what i dont like is what people post who dont use punctuation or captiluation to properly structur ther sentences it makes it hard to follow ther thoughts when u post pleeze have some courtesy the other readers of u post will have an easier time understanding your message may be clear to u but can be confusing easily and sometimes i dont know how people get thru school not knowing how to write.
Robo, feel free to delete this post if you deem it's humor and appropriateness insufficient of this board.
the reason we are seeing so much BAD spelling is due to the current climate in many schools.
as long and the words are recognizable and the idea is properly presented, teachers are satisfied.
and since spelling is not required in formal school work, kids cannot fairly compete in Spelling Bees (i guess because some kids are natural spellers and others haven't been forced to learn the skill) and if they cannot fairly compete, somebody's feelings are going to be hurt because they didn't win the contest and they tried sooooooo hard!
<child like tantrum>
it's not fair that i tried as hard as he did and he won. IT'S NOT FAIR! I want a ribbon (or trophy) TOO!"
<end of tantrum>
end of tim's rant about the current state of expected achievement in schools.
Are you kidding me? Spelling is not required in formal school work? It's been a long time since I was in school and I guess I didn't realize the change in educational priorities. I don't have children so I've not been in tune with the current state of our education system. Thanks for enlightening me. It' sad isn't it?
As long as I am not required to do math on the BBs I'm OK.
I do think that most posters quickly learn the rules of the road such as ALL CAPS IS SHOUTING. And people who point that out usually do it gently and with good intentions.
Thomas, I sent my kids to one of those Wilmington prep schools ($$$) and one kid still thinks that "maybe" is "maby" because it sounds like "baby." He got A's in English. Go figure.
I don't hold bad speling or grammar misteakes against anyone in a place like this so long as the writer gets his/her point across. If we were to be flogged for typos, I'd be the first in the punishment line.
Unfortunately, that seems to be the attitude of educators these days. This may shock you, but kids aren't required to learn the multiplication tables any more, either. (I always had trouble with that pesky 7's table.) That may be understandable in these days of calculators, but if you don't know basic math how do you know if the answer the calculator gives you might be wrong because you pushed the wrong button or used the wrong procedure?
What I would like to see on the boards is more paragraphing to separate thoughts. It's just so much easier to read.
My eyes glaze over when I see a full page of text all bundled and bunched up together.
Here is, as they say, "the thing." This is a two-dimensional world and the only way one can make a judgment about another (if, indeed, they are inclined to do so) is by the written word. Or, maybe, the choice of flitting icon in the sig line.
If I'm looking for advice or insight on a new itinerary, a new ship, whatever ... I am more likely to "listen" to someone whose spelling and grammar are on the upper end of the scale. That's my personal guidon.
I also do not take restaurant recommendations from people who put ketchup on everything or salt their food before tasting it.
My kids who are in 5th and 6th grade have spelling tests every week and have had spelling tests every week since they were in 2nd grade. At least here in Colorado spelling tests are still required.
Well Mr. Perfect Thomas!!!!!! Guess we are not all that perfect as you are. Sorry for that! I am hoping that you have many more important things in this life to worry about than the punctuation and abilities of people to spell correctly. That would be so sad for you if it is the only thing you have to think about. I myself ....... Well I am thinking about my next cruise and can't think about much more at the moment. Try to have a nice day in spite of it all. Char
Thomas, the term is creative spelling. When I was taking education courses in college, forcing children to spell correctly or taking points off for spelling was a big no no. It's all part of whole language. Spelling bees have become a no no too for the reasons mentioned before. We are in downstate NY, in case geography makes a difference.
As for my opinion on this, you can tell a person who makes a typo now and then from a person who can't spell cat without a spell checker and even then might somehow choose Kate. As an adult, good spelling to a reasonable degree is essential. For the cat/Kate posts that sometimes appear, my usual guess is its a child pretending to be an adult . Do I take that person less seriously, you bet!
First off.. Thomas stated quite clearly that his post was "tongue in cheek", so some folks may want to take it the way it was presented.
When it comes to spelling though, it's a tricky subject ( because I'm a terrible speller). If one were to take a look at all the new words added to the dictionary in the past decade I'd bet many of the "older generation" would have no clue as to how to spell many of the words.
Words which were once considered slang are constantly being added to dictionaries, and I bet most of us would have no clue of the correct spelling.
As Pamda stated, this is a two-dimensional world. She is more inclined to "listen" to those whose spelling and grammar are on the upper scale. I agree completely.
As you say, for an adult good spelling to a reasonable degree is essential. I agree completely. I am shocked to learn that spelling bees are no-no's as are deductions for spelling mistakes by today's educators. I believe spelling and sentence structure are components of education.
When I was in college 25 years ago the country was attempting to transform to the metric system (remember that?) and in our physics and dynamics classes, for instance, the answers to problems were generally so many Kilometers/hour or Joules/sq. meter. Well, people who didn't understand the dimensions would not recognize how ridiculously wrong their answer of 1500 K/hr would be as the speed of a ball striking the ground when dropped off a one-story building.
I know Thomas meant his post to be humorous, and it is. But it does raise a question I've had for some time. As I am only semi- computer literate, I can't figure out a way to get my spell checker to work when posting on these boards. Do any of you "techies" have any advice?
(By the way, love that screen name, being a Yankees fan.) You can always type up your posts in Word or an equivalent, and then cut and paste your text into the message box here at the "Reply To This Message" area.
I hate it when I do that! I forgot to mention in my last one that the reason you would type up your post in Word or an equivalent is so that you can hit the F7 key to spell-check your text before cutting and pasting it into the site's "Reply......" box
Something humorous - shortly after reading and replying to this post, I misspelled 'cruising' in a reply to another post. I guess I am one of the ones he was refering to. And of all words to misspell.....
D@%m! I did it again. I mean "referring" - I type too fast for my own good. Or either I drink to many beers (pratice for my upcoming cruise) while sitting at my pc glued to cruisemates.
spell checker can be helpful but won't be much use if the wrong words are used and when words that are misspelled are actually other words that are spelled correctly -- "loose" instead of "lose," "there" instead of "their" or even "they're"...
spell checkers are neice too halve, butt are knot of grate assistance if yew dew knot ewes the write word in the first plays.
And why is it you can type paragraph upon paragraph, read it over twice or thrice, but you cannot see that you typed in "snip" when you meant "ship" until the millisecond AFTER you clicked on "Post"? What is it about clicking Post that makes your brain suddently start working???
It's precisely the reason NASA invented the Cesium clock, which can measure down to one-billionth of a second. That's exactly how long it takes your mind to realize your mistake after hitting the "post" button!
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