Their, there, they're (Spellcheck = an evil device) [TOTAL Vanity]

11/19/02

[EggsAckley]

"There, their, my child," cooed the old school marm. "Your all right. It's just so easy to mix words up in yore mind."

"You see, a lot of them sound alike, and are even related in meaning. But if your ever going to be a good writer, you'll have to learn the difference. Their three different words, you see, and they'res really a difference." "When you hear them, theirs a chance you can't tell the difference, but if you write them, you're readers will be confused by what you mean, if your using the wrong one."

"Their are times when you want to say long ago, and that word is yore. And then they're are times you want to say you are, and that word is you're. And what does that leave? Your means belonging to you."

"But that's not all; when you want to say belonging to them, the word is their, and when you want to say that place, the word is there."

"And finally, they're means they are."

"Any questions?"

[EggsAckley]

Place the blame at the root cause...the damn dumb speller who thinks, "It doesn't matter".

Pssst>>>didn't want to offend them. LOL!

[Textide]

[SES1066]

Did you ever hear about the epic but failed battle of one of America's great newspaper publishers, Col. Robert R. McCormick of the Chicago Tribune? At a time when the Tribune was arguably one of the leading US Newspapers, he and his associate, James O’Donnell Bennett, embarked on an enduring 20 year effort to simplify and rationalize American English spelling. A grand effort that still reverbarates whenever a student finds that "'i' before 'e'" has many exceptions.

[joesnuffy]

Thank's mom...you're right...I'll try to do better... :)

[arthurus]

He knows what I was trying to say!

Not always, but the worst errors are in the wrong use of grammar. The meaning of a sentence can be changed and a reader may have to go back and reread the preceding sentences and then think "well, he must have meant...". If there are too many spelling and/or grammar errors it becomes difficult for some readers (me, for instance) to even follow the text. One who uses sloppy grammar probably does not think so neatly, either.

[Revolting cat!]

Bottom line: much thanks for your proactive, quality driven synergistic post targeted at empowering our leveraged skill set for a win-win strategic fit! Its best practice!

[southernnorthcarolina]

How many spelling errors are there in the following sentence?

With bated breath, I looked for the results from Kentucky's District 3, a bellwether where Anne Northup would be no shoo-in.

Answer: none.

[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

Since everyone insists on calling me 'Auther', hear's my revenge: I challenge you to correctly spell the name of Isreal's capitol.

[Starwind]

Never use a preposition to end a sentance with.

[TexRef]

I totally agree! People's spelling is also rediculous.

_{</tongue-in-cheek>}

[Sloth]

Telluh Veev?

[mhking]

People's spelling is also rediculous.

Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretty nasti...

[Chemist_Geek]

In a forum of ideas, people should focus on what the writer is trying to say, not his spellings or his grammer. I find it very rude when an "a hole" corrects my spelling. He knows what I was trying to say! Please, save your criticism for your wife? or your poor kids! Get a life!

The readers are not telepaths. Correctness and clarity of written language on the forum is essential for the writer's ideas to be communicated in unchanged form. If the reader cannot comprehend the writer's meaning due to spelling and grammar errors, then the post was wasted space. If the reader obtains an incorrect or incomplete understanding of the writer's ideas due to spelling and grammar errors, then the post was wasted.

It's only different in degree to making a post in a language other than English, and then wondering why very few people respond to the ideas contained therein.

Besides, spelling errors and improper grammar look bad, are inconsiderate of the reader's time (it's enough work as it is to read the post and try to understand the idea, but to have to decipher the post before doing either?), and are something we would expect of an uneducated or illiterate Democrat. But I repeat myself...

[Samwise]

That was great! LOL

[Samwise]

Perhaps the best declaration on this matter came from Winston Churchill, the prime minister of Great Britain during World War II, who sneered, "This is the sort of English up with which I cannot put."

[Your Nightmare]

My problem with people who point out grammatical errors is they usually do it to try to discredit the person's point of view. I am a frequent abuser of the "your/you're" error. I obviously know the difference, it just my brain thinks "you're" and my fingers are use to the pattern of "your". And often these types of grammatical mistakes arise when I edit the content of my post and don't proof closely enough to find what was correct grammar that is now incorrect. Anyway, it has no bearing on the ideas I am trying to get across, or even to quality of my intellect. They are just errors that haven't been caught.

You can always tell when someone is losing an argument when they point out your grammatical and spelling mistakes. Someone did this to me the other day and their reply had about a dozen grammatical and spelling errors!

When someone puts "[sic]" into a reply it translates to "I've lost the discussion on substance, now I'm just going to try to make you look stupid."

[cinFLA]

You missed "thar" as in "in thar hills"

[philman_36]

I blame it on spellcheck.
I blame it on the poster for not knowing the difference. Blaming it on "something" removes personal responsibility.
I also blame it on foreigners, posing as Americans, unfamiliar with the subtleties of the language.
I may occasionally misspell something, but I don't misspell those particular words and it is not an accurate example of a misspelling, it is an example of incomprehension.

[lsee]

No, I didn't hear about that battle, but I've had a "wonderful" time explaining spelling to my baffled kids!

I tried to find some quotes by Gallagher (of Sledge-o-matic fame)...he once did a hilarious skit about spelling, saying things like "if school is pronounced skool, why do we spell it with a ch?" He pointed out the vagaries of our language to a "t"! It was very funny and so true!