best judge of intelligence, but she does have a combined BSc in Physics and French and is currently doing a PhD in robotics. I once wrote a detailed essay on transgene delivery vectors in genetic engineering where every single sentence used a semi-colon. I'm still not sure how I managed that one! My point is that you really can't judge someone's overall intelligence on their ability to spell or punctuate. The only bad spelling I really blame people for is txtspk, but I wouldn't call the people who use it stupid, just rude.

Disabilities and temporary brain-farts aside, there's no shortage of intelligent people who are terrible communicators. Try reading a scientific paper sometime - some of them read like they've forgotten what language is for! "Well I have this great theory I'd like to share with you, but first let me create fifty-odd different acronyms that you will have to remember throughout this entire 50-page document. Oh and don't forget your dictionary, I've had the classical literature department do the proofreading and they're really fond of the word "heretofore"."

I'm also using Firefox with the British English dictionary, and it reverts every single time. I'm going to look into uninstalling the American English option and see if that works.

Dave_C_2

Plan_for_Chaos wrote: »

... it is especially common in numbers e.g. 20's, 30's etc. It's 20s and 30s.

Both are correct.
If you use the number as a noun then an apostrophe is inappropriate. For instance "he was born in the 40s"

If you use the number as an adjective then you need the apostrophe to show that noun belongs to the year. For instance "his music was clearly influenced by 60's rock and roll"

Dave

blossomhill_2

On the "will you boycott firms using workfair" thread just now; DOREEN HAIR FASHION SALOON.

PS

pimento wrote: »

Aside from the bad spelling/grammar, what gets my goat is the x instead of a full stop and the word 'hun' used gratuitously.What do the Germans have to do with anything?

Pimento - use of the word "hun" guarantees that the poster will get thanks

Plan_for_Chaos

Dave_C wrote: »

Both are correct.
If you use the number as a noun then an apostrophe is inappropriate. For instance "he was born in the 40s"

If you use the number as an adjective then you need the apostrophe to show that noun belongs to the year. For instance "his music was clearly influenced by 60's rock and roll"

Dave

Correct, perhaps I should have it made clear that I was referring to plural nouns, not adjectives. Incidentally I always find it to look much tidier to use letters rather than numbers in such circumstances.

Azari

Plan_for_Chaos wrote: »

Correct, perhaps I should have it made clear that I was referring to plural nouns, not adjectives. Incidentally I always find it to look much tidier to use letters rather than numbers in such circumstances.

Good point.

There are usually ways around these things if following the rules makes your text look 'untidy'.

mttylad

Dave_C wrote: »

It's really annoying when people use LOL and ROFLMAO too much, especially in lower case. Even worse when used as punctuation.

In the original netspeak:
LOL = Laugh Out Loud
ROFLMAO = Roll on the Floor Laughing My !!! Off

I doubt very much that the original poster laughed out loud 7 times and rolled on the floor twice when typing that post.

Why not use the built-in forum smileys?

Dave

That's why I did it Dave, because someone moaned about it

Dave_C_2

mttylad wrote: »

That's why I did it Dave, because someone moaned about it

Apologies, I took this the wrong way.
This is a strange variant of Poe's law

Dave

NBLondon

Azari wrote: »

I tend to agree.

For words like 'typos' and 'photos' it's discretionary.

I'd say not needed here because the letters are dropped before the pluralisation. i.e "Typos" is not itself an abbreviation of the phrase "Typographical Errors" but a plural of "Typo". (So maybe it should be "Typoes"?)

Some write CD's as a plural of CD - which requires context to separate it from something belonging to CD (a nickname?). I'd go with CDs as a plural but you need the capitals because cds might be a different abbreviation.

As for Dave_C on numbers for years - would it not be "He was born in the '40s" where the apostrophe replaces "19" (or "18")? If using words, would you consider capitalizing - "Sixties music" as a proper noun rather than an adjective? Though that can be ambiguous - "The ship sank in the Forties" could be a time or a place.

Azari

NBLondon wrote: »

I'd say not needed here because the letters are dropped before the pluralisation. i.e "Typos" is not itself an abbreviation of the phrase "Typographical Errors" but a plural of "Typo". (So maybe it should be "Typoes"?)

That really depends on whether you consider 'typo' a word. It certainly qualifies de facto.

So you can't really say either : "typos" or "typo's" is wrong because it depends on whether the author intended the 'typo' portion to be a word in its own right or an abbreviation.

It's one of those many cases where you're only wrong if you dogmatically insist that you're right.