Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

Headline on the "Evening Telegraph" website ....Gang of men sort after attack on Nelson teenager.



Gang of men sort after attack on Nelson teenager (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

That is bad ... very bad Steeljack. Wouldn't condemn anyone for their spelling, but reporters ... well, you expect them to have basic English don't you.

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

It doesn't even sound like that. That is disgusting for a reporter

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

They will soon get court.

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

I am appalled every day, when reading the national papers, at the paucity of grammar. The spelling isn't usually too bad (though not good) but the grammar, the use of punctuation and the syntax, is dreadful.

There was a time when reporters had to have, at the very least, English O Level. God alone knows what qualifications are required now, probably the ability to write their own name. :rolleyes:

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

God help us. :(

I've noticed many errors in the Telegraph in the past. Until I saw this one the worst one I saw was 'bitumen' which was spelt 'bitchumen'.

The Observer's no better either.

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

hope that reporter aint teaching own kids at home.:rolleyes:

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

Reminds me of why I moved out of Nelson, and spelling was low on that list :rolleyes:

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

Was the Telegraph reporter a woman Lilly, if so she may have had a bust up with her hubby when writing the article:D

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

the telegraph obviously use the old fashioned typewriter instead of using a computer with spell check


hmmm no one checks things before the paper goes to print then

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

Haha .. it's been corrected !

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

They must check Accy Web:D

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

one way to correct kids spelling .. ban mobile phones .. kids nowadays use text speak more often than not .. and a lot use it in day to day stuff.

Before anyone says owt .. yes im guilty of using text speak as much as anyone.

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

spell check on the computer wouldn't pick it up because there is such a word as sort, though it may have picked it up if it was grammatically incorrect. Spell check also doesn't pick up if you spell something wrong in capital letters. (So that certain shop in Accy who are looking for sales staff check the notice you have put up!!)

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

Don't believe spell check would have been any use to the writer of original news item , spell check is a useful tool only if one is literate and has recieved the basic rudimentary education in the English language which in this case is obviously missing .
Re. the original article .......interesting that the story had no byline or comments tag :confused: :confused:, could it be that the Telegraph is now employing school kids as unpaid interns/journalists during the summer holidays as a "work experience" project.

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

"oops, steeljack, "i before e except after c" LOL

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

That doesn't always apply, in fact its now been or is to be discarded by teachers

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

oh well, must be showing my age!!!!!!

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

Have you considered that this sort of thing may represent an evolutionary change in English? It seems to me that English is in a constant state of flux, more, perhaps, than any other language. English is an international language, no longer the property of the English. As such, it is more easily "infected" by global changes in technology (the upsurge in texting is a major example of this), and by the entertainment media, primarily that of the US. When you are critical of spelling, syntax, and grammar, perhaps you are merely voicing a concern that they no longer conform to "standards" which are becoming out of date. I do believe that "standards" in English are more fluid than solid.

Having said that, it still pees me off to read some of the crappy language structures used by the media. An aside: saw a sign on a store just the other day: "Choose from one of our many flavors of ice cream." I know what it means; but ...... . And in my local corner store: "You must be 18 to buy cigarettes." Or, at Ultramar Gas Stations: "Every Thursday Premium Gas at -3 cents A Litre."

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

A depressing situation if ever there was one! Most of the text messages, facebook posts and MySpace comments I receive resemble more the language of cavemen than the Queen's English. The vibrant flow of well constructed literature seems to be constantly under threat from this beeping proto-language. The jettison of vowels from the standard text message is just wrong, even if it does save pennies. Eric makes a good point though; it's the impact of the next generation's culture that keeps language alive, however brutal its cull seems to be.

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

Still up and still mistakes on it :D

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

Sorry to change the subject slightly, but which shop is that. 18 year old daughter has left collage and is struggling to find a job. (excuse the spelling please)

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

I can appreciate your argument, Eric, but there are many instances where, for example, the incorrect use or the absence of a comma alters the whole meaning of a sentence. I mean in the style of the classic, "He opened the door in his pyjamas." I believe language does evolve but I believe it should be intelligible while it's evolving.

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

Punctuation is not all that important. The example you chose is so obviously a joke with mildly salacious undertones, that it illustrates little, other than that humans have a sense of humour. Most readers, if left alone, will punctuate naturally. Many authors have exhibited an almost complete disregard for punctuation. Dickens, for example, left punctuation, to his editor and his publisher. He was determined that the substantives were left untouched; but didn't give a damn about the accidentals. And language, I believe, is always intelligible among the members of a linguistic community; although outside that community it may cause some confusion. There is, though, a sort of "standard" English which is intelligible for all English speakers, whether they come from Accrington or Come By Chance, Newfoundland. But concentrating too much on standards, ignores the richness and diversity of English as it has evolved. And however we feel about the process, English will continue to evolve in spite of any and every effort to standardize it.

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

The bit I find amusing is the constant blame on text speak. It was 'invented ' due to the rise in SMS messaging and the time it took to type out words in full. With the advent of predictive text and now more so QWERTY keyboards on phones there is no reason to use it still. Lets be honest which reads better 'L8r' or 'later' ?

Spell checkers are not infallible, if a word is correct but not the correct word for that context then it will 'pass' any check.

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

Its not just the media. I work for a computer firm and some of the specifications have appalling spelling and grammer. The worst thing is that people don't seem to care about the poorimmpression it gives
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Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

I just love all these winges that have spelling and grammatical errors all over them :D

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

I didn't mean to select a mildly salacious joke, I just couldn't think of anything else off-hand. :rolleyes:

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

I think it is the shop on Peel Street that does the printing on t-shirts and suchlike. Used to have the first stall next to cigarette kiosk on the market but have moved into the shop now. It is on the left going towards the toilets:)

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

Actually found the joke funny .... the only one that I can remember is one in Latin, think it was some kinda (sorry about that, it's Canadian;)) oracular prediction give to king something-or-other: translates as "you will go you will return never in war will you perish" ... not as much fun as yours .... If you have time on your hands, I recommend "The Story of English": Robert McCrum, William Cran, and Robert MacNeil ... think you will enjoy it.

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

I'll check if the library has it. :)

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

Thanks, will let her know that there might be a job going.

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

I guess spelling can be important. Someone in our PM's office issued press releases related to PM Harper's visit to the Arctic. The press release referred to Nunavut's capital as "Iqualuit" rather than "Iqaluit". In the Inuktitut language, "Iqaluit" means "many fishes", "Iqualuit", however, means "people with unwiped asses". Strange but true.

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

Over the last two night BBC Look Northwest have been featuring signs with spelling mistakes that viewers have sent in, some of these were actually sign written over shops "Glases" was about the best, I'll look on the Look North Web Site and see if there is a link
If you go on the Web Site last nights program can be watched

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

You have probably seen this before

A Little Poem Regarding Computer Spell Checkers...

Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

I don't think so. We can't afford to make smelling pistakes ;)

The shop advertising the job actually generates cash :)

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

Sorry my mistake, could have sworn I read you were after somebody for the shop:confused:

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

No problem, I can see which earlier answer caused the confusion :)

As busy as we are I'm afraid we could neither afford more staff or find enough space for them to work in :D

Re: Don't blame the kids if they can't spell
 

I think one reason for the bad spelling of today is that at school when we are taught our ABC & to write, we write on paper with a pen/pencil. We learn to form our letters and eventually our words on paper - we learn the flow of a word or sentence on paper with a pen/pencil.
In our English classes where we get more advanced we learnt using paper & pen, heck even a fountain pen.

Then we leave school and use a keyboard and then all we are doing is pushing buttons. Its not the same, thought processes have to change, typing is done a lot faster than when we learnt. In general you can type a heck of a lot faster than you can write on paper.

As such our brains cannot handle it as well and our hands are working a lot faster than our brain can remember the rules of the English language & our spelling and grammar goes out of the window.

But given that there are spell checkers available for nearly every writing application or web browser then in reality there should be no excuse for bad spelling. Apart from spell checkers cannot always get it right

The newspapers have no excuse, they should be checked & edited before publication as part of the process.

Either that or people are just getting more lazy/illiterate :tongueout