Pet Peeve

[drake7]

For authors who would like to have their stories read more often please read this.

There are varying degrees of spelling competency and varying degrees of tolerance for those varying degrees of competency, however, when I read a synopsis that is riddled with obvious spelling errors I find it hard if not impossible to proceed any further.

I am not the only one who feels this way.

If you can't or don't want to proofread the whole story thats ok, but if you want people to give your stories a chance at least proofread the synopsis.

Drake.

[leo9]

Originally posted by drake7
[BIf you can't or don't want to proofread the whole story thats ok,
[/B]

Hilbert's Law states that every post criticising spelling or grammar will contain at least one spelling or gramatical error.

It never fials ;-)

--
Leo9
So good it hurts

[Lord Douche]

Originally posted by leo9
Hilbert's Law states that every post criticising spelling or grammar will contain at least one spelling or gramatical error.

It never fials ;-)

Does this cycle continue indefinatly?

This is true, but most people (including me) will type out a synopsis on the spot. I actually sent a PM to Jinn once saying that he should replaced my submitted synopsis with the one I provided in the message; stupid grammatical errors.
LD

[drake7]

It's not perpetual motion, but... well you get my point.

In reply to the reply about replies with grammatical/spelling errors Lord Douche wrote:

Does this cycle continue indefinatly?

Apparently, it does.

Drake.

[Fox]

What I find to be interesting is .... are? .... the difference(s) between English/Canadian spelling and American spelling. I had a reviewer take me to task for allegedly misspelling words such as the following examples.

English/Canadian ....................... American
favour .... ....................... favor
flavour ... ....................... flavour
cheque .......................... check (it's in the mail)
etc. etc.

Even the Microsoft "Canadian" spellcheck shows American spelings.

My favourite is

saviour ... ....................... George W. Bush

[somewriter]

flavour ... ....................... flavour

Just thought I'd have a go at breaking this cycle of mistakes... :-) I would have thought that the difference between UK/Canadian and US spellings would be well known but perhaps not.

[Dr Mabeuse]

Hey, typo's happen, and Spellcheck doesn't get wrong words. But when any sort of error gets to the point where it distracts you from the story, the hell with it. As I reader I expect a certain amount of respect from the author. I'm taking the trouble to read it; he can take the trouble to get the spelling right.

I'm with drake7 entirely. I see something like "Will u read my insest storie its really hot!!!!!!" and I give it a wide berth.

---dr.M.

[Morrighan]

For my part, I wonder at those who can't be bothered to proofread or find someone to proofread, and then get upset when they get flamed. There are numerous threads in these forums with people volunteering to proofread; any one of us would be pleased to save everyone varying amounts of grief.

As far as British and American spelling, am I unusual in that I already knew about the differences? It seems very few Americans do, judging by the number of Brits and Canadians that have been stung on this one. I actually enjoy stories with British spellings and slang; one of my Harry Potter books is in the UK edition. (The measurements kind of throw me off, though. Damn metric system.)

Morrighan

[leo9]

For my part, I wonder at those who can't be bothered to proofread or find someone to proofread, and then get upset when they get flamed.

There is an attitude I've met here and elsewhere that if we are free to write what we like, that should include being free to write it however we like, including not giving a damn about spelling and grammar.

That's fair enough: but they should also allow me the freedom to say that I can't bear to read such illiterate rubbish.

[Morrighan]

I would think that if you care enough to sit down and write something, submit it to a site like this one, and hope for reviews, you would care enough to learn the fundamentals of your mother language. There are some who would argue that misspelling, grammar, and punctuation are some quaint form of creativity with the language. "Art" or some such. To me, the difference is as if I'm comparing a Monet with a picture of streaks and polka dots. One requires an immense amount of talent and discipline, and the other the artistic abilities of a five year old. (Why some pictures that amount to little more than streaks and polka dots of color sell at all is beyond me. But maybe I'm just not very sophisticated.)

There's a book on this subject called "Doing Our Own Thing: The Degredation of Language and Music." There are something like 400,000 words in the English Language, and the average American is down to using about 20,000 of them commonly. Pretty pathetic.

The use of the English Language is a major pet peeve of mine. It's gotten to the point that I literally spend half my life explaining myself to my co-workers. They usually have no clue what I'm talking about, simply because they have no command of their mother tongue.

Morrighan