Readability and typos

[vrdiver]

I've noticed an increase in posts where typos and inappropriate words (as in, doesn't make sense) have made it past the author and into the published post. I'm assuming this is a combination of more posters using phones to post, rather than traditional desktops or laptops, resulting in a reduced ability to read their own text, combined with auto-correct substitution errors and not using the preview option.

Whatever the cause, it's making what are otherwise enjoyable posts annoying.

VRD

[Urbandreamer]

I am somewhat guilty of this because my web browser does not have automatic spell checking and I am dyslexic.
I promise that I'll try harder.

Meanwhile have a go at reading this. I gave up.
http://www.lordtimothydexter.com/the_holl_pickle_1.htm

[bungeejumper]

Indeed. I've also been struck by the recent increase in posts where neither the words nor the sentiments make sense. But maybe it's not such a new phenomenon - I distinctly recall Ronnie Barker, back in the 1980s, talking about people who had trouble with their worms.

Speaking of which, I heard only yesterday that the man who invented predictive text has pissed away. Apparently his funfair is on monkey.

BJ

[kiloran]

Indeed. I've also been struck by the recent increase in posts where neither the words nor the sentiments make sense.
BJ

Yes, I think I have been posting more frequently lately

--kiloran

[bungeejumper]

ach well such I'd moods. I can't hemp it really.

Me too. When I said I have sex daily, I really meant to say I have dyslexia. Anyone can make a mistake.

BJ

[bungeejumper]

I am reminded, for some reason, of the short-sighted chap who's in the pub weighing up the lunchtime menu on the blackboard.

"I'll have the pissoles with chips and peas," he says to the barmaid eventually.

"Sir, that's not a p, it's an r," she tells him.

"So it is," he says, looking more closely at the board. "Okay, I'll have the r-soles with chips and peas."

BJ

[stevensfo]

I've noticed an increase in posts where typos and inappropriate words (as in, doesn't make sense) have made it past the author and into the published post. I'm assuming this is a combination of more posters using phones to post, rather than traditional desktops or laptops, resulting in a reduced ability to read their own text, combined with auto-correct substitution errors and not using the preview option.

Whatever the cause, it's making what are otherwise enjoyable posts annoying.

VRD

Totally agree. I think I posted a similar comment sometime last year, though asking whether it was due not only to typos and lack of proof reading but also a general decline in literacy skills. The number of basic mistakes -your,you're- know,now,no- we're,were,-their,there, they're etc seems to get worse every year but it was only when I started to read a Facebook group for aspiring teachers that I realised the extent of the problem. If the teachers can't string together a few sentences correctly, what hope for our kids?

Meanwhile, from 'Around the Horn', c.1966:

"I am your Fairy Oddmother!"

-- "No, there's a typing mistake. There should be a 'G'."

"Gee! I am your Fairy Oddmother!"




Steve

[vrdiver]

Meanwhile, from 'Around the Horn', c.1966:

"I am your Fairy Oddmother!"

-- "No, there's a typing mistake. There should be a 'G'."

"Gee! I am your Fairy Oddmother!"




Steve

Slightly off topic, but that reminded me of a similar story:

John Wayne, playing the role of the centurion at the cross in The Greatest Story Ever Told, delivers the line "Truly, this was the Son of God," only to be told by director George Stevens, "Say it with awe, John!" He responds, "Awww, truly this was the son of God".

VRD