I have just read and assessed (we don’t use such 20th Century termas as marking any more) a number of 1st year student projects. I am sick to the core of seeing an axel of a car. I did not believe 19 year olds were still into Guns ‘n’ Roses or maybe they genuinely cannot spell. I will not go into the grammar or lack of it that is present in these works.
I think I read a few posts in this sort of area a week or so ago. Please don’t add the same comments on the failure of teachers in the 60s, 70s, 80s or even 90s.
These days, with spell and grammar checkers, you would imagine that students would produce more readable prose but no, the same errors and spelling howlers appear as they have done for the last 10 years I have run this class.
Rant over, normal service will be resumed.
Is “Axel” specific to ice skating jumps? I have a theory that spell checks make spelling worse as you increasingly rely on them, especially if you can’t type like me.
Wasn’t Guns’n’Roses frontman went by the tougher-sounding “Axl” (and has that version cropped up yet, heaven forfend)?
I have just read and assessed (we don’t use such 20th Century termas as marking any more)
Maybe its contagious? ;)
So what’s a “termas”, Brian?
(A Brazilian sauna, as far as I can tell. boggle )
Here, Bryan. Have an apostrophe: ‘
‘grate’ vs ‘great’ is a spellcheck favourite of mine.
It’s one of the first laws of the internet that any post or comment complaining about spelling or grammar will contain at least one error of its own.
(Obsessively checks own spelling and placement of apostrophes)
Indeed, Cath.
Helen, my bugbear is ‘lose’ versus ‘loose’. I have a photo sitting at home that I must share with all y’all sometime soon. And then there’s this , just outside my house (the sign at the other end of the street is the same).
I really hate it when people say they’re weary of something when they mean wary (or leery, I suppose). Oh, and “Common, people!” used instead of come on, or even c’mon.
Oh, I dunno.
sings
I dont believe in apostrophes… or would that be apostrophi?
Grammar is for smart people anyway!.... errr, wait…
I think that Richard’s grammatical and orthographical errors were
diliberitderlibrootdilbertintenshonal.Richard – you’re being rather unkind towards Cath, aren’t you?
nowt wrong wi’ ‘common’, chuck. ‘Ow’s yer belly fer spots, yer daft apeth?
Nah, I’m pretty common, me. Me Granddad were a Geordie miner ye knaa.
I have spent part of today being part of a several-way conversation with subs and an author about “programme” vs “program”.
Nature style is to spell it “programme” unless it is a computer one, then it becomes a “program”.
An author, who is from the USA, can live with the anglicisation (-mme) but he can’t live with Nature’s arcane rules which specify two different spellings depending on use. (I don’t know when this was dreamed up, but it was in existence when I joined the staff as a sub in 1984.)
I sympathise. Nail your programme or program to the mast, but don’t use both (I have suggested the subs have a Style Council to see if the style can be Officially Changed).
Then I will move on to disk vs disc; again the Nature style is to use different spelling for a computer disc/k and any other kind (eg imaginal) disk/c—for the life of me, I can’t recall which is which.
PS I should have mentioned, aformentioned author made a spirited attempt to define his kind of program(me) as a type of computer program, in order to be allowed the usage program. He’s a geneticist.
I always understood the programme/program dichotomy in UK English to be our (UK) acceptance of the US spelling for a computer program because it was originally developed as this form of word usage in the USA. For much the same reason Americans use the term queue (rather than line) for job queues and similar concepts in computing. So nature’s style would appear to be consistent with UK current usage.
An article from the NY Times recently discussed the prevalence of emoticons and txt-msg shorthand, and the lack of capitalization in students’ essays. What’s the science paper of the future titled?
afawk, amygdala activation assoc w/ alol, rotfl, and rotflmao :)
OMG WTF?
LOL!!
Hilary, could you translate that for a guy over 30?
You’re letting the team down, Noah.
Some site I looked at translated ‘rotflmao’ as “rolling on the floor laughing my amygdala off”... I guess that’s a little more highbrow than the alternative ;)