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I said this is a post the other day when a person was asking about employment and it was mentioned by the way they wrote they would never get hired, or something to that effect. That post was deleted. There was another post where an OP was corrected.



This is an international site. Even in this country for a lot of people, English is not their first language. I know a man who is Korean and has been here 30 yrs. He writes like her speaks, with an accent. A friend has a speech impediment and writes like she speaks. I have a recipe from my Aunts sister who was from Italy. Its written just like she spoke, with an accent. English is not an easy language. We have words that sound the same but do not mean the same. I have been told about using the word "lean" instead of "lein" and then told what the difference is. I think this is being petty. We are all intelligent people and should be able to figure out when someone is using the wrong spelling of a word that sounds the same as another.

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Frequent and bandy. Yes, using the microphone could be a problem too. I have never used that. I turned off my spell checker because it also "assumed" where I was going. Just get that little read line saying I misspelled something.
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Just curious, since we all tend to use our favorite device, are there devices that will take a posting that has breaks in the paragraphs and merge it all into one very long paragraph?

I always put double spacing to break a paragraph, wonder if I should use triple spacing to break that paragraph. I know reading a very long no break paragraph I always lose my direction... [sigh]
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Lea, I agree about the post its self being all over the place. I have even said I am confused because I don't understand and it could be me. I read a post at least 3 times before I say this.

There was a member, she may still be on the forum, who copied a post and pasted it to a word document and put in the puncuation and corrected the wording so she could understand what the poster was saying.
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The period thing is for emphasis FF, it's usually something like "it happens every. single. time."
And even though we now have smart phones with a keyboard and auto correct a lot of people still type the shortcuts that became so common back when we didn't, in fact I've been told that using punctuation and proper sentence form is actually frowned on in some circles.
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Once in awhile on this forum, we will get someone who does not punctuate. It's like reading a 500 word sentence, and it can be interrupted in so many different ways. The post looks like it was typed on a cellphone.

I also noticed with a couple of my relatives. They will add a period after each word in a sentence. I have seen others on Facebook do the same. Is that a device problem?
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Isthisrealrealyreal I have definitely laughed at my mistakes later! Sometimes when someone mentions me and it isn’t at all what I thought I said! Lol
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Lymie, I try to proof read but, on occasion time doesn't permit. Then when I see my post later I am like What??? Spell check got it so wrong and edit time is long gone. So some posts have a nonsequitur word. I think it happens to everyone. Some are kinda funny.

Lea, I agree about clarifying posts that make no sense.

I know the post JoAnn is referring to about employment and the poster just asked "When you gonna call for interviews?" Me being a SA, responded with "When you gonna apply?" I found the disrespectful tone of someone looking for an interview worthy of a SA response. The crap attitudes of people looking for work nowadays just makes me sick. This poster was obviously well versed in English, gonna is a slang word that wouldn't be used otherwise.

Anyway, we all need to give more grace because we all need more grace.
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There is a big difference between using the wrong words like 'except' vs 'accept' and misspelling a few words here and there, versus writing a post that is SO confused and all-over-the place that we can't make heads or tails out of it! It's bad form to point out the wrong usage of a word in a sentence, because we CAN understand the context. It's another thing to ask a poster to clarify what they're talking about when the post makes NO sense at ALL.

A person cannot expect to get good, clear, concise comments to address their issues if their post is senseless to begin with.
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The other factors I think can be the devices we are using to post on the forum, am I the only one who has been “corrected” (improperly) by auto correct or mistyped? But even more important to be sensitive of I think is people come here, post and respond to posts, while in an emotional state, the things we often discuss here are difficult and asking for help in the midsts of drowning doesn’t lend to the most proper writing or even thinking. Expecting someone who is pleading for help or just getting frustrations out to take the time to go back and correct every little thing is missing the opportunity to be supportive and give back which of course helps you support yourself as well. At least it does for me.

Thank you for making this statement and opening this conversation JoAnn!
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In many internet forums, it's a violation of the rules to be a 'spelling cop', as it's considered being petty
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It may be laziness on the part of some but that doesn't make the rudeness of others acceptable.
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Exactly right!
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Burnt

I wish I could show you my Dads birth certificate. Its done in the most beautiful cursive. Like you see in those old documents u mention. Dad was born in 1927.
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@freqflyer

I think it's a case of plain old dumbing down and everyone being forced to accept a lower standard on everything. It's easier to not make an effort.
Too much time is taken up reading something over and correcting your mistakes. That's takes a second. Why bother?
People don't know how to write anymore either. Now it's just scribble on a paper. I think back to the times of George Washington and how beautiful people wrote back then. They didn't have a pen or a marker. They had a quill and an ink well.
Society no longer forces anyone to make an effort and do better. This would be why we see people wearing their pajamas in public. A lower standard.
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I noticed on Facebook, many times people do not proof-read what they write. So many misspellings. Are people in that much of a hurry? Or is it because there is so much to see on social media that they are afraid they might miss out on something?

I know I will make spelling mistakes even though I will proof-read several times, but I have an excuse, I am an old timer :)
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Thanks all.

97, couldn't find am appropriate category so just clicked on one.😊
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Thanks JoAnn, we do see posters who aren’t educated or not super literate. They too, deserve compassion and kind responses. It has to be incredibly discouraging to know you don’t have great English skills and decide to reach out for help anyway, and then find instead of the asked for help, you get blasted with comments about how you don’t make sense, or spell well. I’ve worked in a social services agency. The borderline literate population is everywhere among us, often with highly developed coping strategies to deflect attention away from the deficits they are so well aware of having. We all need to think a moment before sending a harsh reply
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I like that you or monitor posted this under heart disease. That is exactly what it is.
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People prone to judgement are going to judge and bigots are going to discriminate, and those who do both likely aren't seeing themselves when they read your post JoAnn. 🤷‍♀️
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That's different, Barb. That isn't correcting the person's error, that's offering useful information, which is not at all the same thing and has an opposite intention.
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JoAnn, thank you for a fresh perspective.

I have been known to privately point out a mis-spelling, not to be petty, but because if a person Googles or otherwise searches the term "Medicaid leans in the state of X", you're going get bad or at least incomplete information.

I am eternally grateful that English is my native language. I cannot fathom trying to learn it otherwise.

I once had to dictate the spelling of the word "thoroughly" to a mover who was a native speaker of Hebrew, a completely phonetic language. He looked at the word and said "REALLY, lady? That is insane!!"
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I consider it the height - do I mean depth? - of bad manners to correct another person's spelling or grammar unasked.

It is worth bearing in mind that being able to comprehend another writer's meaning is as much a part of being literate as being able to write correctly. I agree, we should try to figure out what people are trying to express, and if you really can't (and you don't like to ask) you're free to move on to the next question without comment.
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Burnt, spell check does NOT correct words that are spelled correctly. IE lien vs lean.

That is what JoAnn is talking about.
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Everyone has a computer today. Errors can be automatically corrected.
I find the people who are all but illiterate in English actually grew up in the United States and went to school here. It's just plain laziness on their part. People have to make an effort and sadly most of them don't.
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Amen JoAnn!
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