Correcting people's grammar - acceptable?

Lily-Rose_3

LittleMax wrote: »

Maps will always show the Pacific Ocean; it is specific that will disappear from use

I no wot u mean.

Jagraf

maman wrote: »

I'm assuming that you mean the contractions rather than abbreviations.


I'm not against evolution of the language but to me that's not the same as people making sloppy errors and that being acceptable over time. That's dumbing down in my book.


I suppose I can look forward to the day when maps show the Specific Ocean, we reach the pineapple of perfection and the world's your lobster!!


Meanwhile I'll stick to my principals!:rotfl:

My mother in law missed a lot of school when she was a child due to illness. She is in her eighties and has never had the confidence to write letters or even messages in christmas cards as she thinks her spelling is poor. She gets her words muddled now saying things like 'conservatory' instead of 'conservative' etc. The fear of being corrected in social settings has greatly affected her life sadly.

She would say specific ocean, and wouldn't have a clue about homophones. But we always know what she means. Always. She's certainly not dumb and does it really matter?

In business if someone can interpret a meaning differently I understand that, in translation, it can be a problem. But otherwise, I'm not sure why it affects others. If people want to improve their grammar, great. I speak French but I don't expect everyone else to.

Lily-Rose_3

Jagraf wrote: »

My mother in law missed a lot of school when she was a child due to illness. She is in her eighties and has never had the confidence to write letters or even messages in christmas cards as she thinks her spelling is poor. She gets her words muddled now saying things like 'conservatory' instead of 'conservative' etc. The fear of being corrected in social settings has greatly affected her life sadly.

She would say specific ocean, and wouldn't have a clue about homophones. But we always know what she means. Always. She's certainly not dumb and does it really matter?

In business if someone can interpret a meaning differently I understand that, in translation, it can be a problem. But otherwise, I'm not sure why it affects others. If people want to improve their grammar, great. I speak French but I don't expect everyone else to.

Awww, your MIL sounds an utter sweetie. :j

maman

LittleMax wrote: »

Just because a change is less acceptable to you doesn't mean it's dumbing down.

maman wrote: »

Certainly not. As I said, I'm all for evolution but not dumbing down although I realise it can be a matter of opinion.

I think changes which, in my opinion, are for the worse generally represent dumbing down. Dumbing down isn't a word I'd normally use when describing cooking but I was simply extrapolating the analogy.

Lily-Rose_3

maman wrote: »

I think changes which, in my opinion, are for the worse generally represent dumbing down. Dumbing down isn't a word I'd normally use when describing cooking but I was simply extrapolating the analogy.

Whether you add 'just my opinion' onto 'people are more dumb' or not; that doesn't make it any less rude!

coolcait

Lily-Rose wrote: »

Whether you add 'just my opinion' onto 'people are more dumb' or not; that doesn't make it any less rude!

Picking up on jagraf's point about interpretation, I don't agree that the phrase "dumbing down" means that 'people are more dumb', and I don't believe that maman has used it in the way that you interpreted it.

maman

coolcait wrote: »

Picking up on jagraf's point about interpretation, I don't agree that the phrase "dumbing down" means that 'people are more dumb', and I don't believe that maman has used it in the way that you interpreted it.

Thank you.


I simply highlighted the 'in my opinion' to stress that I had posted it before but it obviously was overlooked.


'Dumbing down' is a turn of phrase that doesn't necessarily mean that 'people are more dumb' but rather that the content has been made simpler, easier to understand and perhaps easier to access for a wider range of people. However if anyone wants to believe that words are simplified because people are more dumb then that's their prerogative.

Pollycat

Jagraf wrote: »

My mother in law missed a lot of school when she was a child due to illness. She is in her eighties and has never had the confidence to write letters or even messages in christmas cards as she thinks her spelling is poor. She gets her words muddled now saying things like 'conservatory' instead of 'conservative' etc. The fear of being corrected in social settings has greatly affected her life sadly.

She would say specific ocean, and wouldn't have a clue about homophones. But we always know what she means. Always. She's certainly not dumb and does it really matter?

In business if someone can interpret a meaning differently I understand that, in translation, it can be a problem. But otherwise, I'm not sure why it affects others. If people want to improve their grammar, great. I speak French but I don't expect everyone else to.

I think this is very sad.

For those posters who think other posters should be corrected - what are you trying to achieve?
A feeling of superiority by making the 'perpetrator' feel inadequate?
An upsurge in the quality of grammar, punctuation and spelling?
An easier understanding of what point a poster is trying to get across?

jellyhead

maman wrote: »

Meanwhile I'll stick to my principals!:rotfl:

My mind literally (haha) boggles when people use the wrong word in this way. I get a mental image involving principals, and it takes my poor little brain a while to work out what you meant to say. I get there eventually, and in most cases I can interpret what a poster is trying to say.

My phone makes some ridiculous autocorrects that sneak through on the final word, just as I press send :rotfl:

LittleMax

jellyhead wrote: »

My mind literally (haha) boggles when people use the wrong word in this way. I get a mental image involving principals, and it takes my poor little brain a while to work out what you meant to say. I get there eventually, and in most cases I can interpret what a poster is trying to say.

My phone makes some ridiculous autocorrects that sneak through on the final word, just as I press send :rotfl:

Oh, don't be so melodramatic, it is obvious with princpals, stationary and practice what the person means from the context it is used in. If it takes your brain a while to work out what is meant then I would question who is actually the more educated!

When I see the incorrect principal, my first thought is that it is just a typo, but if consistently used and obvious the person does not realise the different spellings, then I am just thankful for the education that I have been given. None of us were born knowing the difference between principal and principle.