When there is a spelling mistake on a question why do people just criticise the spelling?

Question

I mean it's not as if we all sleep with a dictionary under our pillow and it wouldn't be too bad if the question was being answered BUT just to make a comment about the mistake is so sad.
By the way please feel free to comment about any spelling mistakes - only if you have nothing better to do!!!

Answer 1

i know what you mean I'm blind and hit the wrong keys some time or just guess the one i want and some times people have been aw full just please remember not every one is perfect i get very upset ans am starting to wonder if its worth putting up with the flack

Answer 2

The only time I think it is acceptable to attack someone's spelling or typing is when they are claiming to be smarter or more enlightened than other people. In this case, it's okay to knock them down a peg by showing that they might not have a complete understanding of what they're talking about. It is, of course, never okay to tease someone that isn't a native speaker. They could be corrected privately (or publicly in a polite manner) but that should have no bearing on the point the person was making. Having said that, I think that typos, misspellings, and other errors have no place here at Yahoo! Answers. There are numerous tools to help you with spelling, and even Yahoo has its own form of spellchecker. But this is not a forum for discussion. Off-hand comments and errors shouldn't be a part of it. The answers should be as accurate and concise as possible, and that includes proper form. Just because someone has a few flaws in their presentation doesn't mean the presentation is worthless, but the better we can make our answers the more useful and reliable this site becomes.

Answer 3

All cultures must have common excepted spelling so that meaning is conveyed definitively rather than connotative. Its not what we think we mean but what we actually wish to convey to the listener. Wars are launched and won or lost just on which words are used. I believe that each thought is an appeal to a higher authority for an answer and every word a prayer--in the sense of physics and the how the multiverse works; not just in a metaphysical way. We have to have common meaning so that we are not just like Alice in wonderland with creatures, the meaning changes depending on what I want it to mean. Literacy depends on meanings that are always the same. French is limited by the government so that all words will have a common meaning whereby US English is evolving from Latin and Greek and ancient words do not mean what they did when they were first spoken. Any dictionary is an an authoritative source. Great communication engenders peace, understanding, support and community feelings and a "oneness" that humans have been seeking before time began...

Answer 4

Some people make no effort even to use the spell check, and others try to be clever and think of quick abbreviations that no one will understand.
Some people are lucky enough to be of an older generation when schooling and grammar teaching was a lot better. And there others that are just better educated full stop.

If your no good at touch typing your bound to make a mistake or to, Think for a minute if you quickly need an answer to something quickly you don’t always check for spelling, you get ragged on about it for no reason, some people are just out to pick fault with other people. Its also a cheap cheaters way to gain 2 lousy points whilst having a go at some poor old sod making them feel bad.

Answer 5

Not only is your spelling perfect but you also know how to use apostrophes.

Unfortunately I'm one of those sad old cases who gets irritated with poor spelling.

I had a traditional education where we were taught to spell correctly from a very early age and tested regularly - just as much or even more than the children are tested now.

I went on to a Grammar school where a high standard of English was expected no matter what subject we were doing so whether it was History, Geography, Physics or Chemistry etc. we were penalised for poor spelling and grammar.

I feel that if someone can't be bothered to write grammatically or spell properly it's disrespectful to the recipient - as if the writer thinks that the recipient isn't worth the effort.

Answer 6

I have picked up on people who have not spelt properly or have forgotten to capitalise a letter. But, the twice I have done it has been because: the first person asked the question, why can't people spell? and so I Iooked at the question because I can't spell, and I thought she was genuinely interested to find out if there was a reason, IE a part of the brain that doesn't function properly, only to find that when viewed fully the question was being insulting to people who couldn't spell. She wrote underneath the question, are they stupid? However, she had forgotten, or didn't know, to capitalise the, I, she used to refer to herself, so I pointed this out merely as a way of drawing her to her own lack of perfectionism. I asked her the question back ,are you stupid? IE for not being perfect either.

The second time I did it was because someone else was being all, look at me I'm ever so intelligent and I'm slagging you off because you are stupid for not knowing the answer to the question someone had posted, but they themselves had then forgotten something like an apostrophe. So, I again pointed out, are they stupid for not knowing about apostrophes? It's a way of pointing out none of us are perfect. In my case criticising some else's spelling, grammer and puncuation is like the pot calling the kettle black. Content, I proclaimed, was more important than spelling.

And spell checkers are not that good either for non spellers. They don't know if the word you used was the right word, so a word could be incorrectly spelt for the word you wanted but not incorrectly spelt for the word it is. A spell check has no understanding of context.

Answer 7

Because people just like to think themselves superior. I must admit it does make me cringe when I read questions that seem to have been asked by a retarded amoeba ... I think the popularity of text speak coupled with the low standards of education particularly among younger people has a lot to do with it ... If anyone wants to ask a question, surely it wouldn't take too much longer to spell-check the thing? There is a button on here for exactly that purpose!

PS: I didn't find anything wrong with the spelling in your question, but I would suggest a comma between "...question why ..." - but then I didn't have anything better to do :-)

Answer 8

Why do they do it? As you suspect, it's mostly because they do not actually have something worth saying, so criticising people's spelling gives them something to write about and makes them feel good.

The problems with spelling English mainly arise because of the inconsistencies in the English writing system, which has never been properly revised over the years. Portuguese, for instance, gets revised every 50 years, and has a consistent writing system which makes it easy for children to learn to read and is easy for everyone to write. Ours is a dreadful drain on educational resources, but the status of English as an international language makes it difficult for us to change it.

A spellchecker doesn't help, by the way, when the word would actually be spelt correctly if it came in a different sentence - such as "their" and "there".

Answer 9

I think it's because the mistakes are usually so basic that it makes you wonder about the intelligence of the person asking the question. It also raises big questions about the state of the teaching of English in schools today. There is also a spell check button for people not sure of their spelling. The none use of this indicates that people just don't care about spelling which is more sad than the people making the comments!
Anyway, couldn't find any mistakes in your question so well done!!

Answer 10

Because they are pathetic mostly. I do get a bit narked when people spell badly or use bad grammar but only in letters etc (unless it's very bad)

I think it's when they don't have an answer and want to put something down, so they get their points.

If they commented on the spelling then gave an useful answer it wouldn't be as bad.

Answer 11

some people have nothing better to do than try to get as many points as possible, and it is not like the points will actually get you anything, but however i do think that we should check our spelling more, and for me i am one of those who are too lazy to check it, or sometimes going too fast and forget.

but when we ask a question we shouldn't have to listen to other people criticise us for our spelling, for all they know we could be dyslexic and that is just unfair or even worse we could have a slight mentality problem and not be that good at spelling and just not think about it because to us it is not important. i am saying this because my brother is not quite as smart as others and does not think about his spelling ever, it just does not register with him that it is wrong, if he can read and understand it then it is ok.

so maybe we should all give people a break and leave them be, we are not all teachers and do not need to go around correcting other peoples spelling errors. i am sure the errors in their life are slightly worse than spelling!