Maybe I should stop posting, as I make all these mistakes.
It has been brought to my attention many times in this foum, that I made a mistake is 'speeling'.
I thought this forum was for idea sharing, beliefs, entertanment (sp), ect.
I have 2 BS degrees (not in English) and 6 months short of a masters in CS. English was not my strong suit. So maybe Lush Stories needs a "Spell Checker" added. It would help me and other to at least spell words and make thoughts easier to put down.
I am NOT point a finger. Just my toughts on these topic - so thier.
Michael
I don't mind one bit in the forums how bad the spelling is, it's meant to be a place to relax and have a laugh.
If you are submitting a story for public consumption though, which could potentially be seen by publishers, it would make sense to take care of basic spelling and grammar - it takes 20 seconds to run a story through a spellchecker, unless it's horrendously bad.
Add spell check to the forum all sew and I'll bottom up for ya, or top down.
Bat
I agree. Why not add a spell checker to your forum?
I stop reading shortly after I have found a few blatant misspellings! I feel the writing is so poor, the story will not be worth the frustrations.
I used to say irregardless until family members corrected me. Now I just don't speak to them.
On the spell-checker comments: spell-checker are notoriously inaccurate. Take for instance, the word 'misspelt'. My Microsoft Word spell-checker says it's misspelled. Literally. But my dictionary allows it. But it would help a bit, I'm sure, and teach many writers a thing or two about spelling.
there was another forum and story site like this one that had it on for the forums as well as the stories I think. At Stories Unlimited.
Mine is not so much misspellings as misspeaking. Height turns into high-th a lot.
Personally, I'm kind of a language Nazi. I love language, and I love reading, so when something is incorrect to the point of being unreadable, it's very disappointing. Some of my biggest pet peeves include:
There/Their/They're: There = direction, Their = possessive, They're = they + are
Your/You're: Your = possessive, You're = you + are
Then/Than: Then = progression, Than = comparison
Its/It's: Its = possessive, It's = it + is
Comma usage: Too complex to go into here, but just google 'comma usage'. There are lots of people even more anal than me who've dedicated their entire lives to grammar.
Although, I'm sure that everyone reading this topic already knew that. At least, I'd like to hope so.
I think a large part of the story readability issue is not only spelling, but also grammar. I've read (grudgingly) stories, both here on Lush and elsewhere, that include everything from absolutely no punctuation, to being written completely in uppercase.
SERIOUSLY DO YOU NOT FIND THIS ANNOYING
God, it makes me cringe. I can't believe I'm even posting that to make a point.
The idea of including a spell-checker is a good one, I think, but, as ASp has already stated, they are notoriously inaccurate, and they also can't fix your grammar. Even using MS Word beforehand is no guarantee; some of the rules it tries to enforce are absurd. However, I would rather see a sentence that it grammatically inaccurate and correctly spelled, than see one that is grammatically inaccurate and completely misspelled. Also, it doesn't take style into account. I, for example, have a style that includes a large number of fragmented sentences, which MS Word hates, because, technically, they're incorrect. If everyone followed the grammar checker to the letter there would be much less difference between people's writing.
Perhaps a larger part of the issue is that people just don't care. The lack of structural integrity in their, or anyone else's, writing doesn't bother them, and so perhaps they feel that it's unimportant. I know that in my daily life whenever I correct people on their usage of English I tend to get one of two reactions. Either, "Oh, really? I didn't know that." or, "Shut up." I'll let you guys guess which one is more common... Maybe a solution is to require stories to be submitted for approval before they go live. Not necessarily for content, but just for general readability. I know that implementing this kind of system can be a drain on any site's admin (sorry Lush!), but I think it could seriously improve the overall quality of the content here. I'll volunteer, if it comes to that.
Be careful In, perfect people tend to fall a long way
I said 'family', bass, not you folks here.
Oh, there I slip into my southern style.
I used to say, like many Louisianians, "How y'all are?" I've come to the place where I only say "y'all" now. Everything else is getting to be Minnesotan.
When I was a lad, in my teenage years and a bit beyond, I had impeccable speech. After I moved down South I dumbed down (wait for it) a 'whole' lot.
Ok I live in the South....and I dont think I am dumb at all!
♥ Listen, touch, and look around in the air and on the ground. If you watch all nature's things, you might just see a fairy's wings. ♥
Oh, no. No offence, please. But I would work with guys, and they would be very intimidated by the way I spoke. I wasn't trying to talk fancy. Many people down South just tend to go the easy way.
Not you, though. Never you.
Sorry chefkathleen, I didn't mean for that to come off as heavy-handed (or high-falootin' for that matter). It's only because English is so enjoyable to me that I find it difficult to not become impassioned when I speak about it.
No problem ASP......the truth be known, I am not actually FROM the South....I just live here. And the funny thing is, I swore when I moved here I would never say "Y'all".........yeah, I say it all the time! LOL
♥ Listen, touch, and look around in the air and on the ground. If you watch all nature's things, you might just see a fairy's wings. ♥
Its funny because I say ya'll all the time and I am no where near from the south either.....lol
"Love all, trust a few, and do wrong to none."
LOL! My first southern expression that made me stop in my tracks was, "I'm fixin to" or "I'm fiddin to"
I laughed when I first heard it. and yes after 17 years in the south, I say it sometimes. Although, I never got around to saying "I'm fixin to carry my momma down to the Piggly Wiggly" I still don't carry anyone anywhere.
But I must say I love how they say, yes ma'am and no ma'am. It's kinda nice.
Never got the taste for grits and greens though. But I love gator and rattlesnake stew. Mountain oysters are kinda chewy so I don't eat them either.
and I don't think anyone I made friends with could get used to the fact that we spent a lot of time in Europe and don't eat dinner/supper until 9 or later at night.
Sassy Red-haired Beach Kat/Dune Goddess
Although I am a northern girl, I have spent a good deal of time in Florida. It took me awhile to get it straight, but eventually I learned that Y'all is usually directed at a single person and All Y'all is directed at a group. It takes me less than 6 hours to fall right back into my southern twang when I am down there...but then again I tend to pick up on other's accents quickly. I have to be careful that others don't think I am mocking them.
One of the ones I like as well was "jeet yet?"
and a girl that used to work for me would ask every day, "Hows ya momma nem"
which was "how's your momma and them?"
Chef, you sound like Jeff Foxworthy!! LOL Have you heard some of the words he has made up??
♥ Listen, touch, and look around in the air and on the ground. If you watch all nature's things, you might just see a fairy's wings. ♥
You know, I'm reading rocco's comments here, and watching a movie with Sally Field's in it. She looks really good, the way her breasts hang gently below her sweater...
