Is the Internet killing Standard English or Scots???

[porthos]

Because of the extremely strange spelling and grammar on here, some posts are almost impossible to read, particularly when people are getting into a heated argument. I've learnt not to mention any particular posters on here and I'm not talking about random typos (I personally have a habit of missing out 'not's - embarrassing!!!); I'm talking about those who just let their fingers hit the keyboard and hope for the best.

I also appreciate that problems such as dyslexia can present difficulties, but it seems that they are not the only problems. And I would encourage people to write in Scots as much as they can, so I'm not talking about dialect either.

I'm talking about standard spelling and grammar (present in Scots and English) - how important is it on an internet forum? Or has it had its day? And does anyone proof-read anything anymore???

[joxville]

Know idear if enywun proof reeds enymoor, the wurld is in sutch a big hury that wee dont hav tiem to stop n sea wot we rote. ;)




Personally, I think it's just laziness. :roll:

[orkneycadian]

You can kill the English with the Internet?

What will they think of next! Where do we sign up? :D

[George Brims]

And does anyone proof-read anything anymore???

I always carfully proofread in case I words out.

[Kenn]

I don't think it has anything to do with the internet although there can be a tendency to abbreviate words as one might do when texting.
My feeling is that many people are either not able to spell,punctuate or know the correct usage of vocabulary.
What ever the reasons for this, be it lack of education,lack of confidence or a medical condition it is sad that there is a high percentage who for what ever reason are unable to express themselves in a way that is comprehensible.
This is a great pity both for them and others as they are excluded from the poetry of the written word.
I am not referring to those who use a local dialect although that can cause some confusion when addressing a general forem .

[orkneycadian]

An interesting view, as it echoes the thoughts on a previous thread here a few months back, that employers were struggling to get employees who were literate and numerate.

[Stuart Little]

Yee folks need to keep your business oot o other people's spelling prob's and typeing errors and just sit back and keep yer own self importance to yerself!! This is a pritty picky thread!!!

[Tugmistress]

Yee folks need to keep your business oot o other people's spelling prob's and typeing errors and just sit back and keep yer own self importance to yerself!! This is a pritty picky thread!!!

i think you have missed the point, this is not meant to be a 'picky thread' at all by my understanding.
the lack of grammar and spelling can be quite bad at times, and as someone has said sometimes there are genuine reasons for it, as in dyslexia etc. i know i don't use capital letters when typing on a forum, i am 'lazy' in that respect, but i do try to spell and use grammar properly ( though probably do drop the odd ooops ;) )
when i went to school we had spelling tests in junior school and any work we handed in, for whatever subject, the spelling was also marked, this carried on in to senior school.... now my youngest daughter is approaching 20 and throughout her schooling i was appalled at her spelling - the teachers told me at a parents evening on more than one occassion that spelling and punctuation were not important anymore, as long as what the kids wrote was understandable then it was fine and they were not corrected! to me this 'trend' has to stop or we will end up with a nation trying to decipher the written word.

flame proof knickers and vest at the ready! ;)

[Gronnuck]

I think if you want to communicate a thought, a concept, an idea or an opinion it would be advantageous to do so in a manner that can be understood. While I accept that people will make the occasional mistake it really is just good manners to make the effort to make sure your words can be read and understood.
Stuart Little's contribution makes no sense at all - "other people's spelling prob's and typeing errors", are everyone's business if they make a contribution to a public thread and want to be understood.
Detractors may well think I'm being 'picky', well they are entitled to their opinion. I've got no problem with that so long as they express that opinion in a way that can be properly understood.

[ducati]

ifgod wanrted us to rite prper on this form he would jhave given us a spell check.

[gleeber]

I would take the opposite view. The internets reviving English. I remember when I was a kid my mother and my grandfather were always writing letters to family members in faraway lands. In those days Inverness was still 5 hours away. Since then most people got the phone in and it was easier to call them and talk in person. Then along comes the internet. Not only was the concept of instant texting new but some of us had to make ourselves understood in a way we never did before and with thoughts we usually kept to ourselves. In my case it took time to reform my thinking to the written word and i see it happening more often on the forums. Its more difficult for some but i try never to challenge bad English or grammar. I dont know how difficult it may have been for that person to put words to print and out in the open and then to be demolished in public is not on.

[Niall Fernie]

I have to agree wholeheartedly with Gleeber. After leaving school the majority of people never had to write very much down that would be scrutinised in any way. Think of all the things you write in a day. I would imagine that most people have scribbled notes around the house or on the fridge, phone numbers, shopping lists, addresses etc. Some people may have forms to fill in at work or something similar but most will never have to write out any great amount of text that anyone else will ever read. (my handwriting is only barely legible and only by myself, its hieroglyphics to anyone else)

The internet has introduced the written word as a method of communication to a huge number of people who have never had the chance to practice since leaving school. I know lots of people whom I would consider very intelligent whilst in a verbal conversation but have been surprised at how difficult it was to decipher their written communication. In the past, if I was only to get to know these people through text, I would probably have had a very different opinion of them. I am like Gleeber when it comes to challenging bad grammar or spelling, it's just rude, especially when you do not know of any underlying problems as Tugmistress points out.

I think that although we may not feel comfortable pointing out the mistakes of others we can hope that by simply reading text that uses good grammar and correctly spelled words the unpractised of the world will learn to construct better sentences and spell more words correctly. No one is beyond the spell checker, if even only to check for typos, I've used it at least 15 times so far in this post (not all typos).

The quote that always comes to mind when I see this topic is:


I am playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order.

Eric Morecambe

[Phill]

dunnowottheissueisjustbatterthekeyboardandhitsend

There has been a certain amount of 'dumbing down' in recent years, but not due to the interweb. I think txt spk played a wee part but I think (hope) that was just a phase, I know a university lecturer who was told to allow txt spk in thesis and other written work by his students, this beggars belief.

Also I worked briefly for a housing association that had a policy on letter writing, basically the policy was to remove all grammar and punctuation as this was assumed to make it easier for people to read and understand. For me it made it hard to write any letters that actually made sense and it smacked of the 'we're holier than thou' attitude of many public services, "you're in rented property so you must be thick".

As for peoples posts it generally doesn't matter to me how they write, unless it is a long rambling rant without punctuation then it does get difficult, but then I just don't bother reading it all. Spelling and typo's are neither here nor there, except when some people deliberately misspell to give the impression they are dyslexic or wanting to appear thick!

[brandy]

a mistake here and again never bothers me. its when the whole structure of the sentence is so messed up you cant even read it that drives me crazy.
not every one understands text, and while yes it seems to be acceptable to most of the kids out there.. it is not proper English in any form.
I wouldn't say that I am highly educated. I went thru school and had some University.
but, i do know how to read and write.
Mayhap, i slide a lot and get my context mixed up every now and again, but im not writing a term paper..
even so i do want people to be able to understand me, and to be able to understand them at the end of the day.
writing absolute gibberish does not make you look cool or trendy.. it makes you look ignorant.
if someone has problems such as dyslexia or other language disabilities well enough..
but when you are just too lazy and slovenly to write.. you shouldn't even be on a forum.
sorry thats just one of my hot buttons!

[Walter Ego]

I have no problem with mistakes or 'bad' grammar at all. As long as people are making an effort then that's fine by me. Also, if someone is writing in a caithness dialect then that's fine too, I go on another Scots based forum where most of the people write in local dialect or with more than a smattering of Scots. No problems with that either.

But....


I cannot abide lazy writing, examples would include "U r makingfunofme u r bad". That's not language - it is over use of text speak and it goes outside acceptable parameters when communicating with others.

The same applies to writing a complete long paragraph (or even post in some cases) without any breaks at all.

Both are examples of someone who is definitely capable of reading what is being posted by their peers, yet cannot be bothered to try and reply in a similar manner. Lack of education or dyslexia doesn't come into the equation here, lazyness does.