2008 Woodie Awards
Grammar Nazi
Student forum a hotbed for sloppy spellers
Brian Sylvester
Issue date: 12/7/06 Section: Soap Box
I have a confession to make: I read the student forum. I'm not proud of it. But a large number of people, upwards of five, post to that forum religiously. And as a duly designated representative of The Maine Campus newspaper, I consider it my solemn duty to read at least half of the drivel that gets posted on there to stay up-to-date with topics of interest among the student body.
But as of late, one topic has been posted about with unusual frequency. And that, dear reader, is the topic of spelling and grammar. For those unfamiliar with the student forum, there are certain individuals who, for whatever reason, refuse to spell out words fully, use punctuation, employ proper grammar and sentence structure or capitalize words. This is, to put it in a word, annoying.
Let me be frank on this issue: If you can't spell, don't send e-mails to a public forum. This rule should not prevent anyone from writing e-mails, because the e-mail system we all know and love has a spell-check built right into it.
I found it odd, when I first came upon this discussion, that anyone would argue for not bothering to check spelling and grammar. But there are a lot of people who do, and their arguments seem to fall under three categories.
Category the first: it isn't necessary because the student forum is an informal setting. I submit that since the word 'forum' has all the same letters as the word 'form,' which is the root of the word 'formal,' that this supposition is simply incorrect. On a more technical note, informality is not the same thing as illegibility. Informality refers to content, not structure. You are still required to write coherently.
Category the second: short hand. This argument states that people do not use proper grammar and spelling so they can type faster. But I type using them, to the best of my ability. Always have. I also type in excess of 100 words per minute. Someone who misspells words in their arguments online probably doesn't know what they're talking about. The same simple deduction leads us to conclude that typing without proper spelling and grammar is not a necessary condition for typing fast. Secondly, the argument implies that this kind of shorthand is easier to read. However, the speed with which you can type by leaving out unnecessary bits like hitting the shift key, the punctuation keys, or several common consonants, is severely undercut by the excess time I and other readers have to spend figuring out what the hell it says. I have developed a simple math formula to show how long it takes to read such a posting: for every 10 words in your document, where there is an improper spelling of more than half of the words plus a total lack of grammar and punctuation, it will take approximately too damn long to read.
But as of late, one topic has been posted about with unusual frequency. And that, dear reader, is the topic of spelling and grammar. For those unfamiliar with the student forum, there are certain individuals who, for whatever reason, refuse to spell out words fully, use punctuation, employ proper grammar and sentence structure or capitalize words. This is, to put it in a word, annoying.
Let me be frank on this issue: If you can't spell, don't send e-mails to a public forum. This rule should not prevent anyone from writing e-mails, because the e-mail system we all know and love has a spell-check built right into it.
I found it odd, when I first came upon this discussion, that anyone would argue for not bothering to check spelling and grammar. But there are a lot of people who do, and their arguments seem to fall under three categories.
Category the first: it isn't necessary because the student forum is an informal setting. I submit that since the word 'forum' has all the same letters as the word 'form,' which is the root of the word 'formal,' that this supposition is simply incorrect. On a more technical note, informality is not the same thing as illegibility. Informality refers to content, not structure. You are still required to write coherently.
Category the second: short hand. This argument states that people do not use proper grammar and spelling so they can type faster. But I type using them, to the best of my ability. Always have. I also type in excess of 100 words per minute. Someone who misspells words in their arguments online probably doesn't know what they're talking about. The same simple deduction leads us to conclude that typing without proper spelling and grammar is not a necessary condition for typing fast. Secondly, the argument implies that this kind of shorthand is easier to read. However, the speed with which you can type by leaving out unnecessary bits like hitting the shift key, the punctuation keys, or several common consonants, is severely undercut by the excess time I and other readers have to spend figuring out what the hell it says. I have developed a simple math formula to show how long it takes to read such a posting: for every 10 words in your document, where there is an improper spelling of more than half of the words plus a total lack of grammar and punctuation, it will take approximately too damn long to read.
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