# Just a thought



## Panter (5 Nov 2009)

And maybe not a specific rules as such, but maybe more of a guidleline......

Maybe there acould be one to the effect that people shouldn't criticise other's spellings?

I've seen a few posts in response to a question, where the poster's have merely slated spelling and gramatical errors and offered no help with the OP's topic at all. 
Some of the replies have been downright rude and I think it could be off-putting to some.

As I say, just a thought.

(Sits back and waits for all the corrections to the above )


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## dellzeqq (5 Nov 2009)

not a bad thojught Panret. A PM would be a bit more piollete


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## ianrauk (5 Nov 2009)

After all it's not if they are deliberote mistokes are they


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## Landslide (5 Nov 2009)

I carry with me a deep burning shame that somewhere on this forum there is a post of mine containing a typo.


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## Arch (5 Nov 2009)

I let a lot of stuff go, but just sometimes something gets my goat - more often if there seems to be a general laziness about grammar and punctuation and so on.... I'd see it as all part of the cut and thrust of forum life, and if I make a mistake, I don't mind being picked up.

I know there are several people here for example with dyslexia - and I make allowances for that if I think it's the case.

I suspect that the people who get picked up on most are those who touch a nerve in other ways...


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## John the Monkey (5 Nov 2009)

In the case of the most recent one I recall (the Sam Brown/Browne) I'd argue that it's helpful - given that the item name should be correct if someone is going to try and find one themselves.


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## Rhythm Thief (5 Nov 2009)

Arch said:


> I let a lot of stuff go, *but just sometimes something gets my goat - more often if there seems to be a general laziness about grammar and punctuation and so on....* I'd see it as all part of the cut and thrust of forum life, and if I make a mistake, I don't mind being picked up.
> 
> I know there are several people here for example with dyslexia - and I make allowances for that if I think it's the case.



Same here. Incidentally, Arch, an ellipsis is only three dots, with a space at each end, thus ...


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## Shaun (5 Nov 2009)

Panter said:


> And maybe not a specific rules as such, but maybe more of a guidleline......
> 
> Maybe there acould be one to the effect that people shouldn't criticise other's spellings?
> 
> ...



I'd agree - nit-picking isn't usually helpful.

The exception being pointing out incorrect spellings of brand names, companies, labels, etc. that would aid someone searching for specific items, services, or advice.

My best suggestion would be to report this where you see it (use the red triangle - Report Post).

I know I say this a lot, but due to the volume of posts we get each day there is no way to monitor everything, so me and the mods mainly rely on keen-eyed CC'ers to point us in the right direction.

If someone is being a deliberate pedant and not offering anything useful to a thread, then please report it and we'll take a look at it.

I can imagine that an occasional light-hearted jibe wouldn't be a problem, but if someone is being a spelling and/or grammar bully then tell us about it.

Cheers,
Shaun


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## Landslide (5 Nov 2009)

Break
Peddle
Tire


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## summerdays (5 Nov 2009)

John the Monkey said:


> In the case of the most recent one I recall (the Sam Brown/Browne) I'd argue that it's helpful - given that the item name should be correct if someone is going to try and find one themselves.



Yes as one who makes mistakes - I don't mind it pointed out to me in a light hearted manner, but agree that it is useful to have things like break vs brake corrected if they need to look something up. However that can be done just as easily by using the correct word in your reply rather than having to point it out the mistake made. (Google is my friend as it underlines mistakes - though I don't know why it is underlining google at the moment - surely it knows that word).


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## srw (5 Nov 2009)

Rhythm Thief said:


> Same here. Incidentally, Arch, an ellipsis is only three dots, with a space at each end, thus ...



Arch's fourth dot is a full stop.

You see - each pedant can be out-pedanted.





(I'm waiting for someone to spot my deliberate typographical error.)


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## Rhythm Thief (5 Nov 2009)

srw said:


> Arch's fourth dot is a full stop.
> 
> You see - each pedant can be out-pedanted.
> 
> ...



 Fair enough. I feel humbled.


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## Shaun (5 Nov 2009)

srw said:


> (I'm waiting for someone to spot my deliberate typographical error)*.*



 - do I get a badge or a sweetie or something?


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## Sh4rkyBloke (5 Nov 2009)

Admin said:


> *D*o I get a badge or a sweetie or something?


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## Rhythm Thief (5 Nov 2009)

Hand's up who couldn't see the inevitability of this thread going the way it has.


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## Sh4rkyBloke (5 Nov 2009)

Rhythm Thief said:


> Hand's up who couldn't see the inevitability of this thread going the way it has.


* must resist, must resist... *


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## Panter (5 Nov 2009)

Hay, it was just a thought


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## Noodley (5 Nov 2009)

Panter said:


> Hay, it was just a thought



I agree with your thought. It does get stupid....although there are times, as previously stated, where it can be of benefit most of the time it is just stupid.


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## Panter (5 Nov 2009)

I suppose Shaun is right though, it can always be reported.

TBH though, I wouldn't report someone doing it, I guess if the person being "picked on" feels sufficently victimised then they can report it themselves.

My thought was triggered by a recent request for help and one of the replies was a sarccy spelling mistake highlight and, to my knowledge, the OP never responded to the thread at all.
Maybe they read the sensible replies, got what they wanted and weren't bothered by the comment but maybe they just thought "sod it" and found another forum.

I do agree, if it's a mistake in a specific product or manufacturer then it's very useful to point it out but it bugs me when someone will have a nasty pop at a spelling mistake when they clearly understand the point being made, otherwise they wouldn't be highlighting it!

I'll climb off my meagre soap box now and go and fettle my bike


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## John the Monkey (5 Nov 2009)

Uncle Mort said:


> And it's not the end of the world is it?


No, although when people start using "may" when they should use "might", by golly, it'll be pistols at dawn!


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## Speicher (5 Nov 2009)

srw said:


> Arch's fourth dot is a full stop.
> 
> You see - each pedant can be out-pedanted.
> 
> ...



You have pm!


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## srw (5 Nov 2009)

Speicher said:


> You have pm!



That was an error of language, not of typography!

I used a hyphen rather than an em-dash to separate out "You see" from "each" -- and, as you pointed out, it should be "every".

Only real anally retentive types (or people who've used TeX or looked carefully at what word does) would have noticed that one.

On the substance of the matter, I think people who post on a forum owe it to their audience to do the best they can to communicate clearly. That means using conventions of grammar, typography and spelling. Someone who doesn't bother to use capital letters and full stops is less likely to get a considered response than someone who does. I can think of two or three examples....

Dyslexia is an interesting case. I don't know much about it, but my working assumption is that dyslexics are very unlikely to use a forum anyway, and that the errors they make are more likely to be transpositions of letters than the typical spelling howlers (loose/lose; break/brake) cited in this thread.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.


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## summerdays (5 Nov 2009)

No there are definitely dyslexic's using this forum and there are different forms of dyslexia - and I have definitely seen one user (who has owned up to being dyslexic) confuse break/brake and similar. 

I'm just someone who finds spelling difficult, and if google suggests a correction I will use it, sometimes I get it bad enough that google doesn't suggest an alternative or gives totally the wrong one. In which case I use the word as I best spell it and hope that it is understandable to others. 

Also English may not be the first language of some of the posters on here.

They do have a equal right to post on here and not be mocked.


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## Archie_tect (5 Nov 2009)

Uncle Mort said:


> Some of the cleverest people I know can't spell "for toffee"!



...but Uncle Mort can.


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## Arch (5 Nov 2009)

Rhythm Thief said:


> Same here. Incidentally, Arch, an ellipsis is only three dots, with a space at each end, thus ...




I have a sort of stutter when it comes to ellipses, I always tend to add extra dots, I know ...

I didn't know about the space at each end though, cheers.


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## Sh4rkyBloke (5 Nov 2009)

Arch said:


> I have a sort of stutter when it comes to ellipses, I always tend to add extra dots, I know ...
> 
> I didn't know about the space at each end though, cheers.


I didn't know that that was what it was called... much less that there was a "correct" form for it.

Shame on me.


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## Arch (5 Nov 2009)

Sh4rkyBloke said:


> I didn't know that that was what it was called... much less that there was a "correct" form for it.
> 
> Shame on me.



But you know loads about sharks. We can't all know everything.:?:


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## Rhythm Thief (5 Nov 2009)

Arch said:


> I have a sort of stutter when it comes to ellipses, I always tend to add extra dots, I know ...
> 
> I didn't know about the space at each end though, cheers.





srw said:


> Arch's fourth dot is a full stop.
> 
> You see - each pedant can be out-pedanted.



As it turns out, you were right and I was wrong.


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## srw (5 Nov 2009)

Rhythm Thief said:


> As it turns out, you were right and I was wrong.



Or I'm making it up....


Here's a wikipedia quote:


> Bringhurst suggests that normally an ellipsis should be spaced fore-and-aft to separate it from the text, but when it combines with other punctuation, the leading space disappears and the other punctuation follows. He provides the following examples: i … j k…. l…, l l, … l m…? n…..!



So we're _both_ right.


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## 661-Pete (5 Nov 2009)

I have a tendency to end paragraphs with a row of dots. I'm not sure whether it's correct to call this usage an 'ellipsis', though. I find it hard to break out of this habit: I know exactly where I picked it up but I'm not telling...

May I suggest that the already-hard-worked moderators will not thank forummers for drawing attention to every single spelling mistake, misplaced apostrophe, split infinitive, or what-have-you?! Certainly I find very poor spelling and grammar wearisome to read, and sometimes it clouds the meaning of the post. In one recent case (a thread about IT support) it was probably right to pull up the OP on grounds of literacy - even though it upset him - in the interests of clarity.

Otherwise: I think it's best to confine on-post corrections to the light-hearted and the humorous. See this one from one of the Astro forums (a thread about the Hubble Space Telescope - my highlighting):


> What happened was that a tiny fleck of pain came off the null corrector, and nobody thought to check the accuracy of the null corrector, so they ended up with a flawed mirror.
> 
> They thought of everything except human fallibility.


to which I came up with:


> Superb typo!  But nothing compared to the pain which the NASA guys felt when the mistake was discovered!


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## 661-Pete (5 Nov 2009)

Panter said:


> Hay, it was just a thought


Ahem. Are you a horse? As in "A is for 'orses, B for mutton, C for miles," etc. etc.?


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## Fab Foodie (5 Nov 2009)

Rhythm Thief said:


> Same here. Incidentally, Arch, an ellipsis is only three dots, with a space at each end, thus ...



Except in my customary house style...


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## Rhythm Thief (5 Nov 2009)

661-Pete said:


> May I suggest that the already-hard-worked moderators will not thank forummers for drawing attention to every single spelling mistake, misplaced apostrophe, split infinitive, or what-have-you?!



At least two of the more tireless spelling and grammar nazis are mods: they're both on this thread and one of them is me.


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## Arch (5 Nov 2009)

Rhythm Thief said:


> At least two of the more tireless spelling and grammar nazis are mods: they're both on this thread and one of them is me.





Pete, I have the same tendency with ellipses. I think it's a way of leaving a point open to discussion sometimes. In fact, it's probably a punctuation version of the Australian Rising Inflexion?


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## 661-Pete (5 Nov 2009)

Rhythm Thief said:


> At least two of the more tireless spelling and grammar nazis are mods: they're both on this thread and one of them is *I*.


...to be pedantic.


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## Panter (6 Nov 2009)

661-Pete said:


> Ahem. Are you a horse? As in "A is for 'orses, B for mutton, C for miles," etc. etc.?



It was a deliberate one. 

I though that would've been clear given the nature of this thred......,..


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## Auntie Helen (6 Nov 2009)

I don't think Admin was suggesting that any minor grammar error is reported, more if it's something that the thread is about (e.g. GPS spelled GSP) which would make it hard to find when searching. Or something.

I am picky about grammar and have been occasionally on this forum but that's usually when the poster winds me up excessively about something else, or when they have corrected someone else's spelling and left a mistake in their own (specks/logs in eyes there). It's petty, I know, but I also happen to think that trying to communicate clearly and effectively is important. Particularly if you have someone for whom English isn't their first language - it's much easier for them to read English if it's written correctly than not.


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## Panter (6 Nov 2009)

I think Admins suggestion was to report folk who were picking on spelling mistakes, rather than the mistakes themselves.

I do agree that specific errors need pointing out when it relates to brand names or similar, it just annoys me when someone makes a nasty comment about a spelling mistake, even though they clearly understood the post.

Don't get me wrong, mistakes bug me a bit too, especially the break/brake thing but, hey, life's too short to let it get you down IMO


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## Panter (6 Nov 2009)

Is everyone else posting on this thread tripple checking their response before pressing "submit reply"


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## Theseus (6 Nov 2009)

Panter said:


> Is everyone else posting on this thread tripple checking their response before pressing "submit reply"



I see that you are not.


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## PpPete (6 Nov 2009)

Arch said:


> Pete, I have the same tendency with ellipses. I think it's a way of leaving a point open to discussion sometimes. In fact, it's probably a punctuation version of the Australian Rising Inflexion?




I do too....
But not as often as a former workmate who used rows of dots (of varying length) to the exclusion of all other punctuation.
It was an accurate representation of how he talked, but whilst his verbal communication was crystal clear, as written it could be desperately hard to understand. 
Another colleague finally came up with a name for those occasions when the number of dots exceeded the three of the ellipsis:
It was ever after referred to as "the-stream-of-consciousness-mark"


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## Arch (6 Nov 2009)

porkypete said:


> I do too....
> But not as often as a former workmate who used rows of dots (of varying length) to the exclusion of all other punctuation.
> It was an accurate representation of how he talked, but whilst his verbal communication was crystal clear, as written it could be desperately hard to understand.
> Another colleague finally came up with a name for those occasions when the number of dots exceeded the three of the ellipsis:
> *It was ever after referred to as "the-stream-of-consciousness-mark"*



 Very good!


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## 661-Pete (8 Nov 2009)

Panter said:


> It was a deliberate one.
> 
> I though that would've been clear given the nature of this thred......,..


Too right it was! But I needed an excuse to chuck in a bit of cockney alphabet... this thread _so_ needs it!


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