Why is it suddenly o.k. to be an awful speller?

Question

Why is it suddenly all right to use words like "r" in place of "are", "u" in place of "you" and "becoz" in e-mails to your professors and bosses? Is it really that hard to type and extra two or three characters? Are you people really getting jobs and graduating from high school?
I think it might be a text-message habit spilled over into an inappropriate environment.
How should I tell people that it makes them look stupid and uneducated without coming off as a hyper-critical, grammar psycho?

Oh no! You are all grammar psychos, too!

yes, yes...the "and" should be an "an" in front of "extra". Thank you all for bashing me in the face with that little typo. Thanks, Yahoo, for not letting me fix anything! There are no second chances on the internet.

Answer 1

Well I myself try hard to make myself understood, so no one has to ask me what I said or what I meant or what I am talking about...

When I write, either here in Answers or in email, I try very hard to write so the person reading my words will understand what I just said...

They won't look at my words and say "HUH?"
That way I don't have to explain all over again...

I actually have a long time friend of mine that will start their email somewhere in the middle of their thought and send it to me and I will read it and think, what on earth is she talking about...
Then I have to write her back and ask, then wait on her to reply...

It all takes a lot of time and by the time she writes me back, I have forgotten what I wanted to know, and the difference is, when I write, she never has to ask me what I meant...

I write as if the person will be hearing my story for the very first time, and I think that's a good rule of thumb to follow, so your readers will understand what you say in your writings...

I also place punctuation in the right place and spell correctly and use spell check...
It is not so hard if English is your primary language here in America where Answers is based...

Now I will forgive those in other countries because if I were to go to another country and speak incorrectly, I know people would make fun of me for not knowing the language, so it is not fair to make fun of those here that do not know...

However, if you are merely lazy and think you are hip on the new texting, you simply look ill equipped to speak and type English...
It is hard to read because when you also make spelling errors, we are not sure if you meant that or not...

Answer 2

There is a time and place for everything.

Text messages, casual emails and internet forums, spelling and grammar aren't that important. The basic idea is to communicate a message.

In the business or education environments, proper English is much more important.

A lot of people get blasted on this forum for not using proper English, however many forget there are several reasons for this.

This is a would wide forum, for many English is a second language. While some may have had extended classes in the language, others may have only attended a short course, or taught themselves.

This is a casual forum. While there is nothing wrong with spelling everything out, there is nothing wrong with using common modern abbreviations (LOL, BTW, ;-) .....

How to tell people they look stupid and uneducated with out coming off as a grammar psycho. Make sure you know the whole story, before you bite. Do you really want to call someone that might have a disability they are stupid?

If the person is a co-worker, or someone else you know well... you might want to give them a polite heads up on how to use the spelling & grammar check in their M.S. Word program.

You can politely say, "I notice you had a typo on your memo the other day." Then explain where the error was.

Food for thought.... bad spelling and grammar doesn't mean a person is stupid or uneducated... they may just not give a darn to what others think. To them there may be more important things to worry about, then if was 'a elephant' or 'an elephant'.

Answer 3

The best advice I can think of is to lead by example.

Then, if you are in a position to help someone always do.

You can't really fix the bad habits of other people.

And, remember, language is an ever evolving creature. People used to change spellings all the time before the dictionary was invented. I doubt that we will ever completly accept "u" in proper written language, but many people start their letters with "Hey" or "Hello" which, 40 years ago or more, would of been astonishingly bad grammer.

Also, its not ok to be a bad speller, I just think that this dictonary-spell check world is finally catching up with its roots becuase people like myself, and others, have so many learning disabilites that we simply cannot spell everything correct 100% of the time. But that dosn't mean I should use slang, which is all you are referring to.

Answer 4

By doing these shortcuts, we are saying that it is okay to be illiterate. That it doesn't matter to spell words correctly. Nobody seems to care, to make an effort to show that you can elevate yourself to a higher level. And that also goes for saying repetitive word phrases like: like, um, you know, etc...hardly Shakespeare. Some people feel if you can sort of understand the message, than that's just fine. That's not good enough, but most people are just content with sort of being understood. In a convoluted way that makes sense.

Also why do some people say when recalling something that someone said, they say: "He goes...", instead of saying: "He says..."?

People will do what they want to do, because their lazy, and are satisfied just doing only so much effort. Yeah, whatever.

Answer 5

I would like to know the cause of this problem myself. I read these questions and answers and just cringe. Surely the youth of today are not so poorly educated!

I do think some of it.. ie, the shortening of some words, is a text message habit... but not all of it is!

I wish I had the solution to this one.. I'd love to do the same thing! I'll be watching this one to see what remedies others may suggest.

Answer 6

Hahaha. i am going to't believe the variety of folk who're attempting to desirable your grammar even as this is thoroughly proper!! besides, to respond to your question: a million) Many words are spelt in yet in a unique way in American English compared to English 2) Many human beings are stupid 3) Many human beings are lazy 4) a lot of them imagine this is cool to spell incorrectly 5) a lot of them imagine that so long because the message receives for the length of, no longer something else concerns. regrettably factors 2 to 5 comprise a great number of English human beings too, purely go searching on yahoo solutions!

Answer 7

We've made it cool to be less intelligent. We deride intelligent people.

Our president (for those of us from the United States) intentionally mispronounces nuclear as "nucular," reportedly because focus groups showed he would be viewed more favorably.

Another factor is the laziness some mentioned already.

And yet another factor is the anonymity afforded by the Internet.

Answer 8

It's mostly a sign of the times. You guessed part of it, due to current times of email, text, and IM, it's easier to shorten everything, and some people carry that out into other aspects of their lives. Tell them that there is a time and place for everything...unless they are talking with friends, proper english should apply.

Answer 9

I don't think it IS suddenly aIlright, and it bugs the daylights out of me. I feel sure that most of the problem stems from the use of text messages due to the space limits and all....it's getting people lazy and they don't want to take the time to do it right....but that's no excuse to use it in other forums.
"How should you tell them?" Just TELL them plainly and concisely....the same way you did here!

Answer 10

It is alright to use it in chat rooms and such. Though it should not be used for official things to do with business and education. People use it because evryone else does and they are to lazy to learn to write properly. I make spelling mistakes im human but it should stop at that it should not be on purpose,