Do you judge people by the correctness of their speaking and writing?

Question

What's your opinion of a person who isn't a master in orthography, correct pronunciation, grammar or such things? Are you put off by that or you don't care? Actually, how much do you care about the correctness of the language used (in daily life, in newspapers, etc.)?

Answer 1

Yes it defenetely mater's. Its impocibell too take some one seeriuslee if they have defekoolties in ortographee...

Answer 2

If someone's not a master of language I don't care, I probably wouldn't even notice.
But when someone can't type or speak common English I get the impression that they're stupid. Unless, of course, it's obvious that the person's native language isn't English, it's actually pretty easy to tell a beginners English from a moron's English. For example, a beginner might say "Japan had a huge earth quake in 1995. The life of 6,000 were lost then." A moron would say "Jpan had a rly big urth quak in 1995 and 6,000 livs wer lost".

Answer 3

I wouldn't say that most of us judge so much as categorize people using those guidelines. That's just something our brain does naturally, it can't really be helped. At least with the first impression. We can, however, control how we categorize them after that point, when we have more information to go on.

I have a cousin with a brilliant mind, but she has never been able to make herself care one way or another about spelling. It isn't that she can't do it, she just can't work up the umph to think it is important.

But as for professionals? Yes, I sit severely in judgement on their use of language in performing their jobs. If they've not gone to the effort of learning the craft they specialize in, then it annoys the crap out of me to struggle through something they've written and published. A well written item will flow and keep your focus on the information you're receiving. You should not be distracted by incomplete sentences, poor grammar or lousy spelling.

For daily life in general, however - no, I don't see the point of making an issue of these things. The folks whose only answers to a question in this site are correcting the asker's spelling or phrasing, seem to me to be petty people who are only after the two points.

Answer 4

I try not to judge people on that, particularly in this forum as I can not know whether they are people speaking English as a second language (in which case any level of meaningful communication is impressive to me) or the user is dyslexic. I am also aware that many people make grammatical and typographical mistakes when typing fast in internet fora. I know I do, and I have no problems with my English.

However, a number of studies by psychologists have looked at this question and found that people who believe they are not being judgemental subliminally will judge negatively those who mis-spell or use language incorrectly. So - it is probably to an person's advantage to at least attempt to do the best they can, and not be sloppy.

Answer 5

Yes, especially if that is all I know of them, such as in an online environment.

I don't hold poor English against a person who is learning it as a second language. It may raise my opinion of them if I notice them improving and working hard to speak the new language correctly.

If someone doesn't bother to type words properly I think he is lazy and doesn't care about talking to me. I won't be as hard on someone who is a genuinely poor speller, but at least makes an effort to type carefully, but it will still influence me.

I like my newspaper to write well, because it is simply easier to read writing that uses conventional spelling and grammar.

Answer 6

There are too many variables to give a single answer.

If I am talking to someone who appears to be intelligent but who uses poor grammar, I'll wait to see how I feel. Grammar is not going to be the only tool used to measure my "acceptance" of a person.

If the language is used for media reporting, then yes, I expect proper grammar otherwise the message is skewed.

Handwriting...I work at a college. If you only knew how many applications we have to pitch because we cannot read the handwriting. Even though it says to print, people still print sloppily. Then we receive telephone calls from prospective students wanting to know why information was not mailed to them. Gee, I don't know...maybe because I couldn't read your name and address?!

People who do not use proper grammar and who write sloppy are lazy. If you want to move forward, make sure your communication skills are the best they can be. That's one of the things employers list when recruiting new employees at our career fairs.

I might add that the computer language so many of you young people use is not acceptable when in the business world.

PS Typing in caps is shouting and not appreciated.

Answer 7

It's more of an overall impression. If in person, it would include speech, cadence, confidence, body language, appearance etc. If not, it would be more along the lines of how the written or spoken words com across.

Answer 8

I care onlyto the degree of the amount of time I would like to spend with them.
A clerk in the store I dont care
Someone to make my friend, I care.

Answer 9

I do judge a person here on answers if their English and spelling are really bad
-as in so bad i can't understand the question

Answer 10

If they are in the process of learning the language that's wonderful and they deserve help and respect. However if it's just lazy ignorance it really bugs me. 'I seen the car go past', 'We was going there'. Makes me want to scream.

Ya, I know, take another Prozac.

Answer 11

If I don't know the person his/her spelling mistakes turn me off (typo mistakes aren't an issue). But worst: if the person is a fellow native Spanish speaker who pretends to forget his/her native tongue in order to pass off as "cultured," then I'm really pissed off.