99 replies to this topic

[Orcseeker]

Cybele, on 10 November 2012 - 05:55 PM, said:

It's not much shorter than the correct "Where are you?", so I don't see it as a function of ease, but of convention.

"Where are you at" is also correct, the "at" being a clarifier or a connector for the receipient to respond with a "I'm at...".

[Orcseeker]

Hilander, on 12 November 2012 - 12:21 AM, said:

Bad grammar doesn't bother me unless its so bad its difficult to comprehend what they are talking about.  What really bugs me is lack of paragraphs.  I don't care if you break them up in the wrong place just do it.  I'll often skip over those long threads/posts that have no paragraphs.

Also Writing Like This Really Bothers Me And Most Likely I Am Giving You A Headache Now Like I Am Getting One From Just Writing It.

[Purplos]

I'm a writer. I love language.

That being said, I never point out someone's grammar mistakes on forums and such. I understand people of all different ages, nationalities and education levels post here, and that's fine. But it does bother me.

If someone uses excessively poor grammar, I judge them by it. Things like the difference between there, their and they're might make me pause, but I can get over it. If people can't do simple noun-verb agreement or create something close to a complete sentence, it tells me something about them.

If people do not CARE, it tells me much more. That is what I have the biggest issue with. "Who cares? It's just the internet." or deliberate misspellings grate on my nerves. Even the lolcat stuff: I can haz cheeseburger or whatever. Ugh. It's like a systemic dumbing down of the next generation. This isn't the evolution of language. It's rot.

People shouldn't accept a lower standard for themselves. People should want to come across well, and be able to convey their information and opinions clearly so everyone can understand them. If you don't care, why should I?

Edited by Purplos, 12 November 2012 - 04:50 PM.

[Cybele]

Orcseeker, on 12 November 2012 - 07:17 AM, said:

"Where are you at" is also correct, the "at" being a clarifier or a connector for the receipient to respond with a "I'm at...".

It sounds extremely uneducated, imo. The "at" is unecessary; it gives you no further information and is therefore redundant. Sometimes having a preposition at the end of a sentence may be necessary for clarification purposes, but not here. People should know how to correctly respond to "where are you?".

Edited by Cybele, 12 November 2012 - 06:22 PM.

[ealdwita]

I never, ever point out people's grammatical screw-ups but having spent a great deal of my working life dealing with languages ranging from Anglo-Saxon to Russian, via all the various stages of English, Latin and Nepalese, I'm a little saddened at the abuse that language and grammar suffer these days. Some of it, I'll concede, is the result of poor modern standards of education, but a huge amount is down to sheer laziness. I spent many years correcting poor grammar etc., but that's in the past. Occasionally, a post appears in the forum - half the length of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and containing not a single full-stop, comma, capital letter or paragraph. I just ignore them these days!

[Beckys_Mom]

I do my best to post good enough grammar...  I prefer to make whatever I have to say, easy enough to read

Many of us will make typos here and there, but we try to keep it readable

I personally find it much harder to read something that is packed with poor grammar and  words like  -   - dis and dat

I cannot stand the long blocks of text all clumped together.. Posts like that are so hard to read  ..  I used to do it myself without thinking, until someone on UM corrected me and told me it was hard to read.  From that moment on, I spaced my posts out as much as possible

At times I don't mind being corrected, but if the person is being a jerk about it?  I will not tolerate it..

I feel, that if you are expecting others to read your post, and give you some reply, then you should at least try and make it readable.. Maybe not to perfection, but  make it readable   Poor grammar is hard to read for so many...  Many will correct your post, but I do not think it is to piss you off, I feel it may be constructive .. Others can be a jerk about it, more so if they are loosing a debate...

Edited by Beckys_Mom, 12 November 2012 - 09:14 PM.

[JGirl]

Beckys_Mom, on 12 November 2012 - 09:11 PM, said:

I cannot stand the long blocks of text all clumped together.. Posts like that are so hard to read  ..  I used to do it myself without thinking, until someone on UM corrected me and told me it was hard to read.  From that moment on, I spaced my posts out as much as possible

this happens so often here that i don't even read those bulky blocks of text. (i also don't read anything with tons of quoted material posted from other sites, or lists and lists of links)
i realize people are typing as they're thinking and not really paying attention to paragraphs and such, but they could easily put them in afterward...if they were proofreading what they typed before sending it...which brings us to the other problem of typos lol

Edited by JGirl, 12 November 2012 - 09:18 PM.

[Beckys_Mom]

JGirl, on 12 November 2012 - 09:17 PM, said:

this happens so often here that i don't even read those bulky blocks of text. (i also don't read anything with tons of quoted material posted from other sites, or lists and lists of links)
i realize people are typing as they're thinking and not really paying attention to paragraphs and such, but they could easily put them in afterward...if they were proofreading what they typed before sending it...which brings us to the other problem of typos lol

When I used to post in big blocks of text, I did it without thinking.   It took a slightly cheesed off UMer to tell me how hard it was to read my post I was about to lash out at him, but stopped, scrolled back, re-read it and thought   You know what?  he is right, it is hard to read darn it  lol  So I fixed it...

I used to do something else that others found annoying when posting..  I would have over done the smilies..  I would plant a smilie in every line or so, and I thought nothing of it..   It took a few UMers to tell me it was over the top...  I scrolled back, and read over all.. That's when it hit me, they did look annoying...  So from that day onwards, I found myself  going back in to edit my posts, taking out the smilies .
I now post one  or two  at most... .. I guess when we scroll back and re-read some of our posts,  we see what others  see

Sometimes  we tend to do things like that and it becomes a habit ... I prefer if people told me what looked bad and they were decent about it.. I take that one board and do what I can to fix it   Sometimes it is really good  to receive some constructive criticism...well I think it is for me lol

Edited by Beckys_Mom, 12 November 2012 - 09:39 PM.

[JGirl]

Beckys_Mom, on 12 November 2012 - 09:36 PM, said:

When I used to post in big blocks of text, I did it without thinking.   It took a slightly cheesed off UMer to tell me how hard it was to read my post I was about to lash out at him, but stopped, scrolled back, re-read it and thought   You know what?  he is right, it is hard to read darn it  lol  So I fixed it...

I used to do something else that others found annoying when posting..  I would have over done the smilies..  I would plant a smilie in every line or so, and I thought nothing of it..   It took a few UMers to tell me it was over the top...  I scrolled back, and read over all.. That's when it hit me, they did look annoying...  So from that day onwards, I found myself  going back in to edit my posts, taking out the smilies .
I now post one  or two  at most... .. I guess when we scroll back and re-read some of our posts,  we see what others  see

Sometimes  we tend to do things like that and it becomes a habit ... I prefer if people told me what looked bad and they were decent about it.. I take that one board and do what I can to fix it   Sometimes it is really good  to receive some constructive criticism...well I think it is for me lol

i remember when you used more smileys lol

[Beckys_Mom]

JGirl, on 12 November 2012 - 09:59 PM, said:

i remember when you used more smileys lol

I know..and at the time I never gave it any thought  ...    When people told me about it and I begun to fix that issue?  I then began to get annoyed seeing others do it.. That's when I thought -  Man that is annoying !!

[JGirl]

Beckys_Mom, on 12 November 2012 - 10:02 PM, said:

I know..and at the time I never gave it any thought  ... When people told me about it and I begun to fix that issue?  I then began to get annoyed seeing others do it.. That's when I thought -  Man that is annoying !!

lately i'm getting a bit of flak for not using upper case letters. i'm holding fast to my habit though. i need an intervention maybe hahaha

[Beckys_Mom]

JGirl, on 12 November 2012 - 10:17 PM, said:

lately i'm getting a bit of flak for not using upper case letters. i'm holding fast to my habit though. i need an intervention maybe hahaha

I over look it, because your posts are still readable

[MarvelAtTheWords]

Oh it bothers me alright. But I would never correct anyone on it since:

1. English isn't my first language and I'm sensetive about my own spelling and typos.
2. You never know when the problem actually is dyslexia (unless it's really obvious).
3. You never know if the person has english as his/her first language.
4. I generally think the internet forums should be more polite and sensetive. Even though we all have an Alter Ego, we should still be polite to eachother.
5. Last, but not least, if your going to correct someone, you better make damn sure your own spelling is flawless.


That being said, I don't mind being corrected (to some extent) politely, as that makes my english better.

[Orcseeker]

Cybele, on 12 November 2012 - 06:17 PM, said:

It sounds extremely uneducated, imo. The "at" is unecessary; it gives you no further information and is therefore redundant. Sometimes having a preposition at the end of a sentence may be necessary for clarification purposes, but not here. People should know how to correctly respond to "where are you?".

There are many unnecessary additional words used in everyday language, like here in Australia, someone may ask, "How are you going?", as opposed to, "How are you?". Or even one may ask, "Where are you going to?", instead of simply, "Where are you going?".

I believe the assumed response is taken into consideration and incorporated into te askers question. From an example before, you may ask someone, "Where are you going?", but most of the time you immediately know the highest chance of their response will be, "I'm going to...".

With that knowledge of predetermined partitions of answers. It could affect how people say things. Which could explain the additional unnecessary additions of words. Perhaps the person may just simply like making what they say as long winded as possible and add a word here and there whenever they can. Or may just simply find it rolls off the tongue easier. Or even simply prompt the recepient with a format of the response they would prefer.

On another note even a lot of my mistakes when using this forum are a result of my iTouch. The autocorrect and simply slip of the finger typos can be attributed to many mistakes.

Edited by Orcseeker, 12 November 2012 - 11:17 PM.

[MarvelAtTheWords]

Orcseeker, on 12 November 2012 - 11:14 PM, said:

On another note even a lot of my mistakes when using this forum are a result of my iTouch. The autocorrect and simply slip of the finger typos can be attributed to many mistakes.

Amen to that!
I will blame it all on my phone for the future