NationStates Jolt Archive

I've noticed something. The majority of the people who vehemently argue over the internet cannot spell worth SHIT. I've been observing this for several years (since about 1999, sadly) and I still have no clue why other people don't know how to spell rather simple words.

Please tell me...why can't people spell anymore?

Because they don't really care. It's beyond me as well; I do occasionally mispell words, but that's usually a case of lack of sleep.

I've noticed something. The majority of the people who vehemently argue over the internet cannot spell worth SHIT. I've been observing this for several years (since about 1999, sadly) and I still have no clue why other people don't know how to spell rather simple words.

Please tell me...why can't people spell anymore?
And they could before? or is this more nostalgic remembrance without remembering the rigorous editing process of days past (personally my dad spells even worse then I do)

Or is it the speed of your ability to post … its not like you are typing and re typing over and over and catch all the errors.

I mean I try to run everything through word myself just to make sure … seems to do alright for me.

And they could before? or is this more nostalgic remembrance without remembering the rigorous editing process of days past (personally my dad spells even worse then I do)

Or is it the speed of your ability to post … its not like you are typing and re typing over and over and catch all the errors.

I mean I try to run everything through word myself just to make sure … seems to do alright for me.


I actually do stop and re-type any errors made in my posts. Perhaps it is because I was in WAY too many spelling bees as a child. I just get very annoyed by people who incorrectly spell very simple words.

well some people mispell. and some just type fast.and some may be dyslexic. take me for instance, when i feel like it- i use capital letters and punctuation and all that good stuff. but if im in a take it easy sorta mood-i'm not going to sit here and type in chat or message boards like i'm doing a formal paper. i have to do that at work enough as it is. i do this for fun so im not going to make sure every grammatical error is corrected.


but yeah then there are people who just cant spell at all.

I've noticed something.

Please tell me...why can't people spell anymore?

A-N-Y-M-O-R-E

Just Kidding.. I think that it is mostly a North American thing. Educators don't push this old-fashioned skill. The majority of your fellow posters are young, male, poor spellers who either don't care or are in too much of a hurry and count on SpellCheck when it matters.

I've noticed something. The majority of the people who vehemently argue over the internet cannot spell worth SHIT. I've been observing this for several years (since about 1999, sadly) and I still have no clue why other people don't know how to spell rather simple words.

Please tell me...why can't people spell anymore?
after being on forums for several years i have noticed something, some people get really anal about people not have a masters in English so dont spell everything right or type like its for a graduate thesis

so let me ask, who gives a shit

Exactly, educators. There's an old joke floating around my office - I work at a university- and it follows: Teachers are fine, but edjumicators are the ones you need to watch out for.

I guess it is funnier when told by a Ph.D. Ah, well.

after being on forums for several years i have noticed something, some people get really anal about people not have a masters in English so dont spell everything right or type like its for a graduate thesis

so let me ask, who gives a shit

I get annoyed when people can't spell "athiest" or "catholic" in a post when the same damn word is spelled correctly in the post that they quoted and are replying to. That's specifically what gets on my nerves. It's the ones who sit there and have the word spelled correctly right in front of them, yet still spell it incorrectly and put (sp?) after it.

strange phenomena...

I've noticed something. The majority of the people who vehemently argue over the internet cannot spell worth SHIT. I've been observing this for several years (since about 1999, sadly) and I still have no clue why other people don't know how to spell rather simple words.

Please tell me...why can't people spell anymore?

Hey, it could be worse: there could be people posting who don't know the difference between 'phenomena' (plural) and 'phenomenon' (singular).

Hey, it could be worse: there could be people posting who don't know the difference between 'phenomena' (plural) and 'phenomenon' (singular).


Well, if you read my last post, you'll notice that there is another thing I'm griping about, so it's plural now. That's why I left it plural, dude. I know myself; I'm always going to bring up something else I want to gripe about in a thread.Good shot,though.

Well, if you read my last post, you'll notice that there is another thing I'm griping about, so it's plural now. That's why I left it plural, dude. I know myself; I'm always going to bring up something else I want to gripe about in a thread.Good shot,though.

Nah, that just falls into the larger set of lousy spelling: thus it remains a phenomenon, rather than a class of phenomena.


Anyhow, my opinion on the matter: yes, lousy spelling does irritate me at times, but I consider it a price that I am willing to pay for the massive increase in the use of the written word which internet forums* and newsgroups have created.






* I don't hold with 'fora' as a plural in this case, despite its latin roots, as 'forums' long ago became an everyday part of the language.

I get annoyed when people can't spell "athiest" or "catholic" in a post when the same damn word is spelled correctly in the post that they quoted and are replying to. That's specifically what gets on my nerves. It's the ones who sit there and have the word spelled correctly right in front of them, yet still spell it incorrectly and put (sp?) after it.

The problem here is that it may not be clear to them that the previously used spellings are in fact correct. I would wager that 'facist' and 'facism' occur more times on NS than 'fascist' and 'fascism', but that does not mean they should be taken as a guide to the correct rendition.

speed typing. Sure you can type slow and make sure every word is correctly spelled... but then, when you finally post, you find that the tread moved on and now your post seems strange and irrelevant... or someone else beat you to it.


also it could be that the majority of the posters are teens or younger trying to pass themselves off as adults.

anyway, you want correct spelling, then push to have a spell checker included on this site.

I've noticed something. The majority of the people who vehemently argue over the internet cannot spell worth SHIT. I've been observing this for several years (since about 1999, sadly) and I still have no clue why other people don't know how to spell rather simple words.

Please tell me...why can't people spell anymore?
I've noticed the same - not only other ppl's spelling, but also my own in general life.
I think it's a unintentional negative effect of using Word and spell-checkers. I don't need to know how to spell words anymore, as Word will do it for me.
Same thing has happened since the advent and popularity of calculators. Being an ex-maths teacher I despaired at just how dependent students were on their calculators and how lost they were at doing even simple sums in their head. I once asked a yr10 student what 5+3 was and she instinctively reached out for her calculator before even thinking about the question posed.
Technology has become a crutch.

Another reason with bad internet spelling is probably ppl get so wound up they are thinking faster than they're writing. Thus it comes out garbled and mis-spelled.

Also teaching English has changed significantly over the last couple of decades. About a decade or so ago, it was deemed unimportant to teach basic grammar or spelling skills. The focus shifted onto the more creative side of English. The only drawback is of course is that ppl now have now idea how to structure a sentence properly.

I've noticed something. The majority of the people who vehemently argue over the internet cannot spell worth SHIT. I've been observing this for several years (since about 1999, sadly) and I still have no clue why other people don't know how to spell rather simple words.

Please tell me...why can't people spell anymore?

If you ask Kramers Intern, it's George Bush's fault.

If you ask Kramers Intern, it's George Bush's fault.
Are you aiming to win the award for 'saddest poster' with posting the same reply in every thread?
Or do you just have a thing going for Kramers Intern?

I get annoyed when people can't spell "athiest" or "catholic" in a post when the same damn word is spelled correctly in the post that they quoted and are replying to.

Though the word is not present in this topic, I still see some irony in the fact that you just made a typo in 'atheist' ;-)

To the main topic: some people -like me- are not native speakers. As such I make silly little errors quite often. I'm also quite good at overlooking typing errors when previewing the post, yet noticing them immediately after I have pressed "submit reply". Often I will not bother to edit if the error is minor enough - though it does annoy me.
And as a final excuse: my wireless keyboard sometimes misses keystrokes. Yes, I should replace it.

ack phfftt!!!

I myself have called others on their spelling (although usually if they themselves make it an issue, but have spelling problems themselves) and have in turn been called on my own spelling errors.

The real problem however is the maddeningly illogical English language. So versatile and beautiful in its ability to convey meaning and nuance it is nevertheless a horror when it comes to spelling. It is a mass of unpredictable silent letters that seem to turn on or off with in no clear pattern, double consonants that defy explanation, endless varieties of vowel combinations, demon words that fit no heavenly or earthly pattern and rules that are so notoriously unreliable that they cannot even brought up with the baggage train of exceptions that immediately follow. Spelling in the English language is illogical, inconsistent, and needlessly complicated.

It takes about 4 months, 2 hours a day to teach a Russian child how to read and write Russian. It takes 5 years longer than that to teach an English-speaking child to read and write English to the same level.

I find spelling errors to be irksome as well (especially my own), but when you see them keep in mind that we are using the only language (that I know of) that has "spelling dictionaries," that allow people to look up how a word is spelled so they can find it in an actual dictionary.

I get annoyed when people can't spell "athiest" or "catholic" in a post when the same damn word is spelled correctly in the post that they quoted and are replying to. That's specifically what gets on my nerves. It's the ones who sit there and have the word spelled correctly right in front of them, yet still spell it incorrectly and put (sp?) after it.
then you should be bitching about stupid people, not people who cant spell or use proper grammar

I've noticed the same - not only other ppl's spelling, but also my own in general life.
I think it's a unintentional negative effect of using Word and spell-checkers. I don't need to know how to spell words anymore, as Word will do it for me.
Same thing has happened since the advent and popularity of calculators. Being an ex-maths teacher I despaired at just how dependent students were on their calculators and how lost they were at doing even simple sums in their head. I once asked a yr10 student what 5+3 was and she instinctively reached out for her calculator before even thinking about the question posed.
Technology has become a crutch.

Another reason with bad internet spelling is probably ppl get so wound up they are thinking faster than they're writing. Thus it comes out garbled and mis-spelled.

Also teaching English has changed significantly over the last couple of decades. About a decade or so ago, it was deemed unimportant to teach basic grammar or spelling skills. The focus shifted onto the more creative side of English. The only drawback is of course is that ppl now have now idea how to structure a sentence properly.Not only that, but the fact that America is no longer forcing her Citizens to learn English. I recently went to renew my Drivers licence and with horror watched someone take the written test... WITH A TRANSLATOR reading the questions/answer to this person. The thought of a driver on the roads who cannot read a stop sign, or directional signs puts not just that person at risk but all other drivers as well!

I've noticed something. The majority of the people who vehemently argue over the internet cannot spell worth SHIT. I've been observing this for several years (since about 1999, sadly) and I still have no clue why other people don't know how to spell rather simple words.

Please tell me...why can't people spell anymore?
Well, I can spell, but there are several serious reasons why others cannot.

The first one being that communication over the internet relies a lot more on spelling than verbal communication, where spelling rarely occurs outside of spelling bees, and I have found that most people are dreadful spellers, and upon requiring them to actually use their spelling they fail miserably.

This coming from a repeated spelling bee champion that is...

Though the word is not present in this topic, I still see some irony in the fact that you just made a typo in 'atheist' ;-)

To the main topic: some people -like me- are not native speakers. As such I make silly little errors quite often. I'm also quite good at overlooking typing errors when previewing the post, yet noticing them immediately after I have pressed "submit reply". Often I will not bother to edit if the error is minor enough - though it does annoy me.
And as a final excuse: my wireless keyboard sometimes misses keystrokes. Yes, I should replace it.


roflmao, that's what I get for typing while I'm talking to someone. *shakes head at self*

Well, I can spell, but there are several serious reasons why others cannot.

The first one being that communication over the internet relies a lot more on spelling than verbal communication, where spelling rarely occurs outside of spelling bees, and I have found that most people are dreadful spellers, and upon requiring them to actually use their spelling they fail miserably.

This coming from a repeated spelling bee champion that is...


Oh good, someone else knows the feeling of this bizarre OCD-like obsession...

then you should be bitching about stupid people, not people who cant spell or use proper grammar


Perhaps I should. Of course, perhaps I should be bitching about everyone today, seeing as I'm in a rather foul mood. Oh well..I'll bitch about whatever comes to mind now.