Why are some people so hung up on poor grammar/spelling?

Question

On Yahoo Answers I mean?

I often find such people have very little of interest to say.

I'd rather be a free thinker than an educated snob.

In response to IBDoyle. You're right my education is not yet completed, I'm am always learning something new. I think life would be boring if I knew everything!

And no, I don't think all educated people are snobs - only those people who make the assumption that just because someone can't spell properly, or thinks that 'abit' is a word - that this means they are stupid or incapable of having original and insightful opinions on a subject.

Answer 1

I would rather be a free thinker also. As to the why you have to remember that everyone is different and we all have different taste. What is boring for me is exciting to others. You just have to take people as they are. Good luck!

Answer 2

Poor grammar and the use of text "language" is lazy and the sign of being very sloppy. It shows lack of intelligence. It shows that you can't be bothered..... I think people who don't use any capitalisation, grammar, sentence structure and letters to replace entire words (eg - u for YOU) look unintelligent, lazy and stupid. I often find such people have over inflated ego's and are full of themselves. Often have FAR TOO MUCH To say ABOUT THEMSELVES... expect others to stroke their egos and agree with everything they say...

I think people who use correct grammar and spelling are free thinkers because generally they have a better education, a more enquiring mind and think a lot deeper. Having an education does NOT change your social class, having a degree doesn't make you a snob.

Answer 3

It's pretty sad to see how badly people communicate these days, especially in writing. It didn't used to be that way. People actually used to read books. Before the advent of television, the written and spoken word was all-important and it mattered how gracefully and skillfully you wrote and spoke. For decades now, because of television, the image has become the central mode of communication and there's been an alarming deterioration in people's ability to communicate and also to THINK, not to mention a great decrease in attention span. And this has grave consequences because such a decrease in intellectual power makes people weaker, and weak people are vulnerable to manipulation. And boy, are we being manipulated!

So the issue isn't grammar or spelling per se; nitpicking is sort of an irritable and helpless response to a real problem that some people sense but feel helpless to do anything about, and so they focus on the smaller issue that they can easily criticize. If you're really a free thinker--or more importantly, a strong and coherent thinker--then your grammar isn't all that important. But so many people can hardly write at all, which one sees on the Internet all the time, and their thinking is pretty poor, too.

Answer 4

The question would be where does it end? How long do you allow people to spell the language badly, forget about grammar? Do you let it go once, twice, or always? Then where does that leave our language - constantly changing and nobody knows how to spell anything at all. This would lead to confusion and a break down of the language. Spelling and grammar are the rules and regulations of a language, and as for most rules and regulations, they are there for a reason. All it takes is a little discipline to get it right, even if you genuinely struggle with it.

Answer 5

I will occasionally make an error, of course, even a stupid one like using you're instead of your or to instead of too... and when I read it back I'm appalled at myself for doing it because I know better.

The way one presents oneself in type written form becomes a reflection of who they are. I see rampant errors and think, "oh, this one must be a child" (literally, someone under 15 years of age). I have been surprised to find on here that often that is not the case. I do find it hard to take the question or answer seriously when it's written poorly. It's difficult to read, sometimes more difficult to decipher what the writer meant to say, and really... inexcusable when there's a spell checker tool built into this system.

I don't believe it's being an educated snob to ask someone who speaks English and was taught English in school for at least 12 years to exercise what they know. Otherwise they're just being lazy and expecting everyone else to do extra work in figuring out what the heck they meant to say.

Answer 6

you're so right, yet now you have have been given me all started, this might run and run! forget foreign places clientele of English - a lot of them write and communicate the damn language greater valuable than the natives! it extremely is the indigenous inhabitants who're the undertaking, and it extremely is basically partly laziness. the factors of training in English have plummeted interior the final 40 years, and if the lecturers can no longer become familiar with the language, what threat do the scholars have? it extremely isn't any longer 'in' to teach sentence shape, so young toddlers do no longer even comprehend a thank you to construct sentences. think of asking housebuilders to erect an entire assets without showing them a thank you to combination, and use, cement - it extremely is an identical with language. And text fabric communicate!! it particularly is killing the skill to spell (which isn't very good at present besides), and larger eroding sentence shape. I warned you this might take place - so i'm going to offer all and sundry a ruin before I initiate on apostrophes, that are the two completely misused, or thoroughly omitted. extremely, mon enfant, vous avez raison, as they say en francais!

Answer 7

Bad spelling and incorrect grammar tells us the quality of education in UK (for e.g). I come from a town in East Midlands that 'learns people' .
He brought a new shirt at the shop, you know that as you was there.
I was never corrected at school spoken nor written. It's only when It's time to learn a second language that you realise just how bad your grammar is!
I also think texting shortened words is going to kill any spelling and grammar skills we already have!

Answer 8

We can tell quite a lot about a person who's writing is untidy. Most probably that person would be unkempt. unwashed, and uneducated. That is just for starters.
There is no such person as a free thinker,"if" we have to put it into words on a page, we are all imprisoned by language, and to be understood we have to use language and punctuation to the very best of our ability.

Answer 9

I am not too concerned with perfect grammar. But spelling which leaves me in the dark is irritating, especially because the spell checker is a click away. And I assure you, my spelling is horrible. Brevity and clarity should be the goal of writing, thought and speech.

And unlike you, I prefer the discipline of an educated snob to the laziness of a free thinker.

Answer 10

Because it is important when communicating to do so correctly. To be a free-thinker, as you have put it, you must first have education enough to understand the world around you. Without understanding it you cannot comment as to how to improve society. Education is a most vital part of life, and if you think of the educated as "snobs" then yours is not yet completed.

IBDoyle

Answer 11

Forums such as this are about communication, and it is not too much to expect that people at least take some time to proof read, especially as there is a spell checker provided.

To moan about the occasional error would indeed be pedantic, but many questions on here have appalling mistakes. I am not talking about the odd typo, missed punctuation or a bit of dodgy grammar. Some are barely English!