OT are we turning into the stupid country?

you are right and wrong

I am 31, when in year 11 and 12 I was part of a program helping younger students read, BUT I find spelling very difficult

I always excelled at maths, science and reading, but just found spelling difficult?

So I feel you can still be intelligent and not spell too good.

I do agree the whole new SMS and e-mail typing is just terrible

Just my 2c

Stefan

I have to be careful how I answer this one - being a Kiwi - BUT

I have to agree with you and I have proof, check out this oldie but goodie that typifies what you are saying :-))))

AC/DC Radio Competition

Note - turn your speakers down and I hope you like AC/DC

soooo funnnyy :-)

The short anwer is YES

Its evolution whether we like it or not.

Very soon the Thinkers of this world will disappear like the Dodo and digital techno idiots will rule the world and our lives. Just go on a pension and deal with Centrelink and you can see the breakdown of our society happening before your eyes.....lol



Cheers

F4Phantom
Huh. you only have to read some of the post's here to some bloody silly spelling mistakes, and I don't mean the type caused by typo errors or big fingers, or in my case sometimes by bad light but these are outright spelling errors , And I might add that there is a Ute forum I seen once that leaves us all gasping.
Now I better cuver me arce and use spell chekc in kase I made sum errers.

.

we need a phonetic system like other countries where this argument does come up.Kids could get on with learning the important stuff and no one need be scorned for not being able to spell.

Some idiot once told me the way we spell is important part of our culture. Duh?

owen

Had a similar experience at work today. Bloke from a builders office rang to seek some advice regarding a lot in Kessna Street. Never heard of the street but that's not unusual with the amount of new subdivisions being approved. After he hung up it dawned on me that the street he was on about was Cessna Street and he'd pronounced it with a K. It's a worry.
Also noted in the all so popular but wildly disliked 4wd mag that comes out monthly, that they did an article on our Moore River. The editing dills spelt Swan River with 2 N's ie Swann. Now that is bad.

ps. I also check my spelling before pressing the submit button. LOL

Yes, I often spell words incorrect;y, but I have an excuse.
In a parallel universe I was a teacher.
After having seen the word "the" spelt 325 different ways, it's no wonder that I often generate some bloopers.
As for SMS, it seems that the only rule is that u have to Mke it up az u go long.

I'm prepared to put up with individuals' inadequacies with regard to spelling, grammar and punctuation; there could be various valid reasons.
It amazes me, however, when I see large paid advertisements with glaring errors. Not typos, but obvious errors due to the author having a poor grasp of their English. These people in this sort of job should have minimum skills to be able to work in that area. And to think that a customer out there who placed the ad has to pay good money for a mediocre product.
My concern there is that if an error is perpetuated long enough, it finds its way into common usage; eg, the U.S. use of the expression "off of".
Some hears ago, I tried to correct a girl at work over her appalling English. Her reply was "Gerry, if I talked like youse, all my friends would reckon I was a dork".
Perhaps I'm a dork, then.
There, I've had my say,
Gerry

It,s interesting to read books or any written matter from the eighteenth century or earlier. The further back you go the less the English language of earlier times seems to bear any resemblance to that which is in common usage today. I think it,s called evolution. Just like everything about us in the world our language is evolving to accomodate technological advances and changes in our day to day lives.
thrue and through we are a changing!!!

Cheers Pop

I dont have an issue with people getting spelling wrong, but not caring about how to get it right? is this just evolution? Will we really pronounce LOL (in the future) to someone as an endorsement of good humor? I dont mind making progress and I dont really have an issue of making words more aussie. I suppose what I think is that poor spelling to the point that simple words cant be spelt also means other areas are probably poor (maths) which means we could be heading down the wrong track.

I guess I am fairly pedantic about correct spelling, I employed a number of younger men over the last 10 years and have to say their spelling and grammar was appalling,and don't even ask about work ethic.My daughters used to hate it when I corrected grammar and/or spelling mistakes in letters from their teachers and then returned said letter to teacher to redo,so maybe we need to look at education standards peter

I have always been of the opinion that the ability to communicate between each other either by written or spoken word was the primary purpose of language. Does it matter all that much if I order a new set of tyres or tires? Surely the person receiving the message is unlikely to be in any doubt as to what I am after?
As an aside, when did we stop speaking English and start to speak in Acronym?

Cmon now - you talk of a dumn nation. How entertaining do you think people ringng up and correctly spelling words is............ Not very

This would have been spawned by that famous roadio comp where the winner needed help to spell AC/DC
Its contrived entertainment to think other wise is...... Well..... Stupid

Well my fellows participants of this fantastic forum. Not everybody was fortunate enough to be born in this heavenly country of ours. I feel Australian 120% but I was born far away from here and never had an opportunity to go to school and learn better English like the REST of you. But rest assured that I'm just as much Ause as any other bloke out there. Maybe I straggle with the language but my taxes were just as good as yours so... bit of tolerance towards others that are more miss fortunate from the majority of you would be realy nice to see. Go on now and start what you're best at...... I have said my bit....Ause,Ause,Ause.

"He who limps is still walking"

Saw this written on a dunny wall once somewhere.......
Too weaks ugo i coudent evin spel truk driva....now i are won.
Be afraid...............

i hav 2 agree wiv sum fings u sed o gost hoo walks.

I would have won spelling bees if my school held them but I was far from the best at maths or english. I was in the advanced classes but only just.

With American spell checkers, short hand sms messages becoming the norm the written language will keep changing, not always for the better.

I saw a news story that one school is accepting sms language as part of their final year exams! It would go something like this: wen u read shkspear u hav 2 thnk bout the diffs & changs in languge ovr the centries.

I'm sorry Oh Ghost Who Walks but it's abbreviations with double B. lol

Barnesy

Let's not even venture into:

Inappropriate use of an apostrophe,

Split infinitives,

dangling participles.

ooops, I see my participle is dangling again, I hate that!!

There are repeated references in certain circles in regard to the term " dumbing down ".
Best example was on a Parkinson program which discussed it. Spelling is only part of the problem. The real problem is why bad spelling / grammar is acceptable. Some people have legit reasons for spelling probs. Most of us here are stabbing at the keyboard in the dark or trying to beat the timeout, as is the case with some forums.


I wouldn't be too worried about the spelling problem - its just a life cycle.

Saw an excellent TV documentary on the Roman Empire last year. It showed how the romans, over hundereds of years developed into a truly great civilization - for it's time period. They built amazing buildings, using techniques that are difficult to master today - as shown by how many are still standing. Apparently when england was redoing a london / scotland freeway using the latest hitech laser / satellite / and machinery - it was found, that the romans beat them to it by about 1800 yrs.
Then something happened. Having reached the pinnacle of their technological development, hampered by too many politicians, leisure time, civil rights, over-education and by giving away too much of their technology to foreign lands, the Roman Empire collapsed and they forgot how to make cement / concrete for 1000 years. Sound familiar ???.

Aussie we are but sometimes the " she'll be right, mate " attitude is not always the right thing.
I know people whose kids never even finished High School. They were issued with the School Certificate and didn't even do the damn tests. School statistics are important to funding apparently.


Dedabato:
Good on yer mate. Damn shame that all new arrivals and some of us don't have as good as a grasp, of the english language as you do. You probably need to brush up on your " strine " though.

Someone sent me this "Aoccedrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteres in a wrod are,the olny irmpoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcusae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe" Tell you what though, this human mind struggled typing it out. Think I'll stick to doing it the old way!!!

Phantom,

Boy, you've opened a can of worms here.

I am a baby boomer with a normal education and am continually amazed how spelling has become a "not so important" attribute in current times.

Some time ago, it would appear that "phonetic" spelling was all that was required and students were not marked down for misspelled words.

The current crop of teachers (in the main) weren't instilled with the importance of correct spelling, so what hope have the kids of today got.

You only need to read some of the threads on this forum for instance, to see unbelievable examples of "sloppy education".

Supporting Rant completed.

Bill.

I have read all the posta that say spelling is unimportant, what a crock!

Try searching Google with poor spelling!

one day, one day, i am going to hear some radio wanker say something like...he was deader ...or even more dead......

some of the words they say on radio begs the question...did these jerks learn english at school

I can put up with poor spelling from most individuals. What irks me is when teachers, radio announcers, TV presenters and their like can't spell or pronounce a word of English and care even less. You really wonder what qualifications some of these nice looking sheilas actually have - having said that, the blokes are as bad.

its a whole knew oops... new....language we'll be mumbling to each other soon.....goes on in this house now......still haven't deciphered what the hell eldest son is saying