Grammar vs. Spelling

[Hyotana]

Spelling vs. Grammar

Okay, this is a very particular issue, and for me it strikes close to home because I'm both a raging dyslexic and a compulsive verbal grammar edit (grammar nazi, if you prefer.) I have to spell check everything I post in word document to make sure my mechanics are correct, because I can't even see the spelling errors on my own.

The thing is, as a dyslexic I generally don't care about spelling, and forgive other people's spelling errors.

Grammar, though, is an entirely different is story. I am, I believe, a fairly literate person. I am a fairly literate person and grammar errors, along with text talk, hurt my soul.

In this very guild I witnessed a post very recently (no I will not quote it) saying the poster had "seen people do such horrible acts." This may not see like an egregious error to you, and perhaps whether it is error at all is debatably, but in my opinion one does not "do acts." At the very least it would have *more* correct to say "I have seen people commit such horrible acts."

No?

So real questions are these:

-Is there anyone else out there who has a problem with one and not the other?
-Is this hypocritical and wrong?
-Are allowances to be made for learning disabilities such as mine?

and

"Commits such horrible acts."

or

"Does such horrible acts?"

(Post script: when checking for error, I found 20 spelling mistakes in those. I am sorry if I missed any others.)  

[Ithaya]

I'm more picky about punctuation and text talk, but spelling bothers me too. I'm not a brilliant speller. A friend of mine is constantly correcting me (I double check my Gaia posts, so I get less errors in them than on MSN). But I'll correct people on spelling.
Grammar I can forgive, mostly, due to the fact I'm terrible at spotting grammatical errors. I'll barely notice when someone says a double negative in a sentence, and sometimes use them myself. I type the way I talk on Gaia, so I get the same problems I do in speech.

But above all, I can't stand punctuation errors. As far as dashes, semi-colons and colons go, I'm forgiving; they're hard, and I used to have trouble with them myself (still do sometimes). But it's the commas and apostrophes placed where they're so obviously not needed, the missing capitals and lack of full stops. And the homophones (their, there, they're, etc.). I can let it slide though. I won't start yelling at someone because of it. It's not their fault, most of the time.
Text talk, though...Now that's purposeful.  

[slightlyfoxed]

First of all, thank you for sharing how you struggle with dyslexia. I have a feeling that I'm going to learn a lot from you. 3nodding

I think everyone has their own level of tolerance regarding writing. I'm more of a stickler for spelling than grammar, but that's just because I'm a better speller than grammarian. But I don't get bent out of shape when I see the writer trying.

It's the txt tlk that perplexes and annoys me. I'm all for word play, as that's how a language grows (I often verb nouns--did you see what I did there? biggrin ) But too much slang/txt tlk seems to me a desperate attempt to "be cool" by knowing some kind of secret language.  

[WellThen]

I pretty well agree with everything that slightlyfoxed just said. I'm also better at spelling than grammar.

Also, I think that there is a certain level of hypocrisy in what we do, but not overly so. We're mainly ranting about the 'text talkers' who completely massacre the english language.

I also believe that it's fair to be more leniant to some disabilities. Dyslxia is an obvious one, because of what it does. I don't, however, have patience for people with one like ADD. Being that I've seen alot of people with it who use it as an excuse for their behavior. I've also known alot of other people who have it, but they manage to keep it under control. Some learning disabilities are acceptable for leniancy, others are simply excuses.  

[Ame Yuki Kaze]

If I had to choose, I'd say I'm more of a spelling freak. Misspelled words make my heart ache. I can certainly understand genuine ignorance and typos. I'm guilty of such things myself. My Achilles Heel has always been homophones. I often swap "plain" and "plane", "pain" and "pane", etc. if I'm in a hurry. Then when I re-reading what I wrote, I'm like, "That's the wrong word!"

Dyslexia, I'm certain, is a major challenge. I can't understand what it must be like to see letters get jumbled up on a paper or a screen. I would certainly never yell at a person for having a few spelling mistakes in that case. I would however, admonish them to run what they write through a spell checker or have someone look it over for them. I'm certainly willing to proofread what someone writes.

Mostly though, I hate it when people misspell intentionally. "Boi" instead of "boy", "grl" instead of "girl", etc. That is just so damn annoying! They think they're being cute, leet or whatever. They're just being stupid.  

[Ghurdrich]

As far as I'm concerned, they're both equally important. However, if I had to go with one, I'd have to say spelling. It takes a lot to piss me off, but mispelling on purpose takes the cake. (Old expressions are the best)
When someone types the word "teh," I pass it off as a typo. That's not so bad. When they do it multiple times, I tell them about it, and hope they fix it. If they persist, then I get angry. Also, if the word "t3h" is used, then I explode. I don't understand... The '3' key is farther away from 't' than 'e', so why not just use 'e' (The letter, not the drug. Please don't do the drug.) I don't know... I just think it's not human.  

[Embers_and_Ashes]

I, personally, am more of a spelling person then grammer.
Of course, proper use of commas and periods are essential, but I find that spelling presses my buttons much easier.
I have a friend on here that, for the life of me, can't spell more then two words correctly.
She doesn't use text-talk, but it's enqually painful to read through anything she has written without running it through a spell check system.
Quite honestly, I'm guilty of using the "words" 'Meh' and 'ish' when speaking with friends.
Yet, I only do this to add more personality to my posts.
It's all out text-talk that truely irks me...

Edit: I forgot one. Capitalization is also an essential...  

[KoshiDoragon]

Embers_and_Ashes

I, personally, am more of a spelling person then grammer.
Of course, proper use of commas and periods are essential, but I find that spelling presses my buttons much easier.
I have a friend on here that, for the life of me, can't spell more then two words correctly.
She doesn't use text-talk, but it's enqually painful to read through anything she has written without running it through a spell check system.
Quite honestly, I'm guilty of using the "words" 'Meh' and 'ish' when speaking with friends.
Yet, I only do this to add more personality to my posts.
It's all out text-talk that truely irks me...

Edit: I forgot one. Capitalization is also an essential...

<[I heart you, you hate me... we're a happy family...]>

Funny, you spelt "grammar", "equally" and "truly" incorrectly.

And I have to say, as I strong literate, I try to do my best in all aspects of writing. Whether it be grammar or spelling. However, if I had to choose one to go without, it'll have to be grammar. I'm not really good at grammar, though I read intensive books on how to improve. Spelling somehow comes naturally to me, and I don't even want to think how I would feel if I was dyslexic as well and could not do so as easily. Dyslexia, is really a terrible syndrome, especially for an accomplished literate like you, Hyotana. But I have a few dyslexic friends of my own, over the internet, and they seem to speak fine, though a few small errors are sometimes visible. Except, of course, I always tend to mysteriously miss them.

<[I... I'm hyperactive heart ]>

 

[Kamirose]

My biggest pet peeve, personally, is the incorrect usage of homonyms (sp?). When someone says "Your so dumb" or something like that, it really really annoys me. I've known the difference between 'your,' 'you're,' and 'their,' 'there,' and 'they're' since I was in second grade, when people my age use them wrong, I always have a strong urge to correct them. It probably gets annoying to be around me sometimes.  

[The MoUsY spell-checker]

When I'm speaking, my grammar isn't that good because I'm just not good at speaking in general, so I try to avoid picking on others because I'm not so sure if I'm right, but I tend to pick on double negatives. Just today at school I picked on my maths teacher's use of a double negative. I know that some of those are in common usage, but in this case I don't think it sounds right.

It's not really grammar or spelling, but I don't like it when people use redundant acronyms. (According to Wikipedia, it's called "RAS syndrome".) I always pick out things like "AC current" (Alternating Current current) on my physics worksheets.  

[MegamiNari]

I tend to type like I talk but I have a really bad habit of employing elipses. I'm not really so much a grammar nazi - seeing as I'm horrible at grammar - as I am a spelling nazi. I have to know how a word is spelled or it has to be spelled correctly. If I make a mistake when IMing someone, I'll fix it, no matter how late or how many times it takes me to do so. Eh.
As for the "Does such horrible acts", I wouldn't jump all down the person's throat about it. My advanced grammar teacher is of the opinion, as am I, that people are using spoken language so much now when they write that some of the words should, and have been, adopted into the written language. Does anyone else agree with that sentiment?  

[DarkElf27]

I'm both dyslexic and dysgraphic, so I know how you feel. I am more of a spelling person myself, though. It seems to be more of a problem here, anyway.  

[Cocoon Master]

I'm only bothered by either when the word or sentance has been done so incorrectly that it makes the baby Jesus cry. Otherwise, I barely notice.. sweatdrop
Misused homophones irk me the most.  

[Zealot of Insanity]

Punctuation, spelling and most definately text talk are the areas where I will blow my top off. I kind of slack down on grammar, however.  

[Ame Yuki Kaze]

I definitely agree with you, metal.