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As an aspiring writer, I blog about whatever happens to move me at the moment -- though some posts contain serious content, my big-picture goal is to bring a little humor into an often humorless world! Welcome, y'all, and make yourself at home! Please make sure you update your bookmarks!


When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger...Epictetus





Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Pet Peeve of the Day

Can people not spell or use correct grammar any more?

I've been reading a lot on the health care debate -- which is neither here nor there for this particular post -- it's just a nod to what kind of blogs, etc, I've been reading -- and I don't think I've ever seen such poor use of the English language.

I realize that not everyone has had the same amount of schooling -- and I also know that some people know better and just don't care (which is a another problem, right there). They bang out something on their keyboard and then hit send or post before checking for mistakes. Maybe I'm just anal but I often read my blog or forum posts -- not to mention e-mails -- several times before I ever let them go out. Sure, mistakes slip through but, for the most part, I'm very careful about spelling and grammar. When people don't seem to give a fig, well, I pretty much tune out then and there. Perhaps it's wrong of me but when people are trying to debate something important and they murder the English language, I wonder if they really have a clue about anything else.

By the way, we once had a hound dog who we named "Peeve" because he was our "pet Peeve"...

5 comments:

  1. I know just what you mean! I'm a stickler for using proper English.

    Now spelling - I know how to spell but my fingernails hit wrong keys - need to get them filed down soon. I do read over everything before I hit send, but every once in a while something will slip by me.

    My biggest problem is when people say "I wish I was" instead of "I wish I were." Or use incorrect pronouns - "She went to the store with Mary and I" instead of "with Mary and me."

    Love the dog's name!

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  2. As far as spelling, dictionary.com is one of my dearest friends!

    And, yeah, I make mistakes all the time and I know other people do that, too -- but, Lord, when you read a simple paragraph and nearly every other word is misspelled -- or the grammar is wrong, it really makes me wonder what kind of education folks are getting -- or what is it that makes them not care.

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  3. I make tons of mistakes when I'm typing, but I try not to inflict that on readers. It's called proofing. For the most part, there seems to be little or no pride about communicating effectively on the net. There is just this rush to be heard and hang whether or not it's worth being heard.

    Also, there is a difference in typos/typing skills and poor spelling and grammar.

    Frankly, if someone has something worth reading, I care a lot less about their ability to spell or use good grammar. But most people don't have much worth reading. Not because I think I'm better than them, but because they say pretty much the same things that I and everyone else might say. So if there is poor spelling and grammar that really makes it not worth spending time.

    BTW, I love the dog's name too, and yeah, dictionary.com is also my friend. :D

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  4. I agree -- everybody makes typos (although these can still be caught and fixed). Sometimes I've read through something which I thought I had proofed and there'll be a glaring error which I didn't catch during previous edits. But, over all, the lack of grammar and spelling just smacks of not caring.

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  5. And now I'm aggravated because most of the book reviews on Amazon are filled with mistakes, too!

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