Among Friends

[this is my nic]

I am a member of several groups on Facebook and am astonished by the poor spelling and grammar I see  constantly.  Yes, there have been some posts on these boards that are hard to understand. There have been times, especially on FB, when I really wasn't sure what the person commenting was attempting to say.  I don't know if these people are not educated or just don't care.  Please know I'm not talking about an occasional error;  we all make those!

 What do you think?  Why would someone post a comment full of errors so that readers have difficulty understanding what is stated? 

[ECBG]

I think some people go so fast, they don't see that their finger hit a neighboring key, and then there is regional dialect in all communities that effects speech patterns.

My students were often displeased that I corrected speech in their papers.  My answer was "I teach YOU!!".

[Alison Wonderland]

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@ECBG wrote:

I think some people go so fast, they don't see that their finger hit a neighboring key, and then there is regional dialect in all communities that effects speech patterns.

My students were often displeased that I corrected speech in their papers.  My answer was "I teach YOU!!".

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Yes.

I post to Facebook from my phone over 90% of the time and usually very quickly. Between the tiny keyboard and autocorrect, sometimes I am appalled at what I've actually posted and have to go back and edit.

[GenXmuse]

I'd probably leave the groups since it bothers you so much. Problem solved. 

[geezerette]

It's one of my pet peeves too.  

But, I have to admit, that sometimes I make errors that I don't catch when I proofread.  And, I swear that oftentimes I type in a correct word and autocorrect changes it to something else entirely!  I've reread some of my posts and can hardly understand them myself.

But what irks me is that when that happens, I go back and correct my mistakes since there usually is an 'edit' option.  As @ECBG  said though, a lot of people are in a hurry so I guess they don't read what they've written.  

[x Hedge]

I can account for some of what you see.

My keyboard was programmed by someone who thought they knew what I want to write better than I do.

This keyboard changes the words I tap out, changes tense, mysteriously adds words to the end of the sentence when I drop space to start a new paragraph. If I strike between letters it prints the nonsensical choice instead of the real word, every time.

I once carefully tapped out four letters and was amazed to see a seven letter word appear onscreen.

I proofread, and occasionally find it made a change back to the wrong thing after I'd made corrections.

So I've become more tolerant of the errors I see, not knowing if it's from the poster, or the uppity keyboard programmer.

[Alison Wonderland]

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@geezerette wrote:

It's one of my pet peeves too.  

But, I have to admit, that sometimes I make errors that I don't catch when I proofread.  And, I swear that oftentimes I type in a correct word and autocorrect changes it to something else entirely!  I've reread some of my posts and can hardly understand them myself.

But what irks me is that when that happens, I go back and correct my mistakes since there usually is an 'edit' option.  As @ECBG  said though, a lot of people are in a hurry so I guess they don't read what they've written.  

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If I'm posting during the day, it's often before I step into the shower, on my way up the elevator, walking down a hallway between meetings, when I'm in a meeting room and everyone else is running late, etc. I edit my errors when I see them, but sometimes it takes hours to get back to it.

[this is my nic]

@Alison Wonderland 

I completely understand what you stated!   I always look over my comments before they are posted and wonder how in heck I managed so many errors. Because the voice to text method is problematic due to accents, etc., I don't use it.  Evidently, lots of people do use it rather than type.  Why they don't check what the final product looks like is a mystery. 

[this is my nic]

@GenXmuse 

I stay in the groups because the subjects interest me.  

[blackhole99]

I would think people would want to appear smart and credible when they post on FB or where ever. I must say I am surprised at the the college educated people who have atrocious grammar and can't spell. I wonder if that's because of all the aides built into technology today, they never really have to learn it. It could just be that people do not care, they're not word masters and don't get off on possessing those skills that were so important in the past.