If only you had changed around the to/too/two as well....

I can deal with grammar. There are many cultural differences that can cause someone to not know proper English grammar. What really drives me nuts is when people intentionally misspell words because they think it makes them sound cool or something. Such as when someone writes:

lyk instead of like
wat instead of what
ur instead of your (I hate this more than people using the wrong version)
dat instead of that

Yeah, just a few examples. I understand that some people have learning disabilities or simply don't know. However, there is a big difference between no knowing and intentionally misspelling things.

This seems like the perfect place for me to admit something that has dogged me for most of my 46 years.

My junior high school education was the absolute worst. My English teacher quit in the middle of our eighth grade course. She was followed by the most knuckle-headed substitutes for the remainder of the year. Till this day, I believe that my grammar and punctuation skills were lost or never developed. The teacher that stuck with us was a young hippie woman who had us learn songs, the theme from M*A*S*H? I know it. The Beatles songs? I know them too...
Where to put a frickin' comma? I am lost! I second guess myself so much that I sometimes become paralyzed in written correspondence.
I did make sure my son went to a great school and that he never types abbreviated text messages. I would hate for him to lose a skill that I find so valuable.

Luckily this has not been a problem at work. My boss is aware of my issue and recruited me anyway. I also kind of barter my computer skills for my co-workers ability to edit my important email. Usually it is just a comma or two, but those da** commas drive me up the wall! It is embarrassing!

Haha, I understand! I am a stickler for grammar and spelling too! I actually think that you are doing us all a favor so we don't say that incorrectly to a boss, potential employer, etc. I think it would be good if we corrected ourselves on here to help one another out.

It annoys me too!

I am a stickler for grammar and spelling too but this is a chat forum, not school or work. And half the time it's my phone that auto-corrects (incorrectly) so I look like a doofus because of my phone (not because I don't know the grammar rules).

The first one who picks apart an innocent mistake I type here will be the last as I wouldn't come back. I have enough trouble worrying about my weight, I am going to worry about spelling and grammar here too? P.L.E.A.S.E.

Wow, I really didn't expect any responses to this thread. I had a martini-induced moment when I wrote it. Tee hee!

Elvislover wins for the best response!

So, English is not my first language. However, it's the language I've spoken the most since I was 10. I was placed in lower level English classes most of my school years, up to high school, because once it's on the permanent record, it sticks! I was fairly self-conscious about not understanding idiomatic phrases, common colloquialisms, etc. I recall someone asking me if I minded giving up my chair once, when I was in First Grade. I said, "No," thinking they were asking me if I would give up my chair to someone. When I didn't give up my chair, some very cruel things were said to me. I didn't understand what they were saying, but I certain got the tone. At 52, I still recall how horrible and alone I felt in that moment.

I'm not really a stickler for other people's spelling and grammar. I'm just trying to follow along on forums, and find that I read quite literally. So when I bump into misspelled words and poor grammar, I struggle with the reading. And I'm sure the martinis didn't help either!

I have a funny story to tell. A friend of mine was texting me recently about her new job. She's a lawyer and got a job at a firm after a year of searching for work. I asked her what sort of trial law she'd be doing. She texted "Tabasco defense." Had to Google that. You should too! We had a great giggle over it, especially since the auto-correct feature couldn't accept "tobacco defense."

No, no, no...it's PUH-LEEEESE

Maybe we can just be polite and wear pins instead of writing about it!

I think it's quite easy to spot common mistakes of your second language, I do this all the time with mine (French). I do think it is important to at least try and adhere to a standard, for the sake of second language users.

In French, je suis ... is sometimes shortened to j'sui in chat forums. This is very difficult for me and other FSL (francais a langue seconde) users to understand. There are standard abbreviations (p'tit for 'lil) and then random short form which to me is gibberish. It would benefit all readers to try and adhere to a standard.

That's nothing to do with mistakes or simple grammatical error. Those are no big deal, are they? I've made those mistakes standing in front of a chalkboard as an ESL teacher LOL, surely a chat forum has lower standards???

Well put Sacha. Plus I think it is FAB that we have people from all over the world to shed/LOSE () weight over here. So slang/grammatical errors are fine by me. I'm sure make a plenty of them

I have to admit that I used to be a spelling and grammar snob, and errors annoyed me, but God, the Great Random Universe, or Karma slapped me upside the head with the big, dead fish of humility in the form of fibromyalgia, which in addition to unpredictably fluctuating pain and fatigue, also includes a varied assortment of cognitive and perception disabilities (collectively referred to as brain-fog).

I now often find myself unable to access the skills that came so easily, they once seemed innate. I rarely "thought" about spelling, I just spelled correctly because that's what came out of my fingers when I wrote or typed. Now, for some inexplicable reason, I will often find myself spelling phonetically, words I haven't misspelled since second grade - words I haven't had to "think" about to spell since 2nd grade.

Usually I "catch" mistakes upon rereading, but when I go to retype, I may or may not repeat the mistake. It feels like (and literally may be that) I'm having to use a different part of my brain to "spell," so that a skill that had become automatic is no longer accessible by "autopilot."

Of all the things fibromyalgia has stolen from me, or burdens added, this has been in many ways more traumatic than the pain and fatigue. It's like pieces of my identity are lost with the cognitive skills. What and how I think is who I am, and with this current brain doesn't feel like the me I've always been, at least to myself.

It sucks quite frankly, but it definitely has mostly "cured" me of my linguistic snobbery, and if I do experience the impulse to "correct" mistakes like loose/lose, I remind myself that I can't know the cause - carelessness, ignorance or impairment.

I totally agree with you, sacha!

And I had to laugh about your getting two coffees hihihi!

LOL! That bugs me, too, except when it's in a text convo. My boyfriend texts "ur" and "u" and it doesn't bother me because it's for conveience. However, when a board post, email, FB message, FB status update etc is littered with "wat" "dis" "ppl" etc it drives me bonkers!!