They can't spell
(This is a short one but interesting given our recent discussion around use of grammar, punctuation and spelling when posting. Please note that while many of you have improved in these areas on the second reason but there are still a few of you posting without caps and with multiple spelling errors. Paragraph structure, punctuation and grammar are increasingly becoming a part of your mark with your posts.)
Lack of capitalization and IM codes dominate online writing. Without spellcheck, folks are toast.
22 comments:
I don't understand. I don't understand how it's our fault if it's his generation who is teaching us and raising us. So, how is it our fault if they are the ones who are supposed to be teaching us how to do these things. I personally suck at spelling and grammar, so I depend on the spell check, but others don't. This book makes no sense to me. This dude is saying OUR generation is stupid because of all of these reasons, but at the same time there's also people in his generation that are bad at the same things. Not every one likes to read for fun and not every one is great at spelling and grammar. This also applies for adults.
First of all I don't know why spelling is such a big deal especially when when IMing. Just because we don't use capitals, miss a few commas and periods and use too many abbreviations to count doesn't mean anything. We do that stuff to save time and everyone knows that time is the most precious commodity because we can't just get enough of it.
Who really cares about capitalization? I can start my sentences with whatever case I want. I must agree that names should begin with capitals and sometimes I use lowercase letters instead, except I why would people use a capital I instead of just i, like what is your name actually spelled I?
I cnduo't bvleiee taht I culod aulaclty uesdtannrd waht I was rdnaieg. Unisg the icndeblire pweor of the hmuan mnid, aocdcrnig to rseecrah at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mttaer in waht oderr the lterets in a wrod are, the olny irpoamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rhgit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whoutit a pboerlm. Tihs is bucseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey ltteer by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Aaznmig, huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghhuot slelinpg was ipmorantt! See if yuor fdreins can raed tihs too.
Copied ^ from google because that was the first thing that came to my mind when I read "They can't spell."
"Without spellcheck, folks are toast." Well isn't the whole point of spell check to check our spelling and correct it? But not having spell check is impossible that wouldn't make sense, not having spell check would toast us yes, but not having spell check is impossible so who really cares?
I agree with Mark Bauerlein on this one. I also think that yes, it is somewhat the previous generation's fault, but it is also our own for not caring. After Mr.Oickle mentioned the spelling, some people were acknowledging the fact they had spelled certain words wrong, but didn't bother to correct them. It's not that we don't know how, it's that we don't care and don't want to. (I would also like to point out to Mr.Oickle that our "discussion" on grammar was not a discussion but merely you warning us about grammar/spelling on the blog, and in your 2nd sentence the word "but" doesn't make any sense there.)
I'm getting really tired of this...
This guy has got to stop these generalizations! For the third time, this doesn't apply to everybody! My god, someone knock some sense into him! But anyway, it is true that MOST of us are not the greatest speller's, but if people still understand what you're putting down, who cares (e.g. Jeremy's post)? Even if you are concerned about spelling and grammar, use something called SPELL CHECK or a DICTIONARY (believe it or not, I used spell check for this post). But then again, I have to agree with Aggie that some people know they can look it up, but they don't bother. I think that it isn't the worst thing not being able to spell, but you should be sure to use spell check.
On IM I don't use capitalization or or spelling or grammar. I don't think it matters that much because I'm just trying to type whatever I need to say quickly. But I would never not use capitalization or spelling or grammar for anything but IM and texting. Or else it really does seem like I don't care. I do care about spelling and grammar but when it comes to IMing and texting I just really am too lazy. Not the whole generation is too lazy, just me.
I hope this post is spelled well enough for Mr. Bauerlein because I checked it over 5 times and used Spellcheck. So ha!
Everyone makes spelling mistakes. No one knows the whole dictionary front to back. All youth uses IM codes. Like Sierra said when I'm talking with one of my friends online I type quickly so I can tell them quicker using IM codes.
One thing I have to disagree about with he's statement, is that past generations make spelling errors too. They used a dictionary... so we use spell check. I just find it's higher technology. I bet people from past generations say “I wish I had spell check in my day.” Who wouldn't? Way easier then looking up words in a dictionary.
When I was younger my goal was to get all my spelling tests, right. And I really did accomplish that goal, I did really well on my spelling those years. Teachers when your younger teach you the basics, and you have to add on to your knowledge of words when you get older. Some people are good at spelling others aren’t. Some people have acts for spelling look at Aggie she always gets in to the Spelling Bee and she likes it. Some kids are good at it some are not but you still should try.
In conclusion, I see no harm in using spell check you have to say it's easier then using a dictionary, and with IM codes I don't think there should be a problem until you start handing in your homework with “i, u, lol, jk!” Haha. :)
I also agree with Mark Bauerlein on this quote. I think the reason why our generation "rit3 lik3 dis" is because we are to lazy to actually go over and review what we wrote in a nice paragraph format. To tell you the truth , I get furious when “ppl on fb rite lik3 dis all da time. Lik3 seriously rite clearly so every1 can understan.” But at the same time I don’t mind when people write “lol , jk ,lmfao and etc . I just don't like it when they do “dis.”
I personally think it is kind of necessary for our generation to use commas, capitalization, paragraph format's and etc. The reason why being is because in order for to us become writers, teachers and etc. we would have to know how to write in a nice orderly fashion. In general we should know how to write no matter what job we have , even if some of us become garbage men or something else , we still should know how to.
I agree with Maddie's point that its the generation before us that's 'encouraging' us, I guess. They are giving us things like spellcheck and websites that correct grammar and mistakes and let us exert as little energy as we can to find the spelling of something. Everything these days has to be quicker and easier and let us be lazy and get a program or machine to do it for us. It's not a generalization because it's extremely true.
Also, I think that Facebook and MSN drive bad habits into our brains! After the first month after I got a FB account I was spelling "with", "wit" and almost everything in short-form. People get lazy and don't check their spelling because they are so used to spelling everything in abbreviations.
Yes, okay everyone makes spelling mistakes but I don't think it really has anything to do with knowledge, so to speak, I think it's because of laziness, and how it's easier to put LOL, instead of: Wow, that's so funny.
If we keep inventing ways for us to do things easier and quicker, our age will become even more lazy then we are.
I agree and disagree with Mark. Yes, not everyone is amazing at grammar and spelling, including me. I would have a really bad grade if it weren't for spell check. So, before i hand any work in I check through it to make sure that i have all the correct spelling. But when I'm instant messaging someone, I don't feel the need to capitalize each sentence, and spell check the sentence before I send it out. No one cares if you have a misspelled word. When I'm IMing, I'm concentrated on talking to the person and not the spelling of each word.
ok, seriously? like rohini said, total generalization. i can spell. i can spell anything i want to. but why would i take the time to spell each word properly went im IMing someone? for like, essays and papers for school, ya you need to know how to spell and everything, but when im just, like chatting with a friend or something it really doesnt matter. i mean look how im writing now. im not putting capitals on every new sentence or putting apostrophes every where, and you guys dont really care, right? did you even really notice? but when im writing something important, my grammar will be perfectly fine.
This is one of Mark's weaker points. Spelling is very important, and I think most of you under-estimate it. Jeremy, I wonder if you'll ever get a job interview, because IF you do what the survey tells you, then employers won't even look past your resumé. While spelling and being able to word your thoughts are very important, a spell check can easily be used. In this case, spell check's aren't that bad, because while you correct your spelling, you often learn the correct spelling, and sometimes new words. Also, I think his statement is completely true, because most of us can't spell correctly, but we don't really care, because a spell check can make us look like a genius, without the effort. In his perspective, or to be honest, most of the last generation's view is that we can't spell, and its pretty much true, but we haven't yet seen the consequences of not being able to spell correctly, yet, so I doubt that we will start spelling well anytime soon.
I love how Hilary says she has no spelling problems and then says' that's why I don't continuously use SPELLCHACK!' I know it's a typo but it still makes me laugh. lol
It is true we are not as good spellers as our past generations, we depend on spell check online translations etc. But does that seriously mean were toast? Especially if it is when we are IMing? Is he for real telling us that typing with abbreviations is very bad. I do not know about you but I do not IM with my English teacher.
Also why is spelling so important when we just have spell check? Maybe without spell check it is true we might be toast but the thing is we have spell check. Its like saying without a car to get to your basket-ball game, you would be toast.
Also spell check is not perfect, when ever we have to type a project when i read over spell check does not correct everything. Plus, they give you options when you spell wrong so its not completely automatic when you spell something wrong, you still have to choose the right answer. Also you can't be totally off or spell check won't have the option that is right.
Wrong, wrong and wrong. We may use the short forms such as, b4, l8tr, brb, g2g, LMFAO... Etc, for instant messaging. Read that again INSTANT MESSAGING. The whole point of IMing is so that we can message one of our contacts fast for whatever reason we have. Just because we use short forms on Facebook, MSN etc doesn’t mean we can’t spell. Look at our class, we aren’t bad spellers are we? No we aren’t! Agatha and Sofia were in the spelling bee. We are not bad spellers just because we don’t always use proper spelling. Also capitalization we all know how to use it, it’s just we don’t use it online as it is faster to type without having to hit the shift button before every sentence. The reason we use spell check is so we can make sure it’s not wrong. Also the people that input all the corrections into the computer were from his generation most likely. I really don’t know what to say about this. Agreed on what you’re saying Faisa. That’s all I have to say.
Okay, so we do shorten our words when using MSN, or texting our friends or using the web. Well, okay I agree we are more depandant on spellcheck and many of us would be toast if there was no spellcheck. But saying that we can't write properly anymore because we always use spellcheck and use abriviations for a lot of our words, it's like saying we can't walk anymore because we always drive a car or take a bus and we are dependent on it, it's the same thing. It's not true. And besides when writing on Facebook or MSN, I don't think our goal is to write every word correctly and have every word written properly, it's more of getting the message sent to the other person. And why does it seem like he's blaming us for not knowing how to spell a word? In Mark's generation their were people who couldn't spell certain words, but they used the dictionary instead of spellcheck, none of us are perfect at spelling and grammar, so why is he blaming us for something that everyone does. But I do get the fact that we're worse then the past generation in a number of ways, but still it's too much of a generalization and I think some of the information might not be valid anymore since some of the data is from the 1800s.
Well, if don't have much to say about this. Basically what I’m trying to demonstrate here with this comment is that we, as a generation, CAN spell, use proper grammar, and paragraph format but the reason it doesn't always appear that way, it's true.
The reason that we don't always spell check and all that for every single thing we write is simply that we have a lot of things in our head we want to get out. We just write to get the point across, rather than going for perfection. Face it, you can read what we write when we don't go for perfection. Things don't always need to be written directly how it was intended to be as long as they don't get out of hand in the process.
I also agree, in a sense, with him in this area too. The part if agree with is the punctuation and structure because I know a LOT of people (you know who you are) who have a lot of trouble using punctuation. It takes me at least twice as long to read their work (or writing. whatever you want to call it) simply because I can’t tell when the sentence ends, when there's a pause in the sentence or when you want emphasis on a certain part. That’s why I always use commas, periods and bolding/capitalization even on facebook so I can get my message across.
50% of communication is body language and 30% is tone/ expression of voice so what does that leave for the words? 20%. I believe that since your words can only get your message across 1/5 as efficient, those words should be pretty darn good. But this is also why people like us use emoticons. They allow us to improve our message's delivery so we can afford to misspell a couple of words. Also your words still take a back seat to you punctuation just because it’s of THAT little importance. You still have a bit of slack with the words and how they're spelled because, after all, it IS only 1/5 of you communication.
In response to a few comments: first Jeremy’s: to be truthful, if someone else hadn't used that study as proof, I would have because I saw it a couple years ago and it popped into my head when I saw that post by Mr. O. But props to you for using it, I like it!
In response to middies’: in a way, I kind of expanded on your secondary idea because I was talking about how we just want to get our point across, rather than going for perfection, because we HAVE tools like spell-check. Why invent those if you aren’t going to use them? Really.
Here I’m just going to add as little message to Hilary. LOL HILARY! i don't mean to be a downer, but here I’m reading your comment and you're talking about how you don’t need spell-check because you can spell great apparently..... Except...... YOU MISSPELLED "SPELLCHECK"! LOL!
Ok I’m done with that. But I did literally laugh out loud when I saw that.
I disagree with raj's statement because I think most of us CAN spell, but like I said, we chose not to for speed's sake.
Ai whope ai deed noht mispelh two menee thins ther. yoo no aim noht de smartast. :P
No actually we are not toast without spellcheck because we can't spell right. I personally don't have any problems with spelling and therefore don't need to continuosly use spellcheck unless the word is harder than most words to spell. Yes there are people who have trouble with spelling but they can't help it. I have even seen some teachers in the school who have trouble spelling some of the most simplest words!! And about the IM codes, so what if we use them?! We use abbreviations all the time and I don't see anything wrong with that. We are smart enough to have made them all up and he's calling us dumb?!
Humans evolve , our generation is known to just go with the "flow" , and that's exactly what were doing , we don't spell bad on purpose or use short term words like lol..etc , we use it because it is much faster and simpler. We Its not because we don't know how to spell. I also know there was a research done on how us humans can write if the first letter and the last letter are in order we can still understand whats been written. Its not only our generation who write like this, the older generations such as his are starting to follow along.
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