The University of Hard Knocks, perhaps? LOL

Last weak I coudn't spell colege studint,,,now I r one...LOL

It is so sad to see read some of the things found online, isn't it? Something even sadder......I belong to a board that is professional assistants, we help one another figure ways to accomplish whatever task might be at hand. Sort of a network covering North America, we make recommendations to one another for florists, dentists, whatever our employer might need. But we also have a section to help new and aspiring assistants learn the ropes. I'm so shocked at the number who can't spell or don't know the difference between there and thier, quite and quiet, etc. I wonder how they expect to ever get jobs or advance.

My hair stands on end when I hear some of the local news reporters. The men and women behind the desks are fine, but the field reporters can be atrocious!

Don't give too much credit to the news anchors, often, they don't write their own copy! When they have to ad-lib is when you can tell more, just like the field reporters.

I'm just plain disgusted with many schools, growing consistently for the past 30 years. And many parents earn the same disgust. I understand anyone making the occasional typo, grammatical slip or whatever, but when people can't communicate, many people suffer.

When I was behind the counter in retail, it was amazing the number of people that we couldn't understand speaking. They'd mumble, use a grossly exaggerated accent, slang and more. There was a time it took nearly 5 minutes to figure out what brand of cigarettes the woman wanted. And it wasn't a physical problem, but just the way she talked. She finally took out her pack and showed me! I was close but she wouldn't say she wanted "ultra" lights. (heavy sigh)

This is one thing that absolutely drives me up the wall!! I have received emails from people who have graduated from college and I want to pull my hair out when I see some of the spelling errors!! I have to get after my DD once in awhile as well because I remember the nights I worked with her on her spelling when she was in grade school!!!!!

I think alot of it comes down to being lazy and I am probably guilty of that as well in some area of my life. I remember here a few months ago my DD mispelled 'cereal'. She said she knew it didn't look right. I said, 'you mean tell me you couldn't go and look in the cupboard to find a box of cereal to find out how to spell it'? She said her hubby asked her the same thing..LOL!

California's Governor recently said this (speaking about falling over a cliff in a nat'l. park):

"If they slipped, they would have went right over."

Everyone makes grammatical errors when speaking and writing, but I don't think I would have made that one. Can't criticize the man--he's got problems way bigger than grammar.

I make occasional errors when writing on the board at school. I'm always pleased when a student catches it (which they love to do).

I have a friend who constantly says "I seen her" - instead of "I saw her" and ....it drives me CRAZY! I don't want to offend her, but I keep wanting to correct her - to say, for instance "You mean you SAW her?" Not sure about her educational background, but it just so rubs me the wrong way. Also I really seem to notice when someone uses "there" and "their" incorrectly or the apostrophes seem to have a life of their own sometimes. What's wrong with our educational system?

OK, I admit it, if I my computer didn't underling the word when I misspell it, I'm not sure any one here could read my posts....but I do learn and remember the correct spelling (most of the time) next time I go to type the word.
When i worked retail, the boss hired this cute, curvy young thing, and we found out it wasn't for what was for what was in her head. She made a sale for something that was $9.99, the person handed her a ten dollar bill, and she had to use the calculator to figure out the change. We didn't have registers that told what the change should be, just cash drawers. She was a recent high school graduate.

We were talking about grammar on another recent post, but this
"vegebul" and jentley, just about took the cake.

I couldn't believe what I was reading. The "paints" I thought was a typo, but she spelled it the same in two different posts.

Oh and close. A lot of people "need summer/kids/maternity/office "close" wow.

They spell like they talk. And all the shortened words come from texting. They think that is all ok, "everyone" knows what they mean. "Paints" that is probably how she says it. Sammich... a lot of people, I know say, it that way.

I think using the past perfect tense of a verb without the addition of have/had in place of the simple perfect tense is a colloquialism. I hear it most often from those who were raised in the midwestern U.S. It does make me cringe when I hear it, though.

As for the misspellings and improper word usages seen so often in CL and Freecycle ads, I try to remember that there are many people advertising for whom English is not their first language.

I hate that this site doesn't allowing editing of posts. Even with the preview feature, I don't always catch all of my typos.

A dear family member frequently says "ain't" and "he don't." I used to comment, but it didn't make an impression so I gave up. Also "samwich."

Jasdip, I don't even know what paints and close mean. Ohhh,
I just got it...pants and clothes, right? That's pretty bad.

We must be kind and non-judgmental to any here who post grammatical and spelling errors because maybe they never worked a job where these things mattered, or maybe they are/were dyslexic and had trouble learning and continue to do the best they can. I'm sure I make errors.

It seems that spelling in schools doesn't mean what it used to mean. My daughter takes after her father in that spelling is very difficult for her. When she was in grade school, I commented to a teacher that I was concerned about her spelling errors. I was told not to worry because spelling wasn't all that important anymore. Wow - I found that disturbing. When my daughter brought home her spelling words, we worked nightly on it. Her spelling did improve gradually. I'm really glad I didn't listen to that teacher and I'm glad that not all teachers felt that way.

People write the way they talk. I don't know how they got through school.
As a former teacher, I know kids were taught to speak correct English and to spellcheck even e-mails (which I need because I catch other's mistakes before my own.)
However, some kids don't want to use correct English and some parents come home from work and revert to bad English like "He don't know nothin or I ain't gonna let you do dat." They have made an unconscious decision as a role model to make their kids more comfortable with their family slang or their language. ( "You know what I'm sayin'.") Only basketball and football players are allowed to go to college and not even know how to read yet make big bucks.
I could go on and on.

I've looked at several ads for pups and cannot believe the people that can't even spell the breed of dog they are selling!!!!!! Ciwaawaa? Oh and there are lots advertised as "purebread". That just gets my goat! Another example of why people that shouldn't be allowed to breed pets.

I am NOT the worlds best speller, I do get then and than mixed up and apostrophes get skipped more often then not,maybe I shouldn't complain? LOL

DH is a very poor speller and writer but excellent in math. Being around of many people of other races and cultures, I guess I just got use to other dialects. After all what sounds rude and sloppy to us probably sounds the same way to these people when we go as visitors to their countries. English was never my favorite subject so it doesn't bother me. It is the attitude that is important. I love to meet and talk to others from outside my area.

Our elementary school emphasizes reading/language arts, and correct spelling is a big part of what is taught.

The spelling bee is a yearly highlight, with prizes for the top spellers in each grade.

The winners are treated like little rock stars. So nerdishly cute!

"purebread"--that would be a samwich with nothin' on it!

So agree with Ellie45.
I was talking about this a week or so ago. The way people talk. How did the teachers ever allow these people to progress into the next grade? We were all given the same lessons in school. Where does the fault lie?

I blame this on most of our school districts/administrators etc. Most of the time, schools get credit for good grades and will let these students slip by or grade them higher than should be...I'm not saying all do it but I've seen it in our's...But, there is a thing called spell check and it should be used (by me, lol)...
I have a very good friend, who is an avid ready. amd pronounces Library, "Liberry", vegtables "vengtables", afghan, "afcan"...I cringe when she says these words but I would never correct her.....

Another thing, along with spelling and grammar, what about counting??? Most of the clerks in stores cannot count out change and rely on the register when giving change....Just another of my "cringes"......

You might as well blame it on the adults who have made the choice to write and speak incorrect English. Yes, it is true what SunnyDJ just said about school administrators who put the blame on their own teachers because they must meet state standards. Teachers blame parents etc. However,
when one becomes an adult they have many periods of enlightenment and may want to go to college or get a better job. Now it's their ambition they have use to pull them out and the adults who failed them as kids are gone.
I hope for the sake of their children they don't follow in their parents footsteps in this area but it's obvious that they do and get labeled so unfairly for the rest of their life. IMHO

Keep tellin' the kids - we're in worldwide competition, don't forget.

And our record isn't so hot.

ole joyful

Nodakgal, I'll never forget the CL post for rehoming a York Shiterier. York Shiterier! OMG.

Another thing that can spoil bad grammar and mispellings is texting and sometimes, emailing.

Spelling check tools sometime doesn't work neither. You can type: I would like too work to days of the week two. Each one of these words are not mispelled but the words to, too, and two are wrongly used.

I often have to think when to use the word sale and when to use the word sell. In some instances, it is obvious but in others, I have to think harder.

I am very particular in chosing what to read because how the article is written (gramatically) tends to stick in my mind. In other words, if I read an article that is written gramatically correct, it wouldn't spoil the way I speak and write. However, if it's not, I'd be speaking English all wrong and would be writing just the way I speak.

I recently saw something in a farmers' market labelled "Raisen Pie".

The York Shiterier is probably a cousin of the Labradoodle Cockapoo and Pikpom.

ntt_hou, my hat's off to you for taking pride and exerting effort to learn. I never criticize someone who has issues for a reason, it's the ones who at least *should* know better but are probably lazy. My dad didn't speak English until after he was confirmed and they spoke very little English at home. He had an 8th grade education in a country schoolhouse (and those teachers deserve the highest praise possible) and with that, he did quite well for himself. Heavy accent at times but usually when he got excited but he was always able to communicate.

It's the ones who can't say their daughter, rather call her a bra size, the ones who think it's so "cool" to use "ppl" in a forum. To me, that's the stuff that's more troublesome. The it's up to *you* to figure out what *I'm* saying attitude of communication.

Some folks don't seem to understand that texting is a different language than writing a resume or business letter. They're not interchangeable languages.

Many of the grammatical errors we see (are/is?) the "mother tonge" speaking. Children pick up the idioms their mother uses, and then later in life, they find it very hard to shake these especially if no effort is made to do so. For example, the word 'were' was not in mother's vocabulary. The verb, was, was used in all instances. Now, I sit at the keyboard in my retirement years and I find myself making the same error. When I proof read my first draft, that's the most likely error that I'll find.

I do fairly well with spelling, but when others read my work, they find that I sometimes have coined a new word. The word appears sensible, but can not be found in a big dictionary.

I remember trying to convince the girl behind the icecream counter that it couldn't possibly be "Poissonberry" flavoured icecream....

I've just not been able to overlook that a popular type of dog around these parts is the 'datsun'. Could be that since that car is no longer being manufactured the 'datsun' will become a rare breed!

LOL In a newspaper lost and found section, I recently learned that someone had lost a spaded datsun. A car in the garden?

Dug in, I figure .... .... hope it had died first?

My ex- had a mini datsun for years ... three of 'em, in fact (one after t'other, that is).

o j

I don't know what they teach these days. i went to public school and remember well being drilled on grammar, spelling, I could even "diagram" a sentence, which I think no schools teach these days. My daughter graduated high school in 2006, but when she applied to college they gave her several tests, and she had to take a "remedial" reading and writing class her first semester, for which she got no credit. She did pass the class. She's always been an avid reader and she enjoys creative writing.

I have learned to keep my mouth shut because many get offended when you correct them...my husband was the worst, he even talked horribly. Glad those days are over