Got your education where? America? *slaps forehead with hand*

[JEDIpartner]

[FONT=Century Gothic]I was looking at a story on MSNBC and the caption underneath the photo made me stop dead in my tracks. It never fails to amaze me what a bunch of illiterate people many Americans are. It could be a typo, for sure, but the fact that an "s" was struck as opposed to a "c" when typing out the word "city" (and it was spelt correctly the first time), which I think might be a first grade level word, brings my mind to an absolute halt! This person is working for a news agency and it slipped through! Did no one run it through the spell checker? YIKES!!!!!

Apparently, a co-worker of mine saw a word spelt correctly AND incorrectly in the same sentence in a magazine she was reading the other day. Oh, the shame!!




[/FONT]

[El Chuxter]

That's nothing.

Watch the news crawls on any of the major news networks. The abuse of the English language is insulting to anyone who finished third grade.

[JEDIpartner]

I know! I've seen some of those errors as well. This one, however, I could do a screen cap on and post! LOL

[JediTricks]

Many people find typing regularly on the internet to turn their language centers from "written" to "verbal" mode, they start thinking in how they say things rather than how they spell things as they get more and more used to applying the internet as an expressive communications medium. That's what gets you a lot of "to" instead of "too", "there" or "their" instead of "they're", and "teh" & "pnwd" instead of... wait, that last one's just idiots.

I wouldn't fault the educational system for this, but rather in the changing nature of human interaction in relation to the technology. And let's be fair, while we can take issue with the incorrect spelling, we know exactly what the author meant; phonetically, the concept has been properly communicated.

Also, in defense of that author, it's clear he wasn't using spellcheck, so look at all the words he DID get right. News moves very fast, it's difficult to keep up when typing. I make about a dozen typing mistakes a minute, and while I currently have the luxury of time to correct them, ask Tycho and the gang who saw me in action at SDCC last year how much of a beast it was for me to type up Hasbro's lightning-fast SW panel.

So suck it, word snobs!

[El Chuxter]

I don't have a problem with the guy typing this out. Like you said, it's a rapid-turnaround profession, and people make misteaks al the tiem.

However, I think that these news sources, to maintain credibility, should hire copy editors, because they clearly don't have them now. Spelling something wrong on a discussion forum is one thing. Spelling something wrong on anything that is professionally released (news story, advertisement, product packaging, etc) is nigh unforgiveable, since it can destroy your credibility with more highly-educated or picky customers.

[jedi master sal]

I don't have a problem with the guy typing this out. Like you said, it's a rapid-turnaround profession, and people make misteaks al the tiem.

However, I think that these news sources, to maintain credibility, should hire copy editors, because they clearly don't have them now. Spelling something wrong on a discussion forum is one thing. Spelling something wrong on anything that is professionally released (news story, advertisement, product packaging, etc) is nigh unforgiveable, since it can destroy your credibility with more highly-educated or picky customers.

Typically there are proofreaders for this stuff. But even they can miss things from time to time. So while the author may have been the originator of the error, if he has a proofreader, then the mistake falls on that person for not catching it.

Heck, I'm in printing and sometimes have to go through 3 or 4 rounds of "proofing" before the job is ready to be sent to the client for approval. It's either a case of me missing something the proofreader intended for me to fix, or something new the proofreader caught.

I don't worry about it too much. As long as you get the drift of it.

[InsaneJediGirl]

I can understand some errors in online articles, especially during breaking news or recent events. Whoever is typing is probably trying to spit it out as fast as she/he can in order to keep ahead of the other networks.

What drives me nuts is errors in newspapers though. The AJC is chock full of them, but I dont find that suprising living in Georgia. Its hard to find someone who has completed elementary school

[Old Fossil]

What does "pnwd" mean, please?

[UKWildcat]

It's actually "pwned" or "pwnd"

[Darth Jax]

America may not always be the home of the brightest, but it's still where those who can afford it seek health care and higher education.