speeling problams

Murgleys · 03-14-05, 06:18 PM

Okay. Now I know many of you may think me a goober for saying this and, I am, I guess, but if I can overcome a small language handicap and spell words correctly most of the time then I imagine everyone else can, too. I am an English teacher in Japan. That means I actually wince anytime I see words spelled incorrectly or glaring bad grammar used. I recognize in character dialogue as such and know when it's being done deliberately and when it isn't. Learning to spell everything correctly is a must if you wish to fully grasp the language in which you communicate in. If you have even the slightest doubt about a word you're using, check it, learn it and get it right forever more.
Yes, I get lazy, too, and lapse, but I've had to train myself to reread everything I write due to that little language problem I have (which is why most of my posts are edited.) Gamers, as a whole, are some of the smartest and, obviously, most creative people I have ever known. Unfortunately, as a whole, gamers tend to be lazy about many things that don't have much or anything directly to do with games, including their English usage. Well, good English means good story telling and that means good rping. -sheesh- I DO sound like a teacher now, don't I? *shaking head* I'm getting too old and cranky...
OH... to you kids still in JHS or HS (young adults, sorry) this is not a request for you but a demand. Learn the right way, now, and you'll thank yourself later, particularly in college when you most certainly WILL HAVE more than one English professor brow beat you with a dictionary and/or grammar book. Or they'll just give you an "F" if they don't care because you don't care either.
ps You can probably find the correct spelling of most words just by doing a websearch. Incorrect spellings usually trigger the "Did you mean...?" message with the correct spelling.

Qui_Z · 03-14-05, 06:38 PM

Asking 1500 members of differents ages, educations and places can't be expected to spell everything properly. It's way too much to ask everyone to reread something and make sure it's proper. This is a GAME, not an english class. You can't expect everyone to spell everything correctly.

Talan Va'lash · 03-14-05, 07:00 PM

I agree with both of you about this. I dont mind IG when people spell things wrong, as timing is more important than spelling, and I've never run into a problem where I could not understand at all what was being said. most people will correct spelling errors that change meaning by following with "*spelling correction."

But, on the forums I've seen posts that I absolutely could not figure out what was being said. And on the forums there isnt the "limited time" factor. You can read over your post and fix it, at least so its readable without having to spend twenty minutes deciphering it. This is also a good idea if you want your post to be read by others.

Murgleys · 03-14-05, 07:05 PM

Oh, beans. I was speaking about the forum, not in game. I would actually make the suggestion to people in game to NOT worry one bit about whether or not they spelled something wrong. We all make mistakes and you don't need to back track and correct something mistyped. If you don't know the spelling and spell it wrong then I think we're all intelligent enough to deduce what you meant. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
As to it being just a GAME, well, I think you're wrong. Funnily enough, my justification to my father, when I was a young lad of nine, for playing D&D was that I was learning things. I remember poring over the Deities and Demigods book and having my interest for ancient European history stoked so high... Well, my second BA was in (European) history, so that interest carried me pretty far. You ask some wargamers if what they do is just a game and they'll probably figure out the odds of knocking you out with one hit, the angle of the swing, the power of the blow and the chances that they'll break their dice rolling hand before they answer you with a resounding, "No, it isn't just a game." Some of the math those guys learn just to play a game is astonishingly difficult. English (or whatever language you play in) is the "math" of roleplaying. Good English (or bad English done well) is very important to me... particularly for me since I stink at math.

03-14-05, 07:06 PM

can u come to the store? gr8 i will c u at 8 l8r tonite so we can go to the store 4 sum chips and pop

Can ya be commin' ter tha store? Great! I be seen' ye at 8 later tanight so we can be gettin' us some chips an pop!

Spot the difference?

First one -> Bad
Second one -> Good

Talan Va'lash · 03-14-05, 07:09 PM

Dorganath · 03-15-05, 02:25 AM

While we're at it....punctuation would be nice.
And if it's not too much to ask, proper capitalization whenever possible.
At least try.� It's the effort that counts.�

trillex · 03-15-05, 02:45 AM

Took me a solid week to teach myself to use proper capitalization and punctuation this summer. Haven't regret it once.

steverimmer · 03-15-05, 03:32 AM

Heh don't believe in correct spelling or punctuation...don't forget the greatest bard (Sorry Ozy not you this time

) the world has seen couldn't spell either, in fact he spelt his own name several different ways

I used to have a link to a website that went into the history of spelling punctuation and grammer but I seem to have lost it now...but if I remember it all sorts of dates back to Samuel Johnson and his cronies. So its isn't really all that old

ZeroVega · 03-15-05, 03:41 AM

� Yeah, I don't really care about other people and punctuation or general grammar (sentence structure, proper use of pronouns/adverbs ect...) but the one thing that really gets on my nerves are people who don't capitolize simple words (mainly their own names).

Words at the beginning of a sentence
Titles and names of places and people�(Like Hlint and Queen What's'her'face)
Days of the week
Months of the year

� It's easy, c'mon everyone try it.

Leanthar · 03-15-05, 03:47 AM

"...Queen What's'her'face..."
She has taken note that you do not know her name.

hehe. just joking.
But anyway, I too would like to see at least the effort of spelling and punctuation.� I am much more inclined to listen to somebody that at least makes the effort.� Regardless of nationality and such, it is the effort that counts in my book.
However, it is not our place to police english and grammer on the forums or in the game (within reason of course).� This is a game and a game community...But those on the GM/Content team do know that I like things to be well thought out and written (when the team is communicating with each other or to players).

Ar7 · 03-15-05, 04:14 AM

Well this is just plain stupid, now even the internet has grammar. Seriously, I do not care if somebody writes something wrong, I do it often myself, as I am not a native English speaker. Internet is good while it mostly doesn't have all the rules that real life has, internet community is mostly friendly because people from all over the world understand each other even though many are not native English speakers. I am not saying that we can write however we like, but "wincing everytime when a word is written wrong" just doesn't belong to the internet.

To be honest I am not really enjoying the possibility of playing with an English teacher who is going to comment on every mistake I make, I have school for that. I mean no offence to the person, but seriously, try to forget you teach English when you're online and just enjoy the fact that you can spend your time with people from all over the world.

IceDragonDuvessa · 03-15-05, 04:35 AM

My thoughts on this are.... If you are going to complain about other peoples spelling and grammar please make sure you are perfect yourself. I know I am far from perfect with things myself, but I don't go around complaining about how other people write or type. For example.... Murgleys you used the word "ascerbic" in one of your posts, the correct spelling of this is acerbic. You had to know making a post like this would bring your own under scrutiny as well. Let people write how ever they want and as long as you can decipher what is being said and everyone is having fun... then who really cares?

ZeroVega · 03-15-05, 05:18 AM

� I don't think anyone here is asking that people be perfect in their grammar. I think we're just asking that people not conciously write, "plez cna u ehlp me too geet sum baerly." If you see you've misspelled something take that extra second (yes it only takes that long) and go ahead and correct it. This IS just a game, however seeing huge spelling errors that could be evaded (things that the person obviously could have spotted) instantly snaps me out of the game.
Please Sir, cna you help me to find soem barely? (That is an acceptable sentence, a period and a capitol letter, it's...) pleas sir cna u help me to find soem barly (that get's on my nerves)

Arktivilist74 · 03-15-05, 05:27 AM

You know, I tend to agree with Murg (may I call you Murg?) on this one. I'm an English teacher myself and I'm often shocked that my little Korean students speak much better English than their American counterparts in some cases. Language is a fluid, living thing and it must be treated with care. I think it is vital with English being used in so many places now that we native speakers/writers of English maintain a certain level of fluency of else the language may change to the point of being incoherent... hmmmm that might be overstated, but learn to write properly ok?

Ar7 · 03-15-05, 08:06 AM

Quote:

ZeroVega - 3/15/2005 8:18 AM I don't think anyone here is asking that people be perfect in their grammar. I think we're just asking that people not conciously write, "plez cna u ehlp me too geet sum baerly." If you see you've misspelled something take that extra second (yes it only takes that long) and go ahead and correct it. This IS just a game, however seeing huge spelling errors that could be evaded (things that the person obviously could have spotted) instantly snaps me out of the game.
Please Sir, cna you help me to find soem barely? (That is an acceptable sentence, a period and a capitol letter, it's...) pleas sir cna u help me to find soem barly (that get's on my nerves)

Could you show me a place on Layo forums where people write like this? I mean these forums here have a great level of grammar compaired to the internet overall. What's the big deal anyway, it's not like we are taking a test. The most important thing is that we understand each other, why nag about minor errors.

Fian Bearsark · 03-15-05, 08:37 AM

I'm glad somebody else posted on this subject before I did. I have a heck of a time understanding people's posts sometimes. Usually the first thing I do is look to see if they are from another country or seem to be originally from another country. If this appears to be the case I give them great lee-way in their grammar.

I think if people would just take the time to read over what they wrote posts would improve greatly. It's simply about conveying your thoughts accurately and efficiently. In-game as Talan said I don't mind misspellings and such, since it is usually an issue of typing speed and action in the game. Most people also correct misspellings in-game as well.

I don't think it is too much to ask on a public forum to try and make yourself clearly understood if you expect administrators to help you with a problem or you are seeking advice from other players.

ZeroVega · 03-15-05, 08:37 AM

To Ar7:
� That last post of mine was about IC stuff. I can't tell you how many times I've seen people type, lol/plz/u/r and that's lazy. I've also seen people neglect to type their name in capitol letters, and that's just annoying (I know I'm weird).
� As for people typing like that on the forum I can't name many who do (I think that's mainly because you can type as slow as you feel like) however (and I mean you no offence) take a look at most of Gloin's posts. They really kinda stink in the gramatical sense (we love you ya big fart!).
� Anyway, all we're saying is if you can take a few extra seconds in a post/tell in game or otherwise to correct a typo that you recognized right away. Why not? If you know that something is wrong why not go ahead and fix it? Is there a really good reason not to? "now even the internet has grammar" Sorry Ruffy, but that just doesn't cut the cake for me. That's like saying well I know this reletive well enough he won't mind if I don't use capitol letters or periods, or commas, or proper spellings will he? Just cause there are some freaky internet lingo speed typers out there who feel their times is to precious that they don't need to abide by the general rules of English doesn't mean people need to start lowering their standards for what they feel comfortable reading. (Sorry if that sounds like a bash, just thinkin out loud, why NOT spell things correctly?)
ZV-

Murgleys · 03-15-05, 12:28 PM

HA... I was wondering how long it would take for someone to find a spelling error of mine somewhere. All I can say is, is what I said before. Yes, I get lazy and lapse, too. Or perhaps I just mistyped it (since I do in fact, know the correct spelling of acerbic (lol... and even as I typed it here, I added the "s" again)). And, for the record, I have never, ever policed anyone's spelling or grammar in any forum or via pm anywhere, at anytime and I never will. That's just uncool to the nth degree. This was simply a request that perhaps people take a few moments to check what they've written and make corrections. As to grammar, well, I'm not a big stickler but sometimes the really eroneous mistakes, like improper use of your and you're, for example, rankles a bit.
Edited... I finished this quickly because I had a class and you'll notice a mistake in spelling somewhere... But I came back to check my message and, lo, there is a speeling problam. I DO make mistakes, the same as everyone else, but I do try and make an effort to check myself. It's your choice, as always. Do it or not, but you should be aware that some people take a certain amount of pride in their usuage of their language and it is offensive to a small degree to see it ... "abused", if you'll permit, without even the knowledge that they are abusing it. That's why I "wince", btw.