A pedant on Facebook - moi?

I disagree Fael. For example, when interviewing for staff - faced with a CV or application with spelling mistakes and bad basic grammar and another with good spelling and grammar - I know who I'd hire.

There's a difference between language evolving and language being misused.

For me, it would depend on the job role.

For a stuffy office job, then the grammar would be important.

Other jobs, not as much, or at all.

Some people have dyslexia, and I think we should remember this before posting rude comments.

I think it's a lot easier to make mistakes when typing as opposed to writing. Example. A lot of people type to when they mean too. I think it's because they see 'to' in their mind but when writing it is slower and visible. Hope that makes sense.

Moonwatcher1904

It amazes me what people put on FB and don't read what they've put before they hit that send button...
I've just happened to look on there and someone has posted - Hi. I'm after a week by week desk dairy tried all over.
Someone has replied - What are you milking on your desk.
Love it...
It's the businesses that I would avoid if they can't advertise without a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes. It makes me think they're not very professional if they can't write properly - just my opinion.

Sadly, it no longer amazes me,as since the 1970s people, even professional secretaries have stopped reading letters through before sending them.

A case in point was the letter (written in 1975) from a gynaecological dept. of a famous hospital that notified Mr J. Doe of the scheduled date for a hysterectomy!

I myself, although possessing two feminane Christian names that cannot be confused with any man's, have received innumerable letters from various authorities addressed to Mr plus my full name.

Words such as story and storey are frequently used in each others place, and so on and so forth.

No amount of telling school children to read their written work through before handing it in made any impression on the inveterate sinners of this type in the forty years or so that I taught.

Why is it ". and not ." ? Isn't the first one in AE? Also, it would be "an" Fb group, since Facebook is not written in full, and there is the sound of the F. For Facebook, in full, an 'a' would have been correct. English is my second language... so I may be missing something.

Honestly, reading this thread, there are very few people who can afford to be pedantic!

MissAdventure

Honestly, reading this thread, there are very few people who can afford to be pedantic!

🤣🤣🤣

I’m glad I am not the only person who silently cringes at grammatical and spelling errors. Our school newsletters often referred to the school photo’s which had been taken, our office manager loved to add an apostrophe.

If you silently cringe, are you a pedant, though, or just a grammarian?

Maybe I should have, not of. 'Should of' irritates me more than it should!

I hate it too especially when someone is selling something and cannot spell it properly when its on the product!!

Nannapat1

Maybe I should have, not of. 'Should of' irritates me more than it should!

I agree completely x

Answering those who are amazed at the number of spelling and grammatical errors on FB, may I just mention spellcheck. Spellcheck thinks it knows better than you and often puts in inappropriate words. It also loves apostrophes. It likes to slip them in at the last moment just as you post your comment!

Predictive text does that, too.

Tanjamaltija

Why is it ". and not ." ? Isn't the first one in AE? Also, it would be "an" Fb group, since Facebook is not written in full, and there is the sound of the F. For Facebook, in full, an 'a' would have been correct. English is my second language... so I may be missing something.

I wonder if it is because the writer, and most readers, still read Fb as Facebook in their mind, not as eff bee?

I always do, anyway. It would be interesting to know if it is just me who does that! 😁

crazyH

You should of 😂 (my pet hate)

Mine too

JdotJ

The amount of people who do not know how to use the word lose or the word loose in a sentence really annoys me.

Seems a fairly recent thing.

“Amount of people” always sounds wrong to me.
Shouldn’t it be “number of people”?

Surely the REAL question is :
Why do pedants wish to use Facebook?

I can’t answer that because I don’t use it.

sazz1

Some people have dyslexia, and I think we should remember this before posting rude comments.

I really cannot understand why you should post that on a pedants' thread, sazzl. This is the safe space for pedants to snipe about spelling and grammar. They know perfectly well that it would be rude to correct either on the other forums.

But...

'Dyslexia' is a problem with reading and spelling. It is no excuse for using words incorrectly or for poor grammar.

eazybee

My daughter gave me a cotton shopping bag last year. I have never dared use it outside the house. It reads:

I am silently
correcting your
grammar.

But it is true!

My DD once corrected someone on FB then added an apology - "Sorry but I was raised by the grammar police!" So that would be me! I won't claim all my posts are error free. I hate it when I post without re-reading and notice a glaring error afterwards. It's usually typos though - I blame my sticky keyboard!

Facebook can be a useful source of information. Users just have to be discriminating as to what or who, they 'follow' and what they post themselves. Same as any other social media.

In defence of us lesser mortals
Until I signed up to GN I had never thought to label anyone as a pedant. It was not a word I used. However if pushed to, I have a a couple of friends who meet the criteria

One in particular corrects odd things in txts and it has become rather a joke. On the odd occasion the boot is on the other foot I get quite excited. He is lovely guy, has a fantastic memory, does brilliantly at quizzing and was a very senior legal guy

On the other hand when it comes to anything scientific he is clueless and not much good at thinking laterally and working stuff out logically. Rules are rules etc.

Although I have O-level English language and literature., my A-levels are chemistry, physics, and biology. I would much rather work things out as my memoriy is not brilliant. My chemistry master told me there’s no point in teaching you formula because you won’t remember it I’ll teach you how to work it out for yourself.

Which brought me to think what type of people are pedants? Are there more men than women or the other way round? Do pedants tend to be a bit OCD? Are some possibly on the autistic spectrum.
I don’t know. I am just speculating.
Any thoughts ?
All boxes have good, bad and indifferent individuals within them

It depends what the job is as to whether spelling is the most important. Where does common sense come into all of this