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Illiteracy on TM


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Bags being the front dude then! I detest poor spelling and grammar, and punctuation for that matter as well. When I tutored at University, the level of illiteracy astounded me. Basic words and phrases were constantly misspelled or used in inappropriate structures....

then again I did minor in Linguistics and have always been a spelling Nazi....

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Antipodes;133777 wrote:
I do fear for the youth of today. Without spelling, what on earth will they have to be pedantic about?

 

Oh, I could name a few...but the latest is $300 for a pair of hair staightener's. "Yes, it's a pair, that is 2 prongs equal a pair Dad, and turn that stereo down, I can't hear Home & Away". The joys of a fem dominated house.

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Ilikecrumpets;133835 wrote:
Rimu stands that have been crapped on -

 

Nice! The way those stands grip to the wall - even a wall with carpet. What about people that hold their camera up the wrong way and then don't know how to rotate the image? Sheesh!!

 

For the spelling bee whizzes here - how do you guys feel about the americanisation of spelling. Colour becomes color, carpetted becomes carpeted, etc?

 

Being more pedantic about words, than their spelling, my pet peeves include unnecessary word constructions. For example, I can be oriented towards something and it is quite unnecessary to make up new (but now common) words like 'orientated'. 'Orientated' only came about because people were ignorant of the word 'orient' (as a verb) but knew the word 'orientation', so invented 'orientate'.

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Antipodes;133860 wrote:
For the spelling bee whizzes here - how do you guys feel about the americanisation of spelling. Colour becomes color, carpetted becomes carpeted, etc?

 

 

 

Being more pedantic about words, than their spelling, my pet peeves include unnecessary word constructions. For example, I can be oriented towards something and it is quite unnecessary to make up new (but now common) words like 'orientated'. 'Orientated' only came about because people were ignorant of the word 'orient' (as a verb) but knew the word 'orientation', so invented 'orientate'.

Yes, this trend gets to me too (although i've learned tolerance is the best approach). Another example is 'racialistic' instead of 'racist'.

 

US spelling doesn't bug me though, I understand what they mean, which is the most important thing; plus I think some aspects of English spelling are unecessarily complicated and a little simplification is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

As an immigrant to NZ there are some phrases that I find quite odd - "dealt to" is a prime example; i've always "dealt with" someone.

 

Kiwi pronunciation is also on the whole particularly poor. Having said that, as was said earlier in the thread, "people in glass whare..." so please don't view these as objections or criticisms, merely humorous ;) observations. After all I spent most of my life in a country where traffic lights are called "robots" :D

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Given the organicness* of language, especially the English Language, constructions are a given.

 

The unnecessary word construction becomes the necessary word construction, then becomes the really old word construction that no one realises was a unnecessary word construction, then it becomes part of the language that it was constructed for. Then those that use it as vernacular complain about ones constructed by later generations (I think this one starts at an average age of 63).

 

:)

 

 

*Organicness: full of juicy organic goodness, also causing strange mutations, variances and blends. Usually attributed to the subject being alive and not "Set in Stone".

 

Contra Eisenstein who states “organicness can be defined by the fact that the work as a whole is governed by a certain law of structure and that all its parts are subordinated to this canon”

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Ok, while we're on the subject my pet hate is people using the made up word "somethink" (pronounced sumfink) instead of "something". There is no freakin word somethink! Actually, I don't know if there's a word "freakin" either but it's a good word to quickly change to once you've started the other "f-word" and you realise the kids can hear you.

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King Size;133864 wrote:
Yes, this trend gets to me too (although i've learned tolerance is the best approach). Another example is 'racialistic' instead of 'racist'.

 

 

 

US spelling doesn't bug me though, I understand what they mean, which is the most important thing; plus I think some aspects of English spelling are unecessarily complicated and a little simplification is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

 

 

As an immigrant to NZ there are some phrases that I find quite odd - "dealt to" is a prime example; i've always "dealt with" someone.

 

 

 

Kiwi pronunciation is also on the whole particularly poor. Having said that, as was said earlier in the thread, "people in glass whare..." so please don't view these as objections or criticisms, merely humorous
;)
observations. After all I spent most of my life in a country where traffic lights are called "robots"
:D

 

The Americanization thing has a major accelerant called the internet to fuel it. You must be exposed to much Americanisms with your dealings with your stateside suppliers and clients.

 

Anyway, if you have ever been "dealt to" properly you probably would not like to "deal with" your said interlocutors again. You would probably run away as fast as you can, if you could, if you ever saw them again. Although this turn of phrase probably has more to do with Anglo-saxon pop cultural sadism a la Guy Ritchie cinematic tropes.

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Antipodes;133860 wrote:

 

Being more pedantic about words, than their spelling, my pet peeves include unnecessary word constructions. For example, I can be oriented towards something and it is quite unnecessary to make up new (but now common) words like 'orientated'. 'Orientated' only came about because people were ignorant of the word 'orient' (as a verb) but knew the word 'orientation', so invented 'orientate'.

 

Sorry, I cant agree. I refudiate this. To do anything else would be inartful.

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