[pics] Please be quite...

[Batman]

Found this on the door of one of our computer suites. I informed our Head of ICT whose response was something along the lines of "that's the last time I let a student write the signs!".

 

Please be quite what?!

[srochford]

quite nice to the people doing the exam??

 

Spelling intrigues me. I'm quite good at it (but will almost certainly make a mistake here!) but many people either aren't good at it or don't bother - read almost any thread on here, for example, and you'll find it riddled with mistakes. Some will be typos but most are obviously because people just don't know the words (my pet hate is "of" instead of "have") or how to spell them.

 

I have no idea what will happen to written English in the next few decades - I suspect it may be rather different from today. Does that matter? It's changed hugely over the centuries so perhaps not.

[russdev]

The problem is that find many people with IT who have dyslexia so you find on IT sites a high percentage of mistakes certainly true if look at my posts

 

Russ

[mossj]

I'm a serial mispeller and tbh its because i run spellchecks on everything at work and when i get home why should i bother?

 

even if it would save some peoples sanity:p

 

p.s no i'm not dyslexic... well i could be never been tested...

Edited May 22, 2009 by mossj

[russdev]

Ask your learning support department they are currently doing the test software on me won't say for sure but gives you the indication if you are or not.

 

Russ

[witch]

Sorry, but bad spelling drives me up the wall as well. I think it looks childish and unprofessional.

 

I think the language is changing though,and 'have' will replace 'of' in the same way that people now say that they are bored 'of' something when actually they are bored 'with' it. I hated the changes until I read Bill Bryson's books - 'Mother Tongue' and 'Made in America' which explain, very entertainingly (is that even a word?) how the English language has evolved over the centuries. It shows how we really can't complain if it goes on changing.

My pet hate?

People who, when spelling out a word, say 'Haitch' for the letter H. Why? - because the name of that letter is spelt AITCH. There is no H in H!!

[Gatt]

There is no H in H!!

 

 

Hmm.. must be a regional dialect thing cos I always say "H"

 

Then again I say "Loch" properly... and no, its not as in "Lock"

 

 

Must admit, bad spelling really annoys me as does text speak!

 

But the single biggest pet hate I have is with ....

 

The Apostrophe!

 

It's not that bloomin' difficult!

 

It denotes ownership (Gatt's Reply) or a missing letter or letters (can't, won't, etc...)

Edited May 22, 2009 by Gatt

[Batman]

I agree about the "aitch" thing... don't like it when people use the letter at the beginning.

 

Thing is though, I remember a teacher mentioning the correct way to say it once maybe twice at school, so kids will just say what they hear everyone else saying... and some of the teachers say it! Bit like people saying "somethink" instead of "something"...

 

I was ashamed of myself the other day when I sent an email to the head and realised I had spelt "shenanigans" with a double "n" in the middle. She didn't mention it though so I guess she didn't notice either.

[DrPerceptron]

On the subject of crazy spellings, how many people find the poorest grammar and spelling comes from English teachers?

 

An email, from the now acting head of English, was sent to all staff and although the explaining paragraph was riddled with the odd spelling mistake, the end was...

 

"They is in my desk if anyone wants they"

 

 

 

Ages ago, back when I was a student, My friend who was doing the same technical course I was doing was asked to draw up a simple notice that explained the printer was out of use...

 

In a fit of intelligence, he asked how to spell "Convenience" which I spelt... 10 minutes later a student pointed out the error on the sign.

 

"Printer is out of order. Sorry for the convenience."

 

It remained on a wall of fame for about 3 years... until it mysteriously vanished...

[User3204]

The spellings that always bugs me is "loose" instead of "lose", did these people not get taught this ?

But I have to admit I usually miss off the apostrophe when it is belonging to someone (as in James', this confuses me, as I say "Jameses", so this is what I want to write down), but never when it is referring to a lost letter in a word (as in can't, from cannot).

 

The problem with "should of", is that people are actually saying "should've" (from should have, so it nees an apostrophe too).

 

 

The language will change a people change the use of it, but it desn't mean I have to like it.

 

 

 

[There were more spelling mistakes in this comment, than any other message I have ever written on this forum, but I am going to blame this keyboard ]

[DrPerceptron]

I've always been somewhat tolerant of incorrect spellings and what not, it used to bug me to no end, but it's something grow to tolerate if you have to see it enough.

 

I cnt stand ppl who feel the need 2 drop in txt speak though. I'm not even old and it's the lamest thing I've come to know.

 

There's one million words in the English Language now apparently. and the average person uses less than twenty thousand.... you'd think that since they only know a fiftieth (is it?) of the words, they could at least spell those correctly

[witch]

Hmm.. must be a regional dialect thing cos I always say "H"

 

That's my point - it ISN'T a regional dialect thing - it is a mispronunciation!!

 

As for apostrophes - it has been proved that if people just LEFT THEM OUT they would be right about 85% of the time - this is due to the fact that it is the misuse of the apostrophe in a plural that causes all the trouble!

The only tricky apostrophe is 'it's '- because it is a truncated word (where it does have an apostrophe), AND a possessive (where, for some unknown reason, it doesn't).

Given that other possessives - Dave's, school's - DO have an apostrophe, I think it would clear up the confusion if 'it's' had an apostrophe in both cases.

Oops, got a bit carried away there:embarassed:

[Gatt]

This might help you witch with regards to its and it's -> Apostrophe Use

 

As for the aitch/haitch debate - you are correct in that the "official" way is aitch ... BUT almost everyone says both - If I were to start spelling Hayley's name I would go - Haitch.. etc however if I recite the Alphabet I say aitch...

 

Speaking of the alphabet - it bugs Hayley that I pronoune the letter J - "Jie" (As in Die) rather than "Jay" ...

[eduabncs]

Sorry, but bad spelling drives me up the wall as well. I think it looks childish and unprofessional.

 

I think the language is changing though,and 'have' will replace 'of' in the same way that people now say that they are bored 'of' something when actually they are bored 'with' it. I hated the changes until I read Bill Bryson's books - 'Mother Tongue' and 'Made in America' which explain, very entertainingly (is that even a word?) how the English language has evolved over the centuries. It shows how we really can't complain if it goes on changing.

My pet hate?

People who, when spelling out a word, say 'Haitch' for the letter H. Why? - because the name of that letter is spelt AITCH. There is no H in H!!

 

Hear hear....! Always annoys me this one for some reason!

[tmcd35]

Nihtong wrnog wtih gtetnig the odd wrod wonrg. My selpilng is usaluly pasaslbe. I do tned to dorp a wnorg lteter hree or trhee. The selpilng isn't relaly ipmotrant, it's the coentnts that matetrs.

 

The menaing of waht is be siad, not the odrer of the lteters uesd to say it.

 

(the old ones are the best )

[FN-GM]

I have a little problem, mainly due to being lazy.

 

I will type fast and miss out letters, then fire through the spell checker without looking properly and it replaces the errors with different words.

[mattx]

It's gettin' worser & worser aint it ?

[powdarrmonkey]

Are we having a pet hates thread here?

 

 

• full-stop-then-also-comma: "such and such. Also, ..."
  
• de-and-re: "if we can't prove it, we'll have to de-arrest him." Er... release him, if you please; "please re-take your seats." Er... having vacated it, one just takes it again
  
• stupid office-speak: "It's broken. Going forward, this must never happen again."
  
• exclamation!marks!all!over!the!place!!!eleventy-one!1!
  

[localzuk]

Are we having a pet hates thread here?

 

 

• full-stop-then-also-comma: "such and such. Also, ..."
  
• de-and-re: "if we can't prove it, we'll have to de-arrest him." Er... release him, if you please; "please re-take your seats." Er... having vacated it, one just takes it again
  
• stupid office-speak: "It's broken. Going forward, this must never happen again."
  
• exclamation!marks!all!over!the!place!!!eleventy-one!1!
  

 

Just a couple of points on this lot. 'De-arrest' is actually a legal procedure, not just being released.

 

When you re-take a seat, you are being asked to repeat an earlier action, not do a new one. So, again that is fine. (See what I did there?)

 

I agree with the other 2 points though.

[witch]

This might help you witch with regards to its and it's -> Apostrophe Use

 

 

I DON'T NEED ANY HELP WITH APOSTROPHE USE- I KNOW HOW TO USE ONE It's everyone else!

 

(cue lots of waving arms around, Kermit-style)

 

 

Why would you pronounce J 'Jie' unless you come from the Black Country of course?

[GrumbleDook]

"Going forward, this must never happen again."

 

I love that one because it is a perfect description of what is required. If you really look at what the sentences means, it says that if this action happens again we are not going forward. It clearly sets out an aim, how the success is measured and that failure is not acceptable. A clear and concise instruction from a manager / leader.

 

Just because you don't like manglement speak (and some manglement speak is inane, banal and plain ridiculous), try not to loose sight of the fact that it is a specialised language just like Geek and Legalese are. De-arrest is a perfect example of where an existing word or phrase (ie release) would not have been suitable to use as it already has a clear legal meaning, so a fresh word or phrase has to be used instead. Clear and precise language is often needed so there can be no confusion. Police will suggest to someone that they should stay put and answer a few questions ... as this differs from arresting someone and formally interviewing them under the present system ... it is also less paperwork.

 

I think that rhetoric should be taught in schools. This helps people push the boundaries of what language we use and how we use it. It is a spoken language still and how we write it down is still up for debate and development. I am all for keeping that language as it is by preventing language drift that occurs due to laziness, but languages have to evolve. English as we know it has evolved year on year. As Americans know it the technical revolution has been the largest drive of development over a short period of time. This has led to the invention of new words though, rather than the adoption or merging of existing words.

 

As for 'Aitch' and 'Haitch', it is a dialect thing. The same way to people pronounce 'oo', 'au', 'th' and 'ai' differently. After all ... scousers are right. If we have Terry Pratchett's librarian says "Ook" to rhyme with Luke, then 'book' should also rhyme with it ... and not rhyme with 'puck'. ;-)

 

I also believe that slypdexia is a reason why the odd mistake may appear for people, but not an excuse. There are tools to provide help and there are techniques to help you limit the number of mistakes you make ... but this varies from person to person as to how successful they are. Discovering to what level you are dyslexic can help you work out the most appropriate techniques to limit your mistakes, but one of the best methods is to improve your spoken language skills. It helps to train the mind in the language you use, improves your vocabulary (limiting the repeat-type mistakes) and focuses on ensuring you already know what you want to type instead of doing it on the fly.

Edited May 23, 2009 by GrumbleDook

[Batman]

And on a lighter note... Top twenty spelling mistakes on signs around the world

[networkingNut]

One thing I cant stand is text speak as I think its unprofessional. My Line manager uses it and it does my head in i.e "Fone me if summat cumes up".

[creese]

A recent notice in the canteen goes something like this:

 

Due to miss-use of the salad bar the price will now be £2.

 

Apart from the obvious spelling/unnecessary hyphen, how do you misuse a salad bar?

[Abaddon]

Text speak irritates me the most. To me, it implies a general lack of respect for, or interest in, the person you are communicating with - almost as if you just can't be bothered to use coherent language with them.