Loose = Not Tight

[Toby's my baby]

Yeah, bad grammer bugs me too. Like when people can't get their "there" or "their" and "where" "wear" and "were" ugg... Lol.

Our teacher brought up in class the other day that someone spelt "high school" like this: hi skool On a paper, for class to be handed in and it's HALF our grade! My goodness...you'd think they could spell it by now...

[Kfamr]

I often ignore threads that have no paragraphs. I can understand if someone is frantic or in a hurry. However, please be considerate of others when typing out stories or long posts.


One of the most annoying mistakes I see often on Pet Talk is "exited." Your dog is not "exited" - He/she is exCited. It is not hard to use a spell check or dictionary.

[CathyBogart]

Loose vs lose is one of those that makes me grit my teeth, like misplaced apostraphes. "I love my dog's." You love your dog's what?

While I won't dismiss a post because of a few errors, if I have trouble understanding it or I find myself faced with a giant wall of text, I won't read it. Unless the person is a non-native english speaker, they have probably had the schooling in the english language to put something legible together. For a non-native emglish speaker, I will put in extra effort to read their posts.

Karen brought up a good point though, walls of text actually give me headaches if I try to read them, even by highlighting a little at a time.

[cyber-sibes]

Oh dear... I appologise for using the wrong word about wanting to shed some pounds! (as Phred put it) I know I'm guilty.

Same here regarding long un-punctuated posts filled with misspellings.... .
I figure, if it's important enough to post, it should be important enough to take a few extra minutes to make it legible.

Doesn't have to be perfect - everyone types a wrong letter now & then (except for our proofreaders ), but too often it appears someone just doesn't really care if anyone can read it. They must be typing as fast as they can just to get it off their chest. It actually worries me that so many people let spelling & grammar slide on the internet. OK, end of rant.

[CathyBogart]

I wanted to add that even though certain errors in particular make me grind my teeth.....that's my problem, not enyone else's. I'll still read and reply to the post.

[DrKym]

Yeah, bad grammer bugs me too. Like when people can't get their "there" or "their" and "where" "wear" and "were" ugg... Lol.

Our teacher brought up in class the other day that someone spelt "high school" like this: hi skool On a paper, for class to be handed in and it's HALF our grade! My goodness...you'd think they could spell it by now...
__________________Beth not to be picky ........
grammer is spelled Grammar . No word is actually spelt they are all spelled out.
Wear where and ware are often misused, but were is an entirely different word!

LOL just to point out , No one is perfect, but the general gist of the thread I agree with.

[Twisterdog]

We write in order to communicate. The reason that each language has a set of rules (spelling and grammar) is to facilitate communication. If every person wrote in his or her own made-up language, communication would be difficult or impossible.

Now, I suppose that if someone is using language as an abstract art form, that person wouldn't care much about the communication angle. But I haven't seen any posts here that appear to be intended as experimental prose poetry.

Karen's right--it's common courtesy to make some effort to use correct spelling and grammar. Nobody expects perfection, and I think people here are more than willing to make substantial allowances for those with language difficulties of any kind (although, as has been noted, members for whom English is a second language generally put us native speakers to shame).

Also, keep in mind that good writing habits aren't something that a person can easily switch on and off. If you don't know how to spell a word when using it online, how are you going to know how to spell it when filling out college or job applications? And if you have someone else correct (or write) your application, what are you going to do when you have to write an essay exam or a business letter?

I work in a writing/editorial position for a company that hires many writers/editors. I'm astounded that many people who apply for those positions submit resumes that contain spelling errors. And no, they don't get hired.

Agreed, 100%!

[momoffuzzyfaces]

U should all be gratefull u don't live in the time before there were grammer rules. The time when any buddy could spell any word any way thay wanted 2!

With my blood pressure way out of control and being in constant pain from arthritis and fibromyalgia, I don't always take the time to worry about little things like grammer or spelling. I worry about being able to stand up and move around. Sorry to those I offend!

[G535]

U should all be gratefull u don't live in the time before there were grammer rules. The time when any buddy could spell any word any way thay wanted 2!

With my blood pressure way out of control and being in constant pain from arthritis and fibromyalgia, I don't always take the time to worry about little things like grammer or spelling. I worry about being able to stand up and move around. Sorry to those I offend!

So true, I completely understand the arthritis as I have it too, don't know anything about the fibro thingie though.

Every few months it seems someone starts one of these useless spelling/grammar threads.

[Miss Z]

I agree that if people want their posts to be read, influence people etc, then they need to make the effort of making their posts clear. Using a spell checking website or dictionary is not rocket science, or it's easy enough to add (sp?) to the end of a word that you aren't sure is spelled correctly. Sure, we don't all have PhDs in English, but we can all try to be understood!

[dogzr#1]

I am probably guilty of getting them mixed up myself! While reading this thread, I kept on mispronouncing "lose" and "loose" and getting them mixed up! I also tend to mix up the "its" and "it's".

But I agree, bad grammar and spelling is a pet peeve of mine. I may not have perfect spelling, but I do try to make my paragraphs legible. (for lack of better word. I can't quite think of a word that means "easy to read" other than legible. XD) I am part of MANY other forums, and it just bugs me to no end when I see somebody "tlk liek dis". Most of the time, I PM them and ask them to proofread their posts or something. And it's kind of sad when they respond "But I'm only 14! I'm not good at spelling" or something of the like. *sigh* What is this world coming to, as far as good grammar and spelling goes.

[catnapper]

Ah, the easy way to remember:
Lose is derived from LOST. One o in lost. One o in lose.

Loose.... something has too much room

[Sonia59]

Sorry I started this, but it's one spelling error that just makes me cuckoo!

Don't apologise, it's interesting at least for some of us! I thought that LOSE was a mistake and I was 100% sure that I learned it as LOOSE (I mean the LOSE derived from Lost, not the LOOSE=not tight)! I am happy from what I learned today
I am sure I make many mistakes myself as English is a foreign language for me, but I like learning and improving

If you go to French forums the number of mistakes that are made is amazing I did not realize that so many people were writing so bad. In comparison the global level on PT is very good.

[CathyBogart]

Can I out a hinge in my skull so I can open it up and loose my mind from time to time? I don't think it gets enough exercise!

Once I was having a conversation about grammar and word usage iwh a co-worker, and a customer chimed in to tell us that his boss had once said "verticalization" because he was too embarassed to use the word "erection" in reference to the construction of a building. 0_0

[RedHedd]

Once I was having a conversation about grammar and word usage iwh a co-worker, and a customer chimed in to tell us that his boss had once said "verticalization" because he was too embarassed to use the word "erection" in reference to the construction of a building. 0_0

I think that's a new trend - turning nouns into verbs; i.e., having a conversation becomes "conversate" and the like drives me batty!