Spell check?

[Glenn Baglo]

The posts on this forum seem littered with typos. I'm sure people are more literate than is indicated. I think they can probably type better than indicated. Many of the "typos" appear to be the result of some sort of spell check run amok.

baglo

[Francesca Knowles]

Channeling Andy Rooney today, Glenn?

Francesca

[Darrell in Al]

I try, but when I'm using my phone the on screen key board crashes at times.

[FTTRV]

Baglo I have seen spelling errors on many forums.
Chuck

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by FTTRV

Baglo I have seen spelling errors on many forums.
Chuck

These aren't spelling errors. It looks like spell-check changing "Than" to "That" or "Car" to "Cat".

[Ron in BC]

Wats de prablim, I kin reed teh posts gud

[David Tilston]

I told my grade 12 English teacher that the fact that I was functionally illiterate was irrelevant, since there would be spell check in my future. He said, "Tilston, you've got to stop living in a fantasy".
Of course spell check makes mistakes too.

[cpaharley2008]

MIPELLSSED WDORS

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

[Glenn Baglo]

Checkmate.

[just mary]

I tend to post from my iPad and it loves to change my word choice!

[Mary F]

Yes, in my experience, "auto-mistake" loves to change "its" to "it's" and "there" to "their." So much for being a grammar nit-picker.

So what it now comes down to is proof-reading before hitting the "post" button.

[Ian-Vicki]

When I started as a journalist in the early 1970s, my grammar was good and my spelling excellent. But after 30 years of seeing misspellings, misused homonyms and other errors, I can no longer claim to be an excellent speller because the I have seen incorrect words so often they begin to look right. And these errors came from professional writers, so I think we can cut the folks on this forum some slack.
I also learned in that time that language, written or spoken, is about communication, not rules. If people make themselves and their intent understood, then mission accomplished.
cheers
Ian

[Glenn Baglo]

Speaking of communication, I believe the issue I raised was "spell-check run amok".

baglo

[carlkeigley]

I also notice misspelled words and punctuation in about everything.
Newspapers used to have proof-readers, but I think that's a lost art form.
If they do, the government skrewls have dumbed everything down.
My sons would bring their school work home with "A's" on them. After I did a spell check and grammar check, they were lucky to have a "C". They said they were graded on whether they handed in the work or not, not the spelling and grammar. ARGH!
I have even found brand new Bibles with misspelled words. What's with that?

In forums, it's just a given. Most are in a hurry.

[GMike A]

I'm still trying to figure out why I had to take Calculus in High School I will never be another Sheldon Cooper.

[Frederick L. Simson]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

I believe the issue I raised was "spell-check run amok".

I wonder how many people actually click on the words with ........ dotted red underlines?

While it may be "Spell-check" it's not "homonym-check"!

• to = "toward"
• too = "also"
• two = "2"

[kootenaigirl]

I am having a few keys on my laptop sticking which makes for some interesting sentences at times if I don't double check.

[Francesca Knowles]

Grammarcheck.net

Whew!

Francesca

[Janet H]

Some browsers have native spellcheckers, others don't and so we just try to muddle along. I think "spellchecK" is ungracefully named btw as usually it's checking for typos. Typocheck might be better

[Steve Hammel]

Not to mention abbreviations. Et cetera is etc not ect. Probably the most misspelled abbreviation ever. I've had several friends and students argue with me until I have them look it up.