Spelling.

[SweetErika]

Six I see here frequently:
"prostrate" Perhaps it gets confused with "castrate"?

"supposably"

"volumptuous" My hubby used to say this (but he DOES have learning disabilities and reads then pronounces words wrong all of the time), and I used to reply, "I'm voluptuous, not lumpy!"

"circumsized"

"Use to" vs. "used to"

"who's" vs. "whose"

I posted this in our FAQ, but for anyone who's interested, there are some little spellcheckers that fit neatly into your browser for posting and the like. You just highlight the text you want to check and click the button. They don't help with grammar, but typos and misspellings are easily caught.
Internet Explorer - IESpell
Firefox - SpellBound
Opera - Aspell

 

[Pyro Paul]

At some point, don't you think you have to take responsibility for this? Perhaps your parents should share some of the blame for not giving enough of a shit about your education. Yeah, there ARE some lousy teachers out there, but regardless of what a lot of people like to think, teaching isn't just the responsibility of the teacher, and public schools weren't intended to be glorified day-care centers. Education begins, and should continue, at home.

I'm also one of those elitists. Poor spelling and grammar bother me to no end. I'm more than understanding when it comes to people for whom English isn't their second language. I've also spent enough time working with students with learning disabilities (despite my complete lack of training in this regard) to recognize when someone might have a disability. And, of course, who hasn't made the occasional typo?

I spent several years teaching developmental/remedial/bonehead reading and writing courses to college students, most of whom didn't believe that they needed effective communications skills to go out in the real world and make money. I can't speak for what's being taught in schools right now (except for grades K-2), but a lot of my former students didn't seem to have mastered elements of spelling and grammar that I was taught in the fourth grade.

I've heard people on Lit say, "But it's just a porn board. Who cares?" and they're more than entitled to that opinion. I'm not trying to make anyone else care. The reality, however, is that a lot of people out there do care about "trivial" shit like spelling and grammar. When we post on message boards, others form opinions of us based on the words that appear beside our names. Writing ability (or lack thereof) is a part of that. Like it or not, that's the reality. Maybe it's shallow, but is it really any more shallow than preferring a certain hair color or body type?

Feel free to flame me.

(cough-sarcasim-cough)

i miss spell words on line because im typing out, my mind doesnt think as fast as im typing so ill finish words before i relize how i spelt them.

i try and type out the most correct way but most of the time, simple corrections that evade my mind, slip in.

of course, there are words that i cant spell for the life of me. like concouse. conchuouse? (state of being aware opposed to be asleep or knocked out.)

 

[Guest]

 

[Eilan]

I think Eilan hit it right on regarding education; it's a cooperative effort between teacher, student and parent.

The principal's welcome statement in my kids' student handbook says: "Welcome to ******** Elementary School. All the members of the staff and I are pleased to have you as a student and will do our best to help make your experience here as productive and successful as you wish to make it."

I probably wouldn't have worded it exactly that way, but I pretty much agree with it.

I bitched about this in WPMO last spring, but my oldest daughter's first-grade class was supposed to put on a short spring play before one of the PTO meetings. The teacher sent home numerous reminders, and out of 23 students, only five showed up. The teacher was understandably disappointed. The parents around here are pretty apathetic. Granted, I live in a rural area with a pretty high poverty rate, and I'm sure that has something to do with it, but like Scalywag, I see the same parents at all school functions.

But to get back to phoenix1224's original post, if you're on the message board of an erotic story site, you should be able to spell certain sexual terms correctly. If you can't spell it, you shouldn't be doing it.

 

[SweetErika]

But to get back to phoenix1224's original post, if you're on the message board of an erotic story site, you should be able to spell certain sexual terms correctly. If you can't spell it, you shouldn't be doing it.

Yeah, and if you're asking for people to advise you, or give you advice, you ought to know which is which.

Paul, you brought up a good word...conscious. A lot of people spell that wrong and confuse it with conscience.

con·scious
adj.
1.
1. Having an awareness of one's environment and one's own existence, sensations, and thoughts. See Synonyms at aware.
2. Mentally perceptive or alert; awake: The patient remained fully conscious after the local anesthetic was administered.
2. Capable of thought, will, or perception: the development of conscious life on the planet.
3. Subjectively known or felt: conscious remorse.
4. Intentionally conceived or done; deliberate: a conscious insult; made a conscious effort to speak more clearly.
5. Inwardly attentive or sensible; mindful: was increasingly conscious of being watched.
6. Especially aware of or preoccupied with. Often used in combination: a cost-conscious approach to further development; a health-conscious diet.


con·science
n.

1.
1. The awareness of a moral or ethical aspect to one's conduct together with the urge to prefer right over wrong: Let your conscience be your guide.
2. A source of moral or ethical judgment or pronouncement: a document that serves as the nation's conscience.
3. Conformity to one's own sense of right conduct: a person of unflagging conscience.
2. The part of the superego in psychoanalysis that judges the ethical nature of one's actions and thoughts and then transmits such determinations to the ego for consideration.

 

[averageblonde]

Thank you, I thought I was the only one who was getting annoyed by the mispelled words. Seriously, just read it over for a quick spellcheck.

 

[wicked woman]

Lots of us will judge you on your ability to spell. Whether it's true or not, some of think you aren't very intelligent if you can't spell. If you don't care...fine...otherwise, try to improve your spelling and use a spellchecker.

I know English isn't some people's first language, especially here on an internet site, and I'll gladly give them the benefit of the doubt until I can speak/write their language as well as they do English...which isn't going to happen...but as someone stated above, usually it's not someone who has English as a second or third language that is mispelling words.

Typos are different...I dislike them immensely but have to admit we're all human...me included. *hoping I didn't just make one*

 

[shannon_est]

Bestiality... NOT beastiality.

Well, I'll be damned! Does the porn industry know this? *giggle*
I don't think I've ever seen it spelled the correct way, until now. I think people assume the incorrect way is right due to the fact that animals are called beasts not bests. Wow! Ya learn something new every day.

My main spelling pet peeve is words that sound alike, homophones.
You're/Your
Knew/New
Know/No
Hear/Here
There/Their/They're

etcetera.....

Wal-Mart has Webster's dictionary in paperback form for $3.94 ... I think every one should have one.

 

[EJFan]

i forgot about these:

chose/choose

lose/loose

given the option, i'd never chose the lose pussy.

 

[mrtnmoon]

wow.... it's like deja vu.....

this has probably already been covered here, but bad spelling really pisses me off. for the most part I can overlook it, and I can usually tell the difference between a typo and someone not knowing how to spell something. I can overlook typos, too.

where it ventures into "piss me off" territory is seeing a word like this: orgasim (or orgasam).... or the misspelling of any other word of a sexual nature, for that matter, on a site like literotica where the correct spelling of the word is so readily available. I've even seen posts where someone will quote another post that contains the correct spelling of a word, only to then have the person doing the quoting go on and spell it in their own creative way.

now, my grammar isn't always the best, so hopefully you understood what I just said. if not, you grammar geeks have every right to be pissed off at me..lol.

now, to add one that I used to see quite frequently in my chat room days: it is truly amazing the number of people that wear underware....

 

[SweetErika]

wow.... it's like deja vu.....
now, to add one that I used to see quite frequently in my chat room days: it is truly amazing the number of people that wear underware....

It was just such a good idea, it deserved a whole thread. People are even learning!

 

[M's girl]

It was just such a good idea, it deserved a whole thread. People are even learning!

Hey! Yes, interesting all this..... Have to find the time to go through the whole thread some day. It's just good to see that there are actually people (still) caring about this because sometimes I wonder....

A former BF of mine was not very good at grammar and spelling. Every now and then (not too often but still....) he used to leave me sweet short notes... Even in these few sentences he managed to produce spelling and/or grammar errors. It's not nice of me maybe.... but for me it took away the pleasure of receiving the note. Is that crazy? Of course I never told him that and thanked him for them anyway; I could never be that harsh because his intention was sweet, I know.

When I met M through an ad on internet (my ad) I had this long wishlist and as a result (sort of) of the spelling mistakes my ex used to make all the time I asked for someone who was at least decent at Dutch in writing too.... You can't even imagine all the remarks I got on that one. Almost everyone who responded said something about it. That was funny.....

M, by the way, did not.... his Dutch is 'decent' enough for my likes and he writes lovely, funny, sweet and sexy stuff to me on a daily basis.

Can anyone relate to the sweet notes versus spelling and grammar errors? Am I that bad and picky or are other people the same?

 

[Quoll]

It drives me nuts when people mix up idioms/sayings, like "take it with a grain assault" or "for all intensive purposes." Yes, I know they're difficult to hear correctly, but when you stop and think about it, does assaulting grain really make sense?
100 Most Often Misspelled Words
100 Most Misprounounced Words

I couldn't find beastiality anywhere there, everyone must spell it rightly.

this drives me ape shit too. one friend of mine does it habitually and i just want to kick him in the eye when i read it.

What about those smartarses that do it on porpoise?
I mean I don't want to cast any nasturtiums about any body of course.
Actually I have such a bad habit of doing this that I struggle to find the real meaning sometimes, I guess that's what becomes of being a heathen and an apiarist.

I'm a lot like Eilan, I can proof read until I am blue in the face and I still miss them. I hate seing my spelling mistakes in old posts and will always edit them, of course if someone has quoted me I'm screwed.

My pet hate here ! (sp?), so you know it's spelt wrong, you are online presumably, how many seconds does it take to check it, hell even Google will ask if you meant something else.

To add to the spellchecker progs. WordWeb

 

[Munachi]

Oh yes, I very much agree. I can forgive typos, or lazy spelling (i.e. not capitalizing, writing "im" instead of "I'm", etc.), but when someone obviously doesn't know how a relatively simple word is written, they just don't seem too intelligent to me, and I find it a very big turn-off in fact. English isn't even my first language so if a native speaker makes mistakes that I notice right away, something must be wrong. Though I admit that in a way I have it easier, I learned English through writing, so sometimes the written version of a word is the one I know better, not the spoken version.

Btw, I find bad spelling to be quite a lot more common for speakers of English, and for Latin Americans (interestingly, less so for people from Spain)... Ha, back when I lived in Chile, I would copy notes from a friend, as my Spanish wasn't good enough yet to understand what the teacher was saying, but I would correct her spelling mistakes.

 

[M's girl]

Thanks for the two "100" lists, very nice and helpful... bookmarked them too...

 

[SweetErika]

Thanks for the two "100" lists, very nice and helpful... bookmarked them too...

You're very welcome. There were some on there that I mispronounce and misspell, many that have become so common in the U.S. that they're now considered "correct." I learned a lot from reading them, and there were some great sayings for understanding rules and remembering.

 

[Munachi]

oh i remembered one mistake i really find annoying: "of" instead of "have"... i.e. "should of" instead of "should have", etc.

 

[M's girl]

It always amazes me if people do not know when to use to and too... on the other hand.... I'm sure I make plenty mistakes too (haha) so don't all jump on me all at once.... please... (like...... one at a time I like better .... hihi)

 

[Mary Hall]

I hate when people type in text speak, that`s so fucking annoying. How hard is it to actually type out the whole word and not just a few?

 

[wicked woman]

Changeable - The verb "change" keeps its [e] here to indicate that the [g] is soft, not hard. (That is also why "judgement" is the correct spelling of this word, no matter what anyone says.)

Yes you do learn something new every day. I always spelled it 'judgement' until I saw a title of a book that spelled it 'judgment'. Was surprised, but figured I must have gotten it wrong. Well! Published or not...I was right *changing back to my original spelling*

 

[Quoll]

Yes you do learn something new every day. I always spelled it 'judgement' until I saw a title of a book that spelled it 'judgment'. Was surprised, but figured I must have gotten it wrong. Well! Published or not...I was right *changing back to my original spelling*

Three different dictionaries accept it spelt either way, just in case you had stopped being confused.

 

[wicked woman]

Three different dictionaries accept it spelt either way, just in case you had stopped being confused.

aw damn! Well I like 'judgement'...so I'll stick with it...thanks for nothing quoll

 

[Lynxie]

I'm so glad that other people share my neuroses about spelling and grammar. I guess I just don't understand why so many people just don't care about their spelling, grammar, or pronunciations. I've got dictionary.com bookmarked, so if I'm not sure how to spell something or need to look up a word meaning, it's as easy as opening up a new browser window.

What really bugs me is that some schools are even permitting phonetic spelling. This is why so many American kids are using spellings like these:

wut : what
no : know
hay: hey
u : you

It drives me crazy! How lazy can our society get?

 

[midwestyankee]

For anyone who is an inveterate editor (note that someone who is an inveterate does, in fact, have a spine), a great read is the book, Eats, Shoots, & Leaves by Lynn Truss.

I have more than once announced that it should be a capital offense to misuse the possessive as a plural so I surely qualify to join in the club of those who are offended by poor spelling and illiterate grammar in online posts.

 

[Guest]