Do spelling and grammar count???

[grannylib]

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It can be found at:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=358067

[PurityOfEssence]

1. Absatively

It shows many things: respect for the reader by having spent some effort on it, an orderliness of mind when dealing with thoughts and communication and some form of tacit statement on one's respect for society at large by having gone through an apprenticeship to the language before spouting off.

Whether one likes it or not, typos, writeos and thinkos all detract from the message, and one is torpedoing one's own efforts by not taking the care. It's just human nature. Sure, there are always some who will pick on structure to obfuscate the argument and marginalize his/her opponent, but the truth of one's reaction to cumulative errors is pretty hard to deny.

Sure, some haven't had the benefit of education, but I see a fair amount of slack for that around here, and one can always learn. Eric Hoffer didn't have much schooling, nor did Jack London. The list goes on and on.

Yes, dagnabbit, it matters.

[AliceWonderland]

2. Spelling always counts

Not because I'm as demanding on an internet forum as I would be elsewhere, but because it always registers on some level and affects how seriously I take someone.

[John_H]

3. Doesn't you think your appauled by the worng thing?

Case in point: I work with a lot of smart people, and the smartest person I work with these days--probably the smartest person i've ever met--is damn near a fifth grader when it comes to spelling and grammar.

Hell, 1,000,000 published/broadcast words later and I still can't spell worth a shit.

What really disturb me are the wal-mart ideas, some rather artfully presented, that pass for profundidty. The way so many around here are duped by the trolls, operatives, profiteers and self-promoters. And the general lack of general knowledge which I think fosters some pretty wacky notions.

Which is not to say that DU is worse than average vis a vis any of those gripes. In fact, DUers strike me generally as well above average in terms of smarts.