Poor writing and grammar

I'm not proud of it but yeah, I do judge people based on how they type or write. I can't stand it when someone types shitty on purpose because they're lazy or think it's cool.

 

My pet peeve is most definitely when people say "thx" instead of "thanks". I almost feel insulted when someone says that, like they're not really thankful. I mean, is it so hard to type those extra three letters? Apparently.

 

That all depends...I'm not going to get TOO worried about grammar, I sure as hell don't use the proper grammar rules all the time, nor have I ever met anyone who does. I do find it annoying when I read something I have to physically go over and over because they've missed whole words or something...especially if it's something important.

I love you vs i luv u? I sort of take the latter as being similar to me saying "loooooooove yooooooou" to people. It's kind of cute and non-committal. I'm expressing affection not confessing my love, you know?

The numbers thing I agree with though..."w8 4 me m8!" Is a pain in the neck!

I guess I just like people to write like the message was important enough to them for me to care about...I don't mind abbreviations, although if I use them I prefer things like 'cause instead of coz. But it's not the end of the world...unless they do it ALL the time...

"Babe, u iz wel fit, iz u dwn 4 sum 4kn l8r? Gon 2 shop 4 chocl8!" ain't gonna get me into bed that's for sure ;D

 

Yes, I do tend to make judgements in this area; however, it is more of a pet peeve than a personal judgement. Context also matters; for example, I would not want to be told, "I luv u."

I find it particularly cringe-worthy when someone holding a professional position (i.e. my former supervisor) does not know the difference between "your" and "you're."

An additional pet peeve of mine is when people omit common pleasantries when using text or email; for example, I would like a "Hello" if you're texting me randomly or out of the blue, otherwise I feel like there was no opening to the conversation. If you were talking to me over the phone or ran into me in public, you would first greet me. This is just one of my hangups I need to get over I suppose.

 

Another thing I hate is when people can't seem to find the return key on their keyboard and post an unreadable wall of text... but that's not really poor writing, is it?

 

It means a lot to me in a conversation. It is as if we are already distancing ourselves from eachother by communicating by text instead of face to face and abbreviations only makes the conversation more impersonal. When people text me having bad grammar it makes me feel as though they don't really wish to talk to me.
I don't judge the people writing like that, it just makes me feel sad because it is like they don't really care about the beauty of language and communication.

 

It'd be a bit hypocritical of me to judge someone based on glaring errors. I've typed messages at two in the morning and when I read them the next day I have to laugh and ask, "What on earth happened there?" If there are glaring errors all the time, though, then it becomes problematic and hard for me to read and focus on. If English isn't the writer's first language or the writer has difficulty writing, then I'll keep reading and try to make sense of it.

I really hate lazy writing, though. u instead of you, numbers in places of letters or syllables, i instead of I, etc. I'm still puzzled that spell check has no problem with a lower case "I" on its own... If I come across a blog with intentional errors like these, I can't read it. In my opinion, if you care about your work, then you will present it in a clear and professional way. If you know these writing rules, then what is the reason to write sentences like "ill c u l8er"?

Another thing that bothers me is when people put "lol" at the end of random sentences. I most often see it when it seems an odd place for someone to laugh. Or maybe I just don't get the jokes.

 

Depends, from playing WoW things like thx don't bother me. If they did almost everyone would bother me on that game, so it would be rather foolish of me eh? Now talking/typing "gangsta" bugs me. Spelling mistakes don't bother me at all. Everyone makes mistakes.

 

You have spell check and grammar check on your computer if you have Word. It doesn't take that long to run a check program. It makes me think that a person doesn't care if I think they are intelligent or not.

 

It depends on the setting. I prefer people to write properly unless they are texting on a 10-key and therefore have great difficulty writing properly. (I understand the difficulty; I had a 10-key flip phone myself.)

For writing in general, I don't care about the grammar as long as I can understand what the writer is trying to communicate. If punctuation is bad enough that I don't understand how thoughts are related, then I get irked, but I won't freak out over a handful of misued commas.

My pet peeve is when people are trying excessively hard to use perfect grammar and end up sounding stilted. In some cases, people trying to perfect their grammar are actually getting it wrong, as in the following example:

"John gave the award to Marvin and I."

Everybody has had it drilled into their heads that we have to say "other and I," but they don't seem to understand it's only for the subject of a sentence, not in the objective case. To see how wrong this is, one need only rewrite this sentence as two sentences. "John gave the award to Marvin." "John gave the award to I." The last sentence should read "John gave the award to me."

Another pet peeve of mine is trying too hard not to split the infinitive. Yes, it's technically incorrect from the perspective of formal writing or speech, but most of us are not engaged in communication that formal.

"We will need more information to better assist you."

People speak like this a lot, and sure, they should say either "better to assist you" or "to assist you better." But really, the syntax I wrote out flows better when spoken, and people understand it.

Also, American English spelling is really dumb. It should be "judgement" and "acknowledgement," not "judgment" and "acknowledgment."

TL;DR: Language is for communication, not delineating class and looking down our noses at people.

 

Yes, I do, but it comes with varying degrees depending on the medium.

Forums/e-mails/private messages/anything in a browser. I'm going to be judgmental outside the occasional typo. Pretty much all browsers employ some form of spell check now. If I'm trying to make a deal with you on a game/sell artwork and I can't understand you? I'm not going to bother.

Instant message programs I'm a bit more lenient on since they don't have any form of spell check, usually. As long as it's readable, fine, but I'm not going to bother if I can't decipher it in one go.

Online games is understandable that things are garbled due to fast typing. I tend to ignore chat on these since most people are going to be using mics anyway.

In all cases, heavy amounts of chat speak are going to be ignored. It just makes me think that they're lazy. I'm fine with the occasional acronym, i.e "idk why they left without telling someone." However, when it's shortened to "idk y they lft w/o telling some1" then I start getting annoyed.

 

I can't stand it when kids get on a website and typ lyk diss. I have a hard time reading that crap.

 

Yes. It makes me angry. I take the time to type out full, proper responses or texts and I get bavk "hey thx fr that mang that was really gud of u to do forvme i really appreciate it kthxbai"

I just shake my head.

 

Pretty much yeah. The only time I type all ratch like that is when it's with people I know, am comfortable around, or that I know will understand that that isn't how I really talk. I also use that typing to help change my tone of what I'm saying. I definitely do read the message differently and I feel like a lot of the people I talk to use it either in a mocking way or to try and phrase something so that it comes off in a less serious/ more comfortable way.

 

People I know already, no. Online strangers, yes. First impressions matter.

kthxbai

Haha jk. Err just kidding, I mean.

 

It depends. If I'm on Tumblr, grammar, spelling, and even punctuation are completely thrown out the door. If you're familiar with how I type here on EC and you were to see one of my Tumblr text posts, you wouldn't even be able to tell that it's me. But everyone types like that on Tumblr...I guess it's sort of a humor/snarky thing. Therefore, I don't judge anyone there.

There's also instant messaging. I don't care too much for proper grammar or spelling or capitalization when Skyping or Facebook chatting with people, and I also sometimes throw grammar and writing out the door as well.

Now, if we're talking about forum posts, e-mails, non-chat Facebook messages, letters, etc., it does irk me if correct grammar and spelling isn't used. If you're sending me a "thought out" message, I at least want it to seem like you thought it out... I want to be able to read it clearly. I know not everyone has the same writing skills, and I'm not a grammar Nazi, but some things are just common sense, I think...