Jumping on grammatical/spelling errors

[blahblahblah]

The public correction should not have been made by first friend. On the internet, you are supposed to ignore those things, as long as it doesn't get illegible.
I do not find the second post rude though, simply because it is a friend. Off course, I do not know the rel@tionship between you and your friends, but for me it is hard to read it any other way then typical friendly banter going on in or between most groups of friends all the time. Or have we come to the point when it is only banter if it is followed by a smily?

I think you mean a sarc-mark 

Ack! Do not speak of that abomination...

[M-theory]

I dislike Internet pedantry. I dislike all pedantry, actually. I like that EHell has threads for linguistic pet peeves going so I can gripe if something bugs me without actually telling the offender off.

Growing up, I was the "brainy" kid who went to Young Writers' conventions, won spelling bees, and used more advanced words than my peers. I caught on from an early age that correcting other people's English usage served no purpose other than to promote hostility - I already had enough problems with standing out for other reasons. As an adult, I tend to think of it as pedantry. If I can decipher what someone else is saying, I don't care how good their spelling/grammar/punctuation are.

As an adult, I'm a medical editor - I check typed medical reports and records to ensure not only accuracy, but the correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Thing is, grammar and punctuation are a bit different in medical documentation. So while I do remember most everything I learned from the time my parents taught me to read through college English, my mental rule structure is being replaced by "medical English," in which the standard style guide forbids things like most hyphen use and contractions.

Basically, I try to keep my job out of the rest of my life. I hope that other people find me articulate, but I'm well aware the grammar and punctuation I use on forums like this aren't perfect. I don't even capitalize when IMing, and I use plenty of netspeak, and have even coined a few of my own acronyms and diminutives. I type somewhat in my native Texas dialect. Because if you're not paying me, I really don't care.

In summary, I don't correct other people unless they're paying me x cents per line to do so. The exception is my boyfriend. He's a computer geek and doesn't hesitate to tell me when I'm doing something foolish with my electronic devices, so correcting his spelling/pronunciation/misuse of phrasing is just returning the favour.

[veryfluffy]

The only time that it will force me to comment is when the writer appears to have taken it upon themselves to lecture or harangue, and their command of the written language is so offensively inept that they seem to need a good slapping. For instance, I post on a forum that debates a fairly controversial topic. Most of the forum members are regulars, and the debate can get very heated. Everyone mistypes occasionally, or loses an apostrophe, or whatever. No big deal. But on a regular basis, some newbie decides to chime in with an extremist rant. They usually think very highly of their own opinion, call everyone on the other side names, and display profound ignorance of any of the issues that are being discussed. And nine times out of ten they will either write in text-speak, or some kind of street language that omits punctuation and disregards grammar, spelling and capital letters. So yes, in those cases I do jump on them.

[baglady]

Another copy editor here. I correct people's writing for a living, but on my own time I don't much care if someone's grammar or spelling in an Internet post is perfect. I see things like Facebook updates/comments and message board posts as a form of conversation -- ephemeral. Nobody's going to care tomorrow if someone typed "your" when they meant "you're."

When I read fan fiction online, though, I will point out errors -- gently. A fanfic isn't a conversation -- it's a creative work that's being judged on its quality and is out there for the ages. If I know the error was simply an "oops" on the part of a good writer, I know she will want it pointed out so she can fix it ASAP. I know I want that from my readers.

Example: I once gently corrected a fellow fanfic writer when she used "wet his pallet" for "whet his palate." I pointed her to the correct spelling and joked that "wet his pallet" meant "peed on his wooden platform." She appreciated the joke and the fact that I pointed out that *lots* of people get tripped up on palate/pallet/palette.

(Yeah, I know, you can't really "whet" a palate, because "whet" means sharpen. You whet an appetite. But at least with the correction, she no longer had anyone peeing on platforms. BTW, I'm not a big fan of "palate" in the food context to begin with -- the palate does not have taste buds!)

[MrsJWine]

I'm no grammar expert, as I'm sure many of my posts have proven.  I'm also very prone to typos; I proofread, but just don't see a lot of them (my worst is interchanging "the" and "that" and "than").  And my Internet-speak is a lot less careful than my paper-for-school-speak.  For a layman, though, I think I do pretty well.  So when I pick up a newspaper or magazine or some other publication in which the grammar and spelling errors should be few and far between, and they're not, it drives me batty.  If I could write and edit better, and I have no English degree or experience editing, why is this a job that requires a college degree?

However, in informal writing, such as here on eHell, who cares?  I just don't understand.  Some things bother me, yes, but not enough to say anything (and that's why I like the linguistic pet peeves thread; I can talk about it there if I must say something).  Some posts I just can't understand, but still, I don't care enough to embarrass someone I don't even know.

In everyday speech, it's kind of understood that people will speak more casually.  I often say something like, "There is 25 people in that line!" because I haven't thought the sentence out before I use "is" instead of "are," or I'm more prone to using pronouns incorrectly (me/I, she/her, etc).  Some people who don't blink an eye at this kind of poor grammar are all over you if you do it on Facebook, which, IMO, is the written equivalent of everyday speech.  I don't get it. 

The ONLY time I pointed something out was when a friend posted a status update saying something like, "I hate all those idiot's who can't get their grammar right!"  I asked her if she wrote "idiot's" on purpose, and it turns out she did; it was a joke in response to someone ELSE using poor grammar to point a typo in one of her wall posts.

[Wittyone]

I was always taught that correcting someone's grammar and/or spelling in public is rude.  Facebook is certainly public.  I also find it a relaxed forum, where most people I know just shoot off whatever is at the top of their heads, so they don't always go back and check.  As long as I understand the meaning I don't think it is a big deal.  Also my keyboard has two keys that stick, so I probably often end up missing the "n" or the "p" on accident.  If people want to jump all over the English major (yeah, I'm one too), then I see it more as a reflection of them, then on my writing.

[Kaire]

Ok, I have to come clean.  After the 20th or so post from my 13 year old goddaughter expressing her boredom that day, I lost it and suggested if she was bored she could always work on her spelling.  Why?  She never did manage to spelled bored correctly, nor were any other words spelled right.  I don't mind u for you, r for are, and such, but seeing a status post of "em se bord, ther is notin to du arund heer" and worse over and over made me snap.

For the record I did apologize to her when I saw her in person, gave her a big hug, and told her she was driving her Aunt Kaire totally crazy with her spelling

[Allyson]

The only time I've done it is when it's a funny typo, and a closer friend I know will laugh about it--for example I had a friend misspell a word in such a way that it totally changed the meaning and made it a bit off-colour, but I knew he would think it was hilarious, so I let him know.

Other than that, it's just not necessary. Everyone typos, and pointing out someone else's is a good way to get your own made fun of!

[nicolle]

It makes it even worse that it was a serious situation. It's one thing joking on the grammar when the original post is more fluff (and a funny typo), but people should really consider the content of the post. That's just a jerky thing to do

[Mahdoumi]

I'm paid to write correctly IRL.  Thank goodness, I'm not paid for usage and spelling on Ehell because I'd starve.  While some of my errors make me roll my eyes after I've posted and reread what I've written, I know I'm forgiven.  

Modified to ask:  Where's the linguistics thread?

[Jobiska]

The only time I've done it is when it's a funny typo, and a closer friend I know will laugh about it--for example I had a friend misspell a word in such a way that it totally changed the meaning and made it a bit off-colour, but I knew he would think it was hilarious, so I let him know.

I would do this if I were sure of my audience in this way.  I was sooooo tempted to comment on a page (not profile) of an urban farm of which I am a fan.  For the coming snowstorm, they said their chickens were "going back to their coup [not coop]."  I got such a kick out of the idea of hens staging an uprising to take over....

I might tease my husband or sister about a typo, but in an obviously joking way, because they know I know they are both bright and good spellers so I wouldn't be teasing them about something that is a real issue for them.

Other than someone I'd as close to as those two, or somewhere it's obviously funny, I wouldn't, although I do wish pages (public entities) were more careful about typos--for them they are presenting a public persona, almost advertising, so it is more important in my opinion to be correct than just regular individuals casually using text-speak or mistyping or whatever.

[SisJackson]

I did once send a PM to a young FB friend (the son of one of my husband's good friends) who had a status update of:

Jacob Lastname wants to be a raper like Eminem someday

Some of his peers were commenting about "calling the police" or saying he was a perv, without explaining why they were making fun of him.  I didn't want to be the stick-in-the-mud old lady who corrected him on FB in front of his friends (I am only too aware of how some of the young people feel like FB has been sullied by us oldsters) but I did want him to know.  He very quickly removed the status and replaced it with something new.

Some friends I would feel free to tease about their typos - if I knew they were the type to laugh at their own foibles and oopsies.  If they were the type to hate being laughed at (I have only one of those that is even unwilling to use self-deprecating humor) I would just pretend I never saw it and move on.

[wyliefool]

It's doing a service to a young relative--i.e., the 13-year-old in the post above--to correct their grammar/spelling. Kids shouldn't be allowed to grow up thinking that 'two much' is a real phrase, lest they use it in school/work/some other serious venue and give a bad impression of their intelligence/education.

However, correcting other adults for random typos on a casual internet forum is hugely rude, and often downright mean. As in the OP, where her status was 'I was in a car accident' and people's response was 'ha ha, you misspelled a word.' Jeez, have a little perspective.

(Another English major and editor here. And yes it drives me bonkers seeing stuff like 'went through the ringer' in the NY Times. What does that even mean?? It's wringer! As in, being wrung out!)

[Luci45]

I try to be as perfect as possible. (I have BA in Ed with a math major and an English minor.) Also, I'm pretty anal about everthing but not quite like Mr. Monk. Now I notice that some things have changed, for example the use of fewer commas, and in writing on the computer the use of " - " instead of "--", which probably shouldn't be used at all anyway and has to do with the way computers handle automatic line enters. I learned to type on a typewriter and had to make my own lines with the manual carriage return. I think I'm getting over it in my writing and don't react in horror when I see what I've written.

At first I was bothered with some of the posts and errors, but I even have gotten past that and am really glad because I would have missed some pretty interesting and insightful comments here!

[EddiesMom]

Yes, and no. 

E-mail and Internet posts are emotionally flat.  It can be difficult to understand what the writer/poster means when their grammar and/or spelling are atrocious.