'Addy' is not a word.

[the tree]

'Addy' is not a word, the word that you are looking for is 'address'.
The gerund form of a verb is usually suffixed with 'ing', not 'in'
'teh' may not be a word, but it is closer to real words than 'da'.
You don't need to memorise a dictionary to spell reasonably, note the following:
'thnx m8' is in fact spelled, "Thanks mate" or the more formal: "Thankyou". 'sux' is spelled 'sucks' 'k8','l8' and 'd8' are spelled 'Kate', 'late' and 'date' respectively.
A webpage is a single document, whereas a website is many webpages under a common directory or domain.
It is acceptable to combine exclamation and question marks, however multiple occurances of either do not make any statement any more profound.
American and Commonwealth English disagree on wether 's' or 'z' should be used when forming a noun out a verb such as 'revise', but under no system does 'z' indicate a plural, ever.
HTML is a from of markup, the accuracy of calling it code is dubious but calling it programming is definately wrong. There is no such thing as "HTML Programming".

Please add your own.

[Sunny G]

UR is not your!
Plz is not Please!
Duckies are not Duckys!

[David Harrison]

The one that annoys me is when people use the wrong spelling of they're/there/their. It's not that hard to get it right.

[JPnyc]

A message board standard; "would of", "should of", "could of". I think you'll find these 3 phrases have no legitimate usage in the English language.

[NogDog]

Punctuation is our friend. Sentences begin with a capital letter and end with a period (full stop for our UK friends). Subsituting "and" where a period would do makes for confusing, run-on sentences while increasing the amount of typing you have to do.

(The above paragraph breaking all those guidelines: punctuation is our friend and sentences begin with a capital letter and end with a period full stop for our UK friends and subsituting and where a period would do makes for confusing runon sentences while increasing the amount of typing you have to do)

[the tree]

Although if you feel that two sentences could be seperate but you'd rather they flow together, then you may use a semicolon; a semicolon is like a colon except you don't need to hold down the shift key when you press the button.

[NogDog]

Although if you feel that two sentences could be seperate but you'd rather they flow together, then you may use a semicolon; a semicolon is like a colon except you don't need to hold down the shift key when you press the button.
LOL - I didn't want to press our luck with advanced concepts. :)

[Daniel T]

Here's a complete list: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html

[NogDog]

Here's a complete list: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html
This is the one I hear all that time that drives me nuts: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/myself.html

[scaiferw]

How about 'a couple hundred' or 'a couple dozen'.

That one drives me crazy.

[Snitchcat]

How about 'quite' and 'quiet'? Gah. :p

[NogDog]

How about 'quite' and 'quiet'? Gah. :p
Eh, those are just typos: a minor short circuit somewhere between brain and fingers. I wouldn't put them anywhere near the same category as ignorance-induced grammar or spelling errors.

[JayM]

We should have a sticky on every forum about the use of proper english. Sometimes people use such bad grammar that you simply don't know what they're asking.

[jeff_archer7]

A whole 'can of worms'!

[Snitchcat]

JayM > Heh, a sticky like that? Lol! Wonder what type of reaction you'd get? :p

NogDog > Well, 'quite' and 'quiet'... okay, I'll let you have that one. ;) :D

[jeff_archer7]

I'z dunno whats all da fuss iz about your all crazee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[Karranir]

http://img328.imageshack.us/img328/3072/grammar3kn.th.jpg (http://img328.imageshack.us/my.php?image=grammar3kn.jpg)


This is an ad I saw right next to this thread. I added the circle, but uh...


Can you say irony?

[sleven]

I am sure I am looking for something. Program Language is a machine Language not a mankind language. Speak up can help you.

[the tree]

Double-yoo tee eff?

[balloonbuffoon]

oh em gee!

[NogDog]

...em oh you ess ee.

(There I go showing my age again.)

[Mr Initial Man]

We should have a sticky on every forum about the use of proper english. Sometimes people use such bad grammar that you simply don't know what they're asking.

We should allow for grammar oddities from people who speak English as a second language. Usually, they're pretty good at it, though, but abberant grammar is bound to pop up.

SPELLING, however... how many people remember a certain chap named muneepenee (http://www.munee.info/)?

[David Harrison]

God that guy p***** me off. It's like he did it for fun.

[scaiferw]

'Me and my friends' are going to 'loose' our minds with all this bad grammar.

[WebJoel]

http://viral.lycos.co.uk/attachments/3561/Reading_Test.jpg

[Kevey]

I dnot see aynthnig wrnog wtih taht pictrue.

[wh666-666]

A message board standard; "would of", "should of", "could of". I think you'll find these 3 phrases have no legitimate usage in the English language.

shouldn't it be "would have, should have, could have"?

Lol karranir ... looked at the misspelling on the dynamic character advert ... very observant for noticing!!!

And webjoel/kevey .. Ive seen that pic before and an interesting article accompaning it showing that in a sentence only the first and last letter of each word need to be in the correct order as the human brain scans the word and automatically recognises it. (as the picture says) Very interesting as 'The Tree' is right its an annoyance but not necessary to have words in full and grammer correct. I agree with 'The Tree' though, i find it very annoying if i get a text through from someone to my mobile for example and its just a mix of odd characters and numbers that i cant read or understand. When did we all become so lazy and complacent with language and grammer?? (and yes i know my grammer/punctuation isnt 100% but hey)

[David Harrison]

shouldn't it be "would have, should have, could have"?That's the point.

When did we all become so lazy and complacent with language and grammer?? (and yes i know my grammer/punctuation isnt 100% but hey)Neither is your spelling (http://www.webdeveloper.com/forum/showthread.php?t=100964). ;)

[wh666-666]

Lol spelling as well. (cant believe i misspelled grammar). Forgive me but it was midnight, and im not a perfectionist. Anyway i wasnt deliberately stating the obvious but agreeing more than anything.

[pillsbdb]

What about shorthand. It isn't proper english but accepted in the professional field. It is an easier way to take proper notes when doing minutes in court, and taking notes for class. I haven't ever seen people single out shorthand and make unneeded coments about it. All computer jargon is is a shorthand for the internet domain. It aids in instant messaging, it also aids in emails and text messaging.

My Cell phone provider limits how long the text message to 200 characters. That includes spaces and punctuation. So for both time and space someone wants to say, "Hey I'm over at the Taggart student center, Meet me in 20 minutes. Talk to you later! -Bob" Knowing they know everything about the school I'd write this, "Hey Im @ the TSC, meet me in 20 mins. L8tr." They already knew who called them and it is just a quick message to them.

Now I do agree if you have a website to promote a product. Correct english is in order. However if you are in a chat room, don't worry about it, things like lol, jk, brb, and several other things will be said. This is a new language in the world, it may not be a different language than we know, but it's what our childeren are learning and in order to protect ourselves and our childeren, we need to learn it so we know what they are chatting about and it isn't a big Davinci Code to crack. This is an age of change. Back in our parents time queer meant happy and excited. Now it means something completely different. Our parents had to adjust as we will have to adjust with our own childeren. Instead of making a huge issue about the whole thing we should just be understanding and accept the new changes in the world.

[the tree]

What about shorthand. It isn't proper english but accepted in the professional field. It is an easier way to take proper notes when doing minutes in court, and taking notes for class. I haven't ever seen people single out shorthand and make unneeded coments about it.Shorthand is excellent, but you would never let anyone see what you've written in shorthand; it's purpose lies in person reference (it's practically illegible if it's real shorthand read by someone that doesn't know it, anyway). Also, it doesn't get used by court transcriptors: they are just very fast typistsAll computer jargon is is a shorthand for the internet domain. "Simple Object Access Protocol" is jargon "SOAP" is an abbreviation, not something to be confused with shorthand.It aids in instant messaging, it also aids in emails and text messaging.But how?

My Cell phone provider limits how long the text message to 200 characters. That includes spaces and punctuation. The limit is a standard to make sure that all phones will be able to handle it, nothing to do with your company.

So for both time and space someone wants to say, "Hey I'm over at the Taggart student center, Meet me in 20 minutes. Talk to you later! -Bob"Then they'd still have 93 characters left, enough to say which door to meet at, at least.
Knowing they know everything about the school I'd write this, "Hey Im @ the TSC, meet me in 20 mins. L8tr." They already knew who called them and it is just a quick message to them.True, by why not use correct English and sent an even shorter SMS? "Meet at TSC in 20 min's."
However if you are in a chat room, don't worry about it, things like lol, jk, brb, and several other things will be said. This is a new language in the worldNo it isn't, those are abreviations of very common English words and phrases. l33t speak could at least be judged to be a different dialect but by no means is it the same language.
Of course people are going to abreviate in real-time chat, unless they can type as fast as they speak, why not?
but it's what our childeren are learning and in order to protect ourselves and our childeren, we need to learn it so we know what they are chatting about Yes parents, that's right: to protect your children you should spy on thier private conversations so that they lose all trust: without knowing how to trust they will never be able to form a meaningful relationship, at least not with you. Now that's good parenting! </sarcasm>
This is an age of change. Back in our parents time queer meant happy and excited. Now it means something completely different.No it didn't. The traditional meaning of "queer" was strange and curious, perhaps you're confusing it with the word "gay" which orignally meant something like carefree.
Our parents had to adjust as we will have to adjust with our own childeren.I don't see how my parents were obliged to adjust, they have different dialects according to where they grew up and so do I. It's using the language correctly that allows communication.
Instead of making a huge issue about the whole thing we should just be understanding and accept the new changes in the world.If I "should" understand then please explain: why shouldn't there be a regular way of expressing yourself with clarity and without ambiguity?

[pillsbdb]

no it isn't spying on your childeren. What it is, is developing a trust for your children. You take interest into what they are interested in, therefor making a good relationship. When I was in junior high and my parents just got the internet, they were watching over me like hawks. Not because they were spying on me, but protecting me from things like pornography, drugs, and violence. With my kids when the time comes that they are old enough to use the internet, I will do the same. I'm not going to leave them in a closed room chatting with someone that might be twice their age or more. I've seen way too much drama in this world were kids are abducted, raped, then murdered to entertain a sick person's appitites.

Yes like I said proper english may be in order,... however I have proper english 2/3 of the time and I will continue to use instant messaging and I will take corners to save time. Now the whole thing with 93 extra characters left with a provider........well whatever. I'm not going to write 200 characters when each character takes me between 1-3 seconds to punch in. I'd rather spend 1/3 of the time to leave a quick message letting someone know about a certain spot we meet on a regular basis at the TSC (Taggart Student Center), than spend 6 minutes or more writing a letter when it's something that doesn't need explaining. I'd rather spend my time doing things to make myself and others around me enjoy life. Life is short, don't waist it playing the word game of who's got the best english.

Now for those who like to pick apart how people speak, eat, and anything about their demeanor, you need to spend less time online and more time fixing yourself. No one like a person that does nothing but spread negativity around by judging others.

I will agree again that proper english needs to exist, but no one should judge what proper english is. Proper english was made up by man. Computer language also was created by man. If it weren't for computer language, people that enjoy harping on others for self gradification would be rather bored. So hopefully this doesn't affend anyone, but if it does, well then perhaps those who it affends should take the time to fix themselves instead of analyzing others actions.

[David Harrison]

No one like a person that does nothing but spread negativity around by judging others.

...perhaps those who it affends should take the time to fix themselves instead of analyzing others actions.It seems that you have analysed The Tree and judged him to be broken and in need of fixing.

*offends

[the tree]

First up, there is a huge difference between taking an interest in someone and evesdropping on thier convosations. Naturally, you need to take an interest in your children's activites but that is why we have questions. Without que, you will find children speaking in such a way that you should be able to understand it; in the linguistics world that is called convergence, in layman's terms it is good communication.

I wasn't suggesting that you use the remaining 93 charcters, in fact I did suggest that you used quite a few less.

I assure you, I do spend a hell of a lot of time on self improvement and one of my skills that I take great care to hone is that of analysis. If you think that my analysis has overstepped the line, then consider how much goes into every application form you fill in and every word you say at an interview; if you think I've over-analyised your post, you haven't seen anything yet.

Proper English doesn't exist (there is a thing called "Queen's English", but that is really just another dialect) there are however: things such as clarity (distinguishing between a plural and ownership), readability (marking out the end of a clause with a comma), good communication (using words that other people will recognise) and ettiquite (not posting entirely in upper case with bright red text).

[KDLA]

Yikes - this is like E.B. White's Elements of Style, but with Rage. (and possibly a little overzealous emulation of the Patriot Act. - good grief!)

I agree with thetree, regarding readability, good communication, and etiquette. I'm quite a bit older than most of you, and I detest when people send me emails with IM slang. Not everyone is privy to translation.
Moral of the Story:
When communicating, it's essential that you speak in a way that is clear and concise in deference to the listener/reader. It's not about your convenience or trying to prove your ability to be "hip."

If we're ranting, I'd like to add (from constant exposure in this forum)
- noob
- newb
- newbie

A simple request for help will do - I don't need to know one's educational background to extend assistance.

KDLA

[wh666-666]

True KDLA, all of us, regardless of background or experience need help at times. I can see how newbie would be irratating but that doesnt affect me really. I just hate texters who use one or two letters and numbers per word all the way through a paragraph, l8r and stuff can be understood but some which look like a secret code so i totally agree with this quote:

When communicating, it's essential that you speak in a way that is clear and concise in deference to the listener/reader. It's not about your convenience or trying to prove your ability to be "hip."
KDLA

Oh PS: Like your website btw. Useful, clean and crisp.

[KDLA]

HA HA - yes the numbers/letters thing is annoying. It's like being in a hell with the damnation of reading license plates the rest of your days.

In the workplace, I hate it when staff overuse acronyms. As soon as I hear two in a sentence, I quit listening. Maybe I'm lazy, but I hate to think about equivalents when I'm supposed to be focussing on ideas. :D

KDLA

[Bithy]

'Addy' is not a word, the word that you are looking for is 'address'.
The gerund form of a verb is usually suffixed with 'ing', not 'in'
'teh' may not be a word, but it is closer to real words than 'da'.
You don't need to memorise a dictionary to spell reasonably, note the following:
'thnx m8' is in fact spelt, "Thanks mate" or the more formal: "Thankyou". 'sux' is spelt 'sucks' 'k8','l8' and 'd8' are spelt 'Kate', 'late' and 'date' respectively.
A webpage is a single document, whereas a website is many webpages under a common directory or domain.
It is acceptable to combine exclamation and question marks, however multiple occurances of either do not make any statement any more profound.
American and Commonwealth English disagree on wether 's' or 'z' should be used when forming a noun out a verb such as 'revise', but under no system does 'z' indicate a plural, ever.
HTML is a from of markup, the accuracy of calling it code is dubious but calling it programming is definately wrong. There is no such thing as "HTML Programming".

Please add your own.

"Spelt" is a type of wheat grown in Europe. It isn't a word to use when trying to describe how to spell something. The word you are looking for is "spelled".

See: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=define%3Aspelt

Sorry, but if you are attempting to correct someone for something, you should probably know what you are saying.

[the tree]

Well, I just got pwnzd. Fair and square I guess. Well I guess I'd better fix that. My apologies go out to those offended by my hypocritical post, but I hope you all realise that it doesn't weaken my point.

Also my post wasn't about spelling mistakes, it was about intentional misspelling.

[Bithy]

I definitely wasn't trying to "pwn" you. It was meant more in jest than anything.

Anyway, great topic!

[subesc]

I'm shocked that no one has mentioned the ever-so-common "your"/"you're" misuse. That one always drives me up a wall.

Your stupid!

[vinnydarat]

Hahahaa....now this is a fun thread to read. And only because i suck at spelling and grammer. Thank goodness for a wife that can proof read is all i can say.

[Mr Initial Man]

How about 'a couple hundred' or 'a couple dozen'.

That one drives me crazy.

What's wrong with those?