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Is Spelling Important to IT?

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by admin

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manger=manager
teh=the
yuo=you
haev=have

We've all seen it here. Some of the threads get to be downright spelling flames.

Is the solution a little spell checker here? Should we all be cutting and pasting carefully after careful compositionin our word processors? Or should we just admit it's easier for people to type "yuo" as an alternative and add it to our dictionary?

Other ideas on this are welcome, and if we figure it out here, maybe we could release our findings on the IRC channels and in the IM world, I have observed remarkably similar misspellings there too.

I wonder if this is a whole field, waiting to be explored. Has the failure of Eubonics made the linguists a little gun shy, or have they just not noticed the patterns of mispelling online?

38 replies

by ebob

I think "spelling", strictly speaking, isn't the problem, but "typing". Well, at least for the "native English speakers" (and those speaking the =related tongues: American, Australian, Canadian, etc.).

Well, that's my excuse in any case.

by shanghai sam

Part of what we are seeing here could be laziness or ignorance but part of it is the evolution of language.

As our methods of communication become faster and more complex the actual message is becoming less structured and more personalized. Written slang -abbreviations, ASCII stuff- is more common and widely accepted. Some of this will fall out of fashion and disappear but some will endure and become standard English.

My typing skills are not so hot, search and destroy method so to speak, but a lot can depend on being precise. I believe a question or response should be as accurate as possible in spelling as well as grammar. This is especially important in written communication where facial expression and tone of voice are not present to supply clues when sharing complex information.

For example, what I just wrote might give the impression that I'm a tiresome prig but you likely understand what I meant. On the other hand if I wrote "am havnig trouble w/ nat pease hELp!!!!" an informed response might not be expected.

by dthirlway

I do agree with the typing thing, most of my mistakes are from typing. Well thats not true, I cant spell and my grammer is poor. I do use spell checker however it does not pick up a lot of words and most of the time I tend to confusue it with my efforts.

I am that bad at spelling that when I was in year six I had to learn how to read upside down as if it was second nature, as I sat across from the spelling wiz in the class. In my final year of high school I was informed by me economics teacher that I had answered the question correctly however he had to scale me down as he had to read the essay over and over again to try and make sence of what I meant.

As bad as I am at spelling I has never hindered my IT carrie. An I have been in the industry for four years now.

Well I might have just wasted your time but that was my two bob wearth.

Thanks.....

by generalist

I tend to be one of those people who prefer to use properly spelled words, even though I rarely use a spell checker. But over the years I've noticed that spelling and IT often don't coexist, especially with the hardware tech types.

So I tend to let people slide on their spelling, as long as it is limited to low level communications.

On the other hand, if there is a chance that a document will go out of the department and/or be seen by higher level people, I'll suggest both spelling and grammar corrections to help them avoid embarassment.

Of course, there are the typing errors like 'teh' and 'yuo'...

Perhaps the suggested study could cover typing errors that look like spelling errors as well as spelling errors, misused words that are spelled correctly and grammar errors.

Stylistic errors, on the other hand, shouldn't be included because styles vary.

by generalist

Things like certain automotive terms can be "correct" the same way.

Boot/trunk
Bonnet/hood

And then there is the classic story about a British-American committee wanting to 'table' an item during a discussion. The word, in context, appears to have opposite meanings.

by hereinoz

One interesting difference, David, is the way a North American will use the word Fit in the past tense as in "He put the jacket on and it fit well" whereas an Australian would probably use "fitted".

Wonderful thing, language

by epepke

One of the many annoying things about MS Word is the way in which it will underline perfectly grammatical constructions. Another is the way in which it will only accept some trendy but unnecessary constructions, such as the use of a hyphen between an adverb and an adjective. Yet another is the way that it will do this when it is most annoying, at the time I am trying to get my thoughts down on paper, not at the time I am editing.

by hereinoz

If it annoys you, like it does me, go into Tools>Options>Spelling & Grammar, and uncheck the options to check spelling as you type and check grammar as you type.

See ya! No Knead tp thnak me

by xxx123

Personally, I can deal with the typos and the people struggling with English as a second language. But I absolutely go nuts when I see garbage like:

hello how r u. cud you plzz tell me what to do. i think im cute but really im an idiot.

I see this in tech forums all the time.

by cavedweller

I tend to discount the views or advice presented in a poorly written post. If the author can't take the time to check what they wrote, why should I assume they know what they're talking about?

Also, if you can't write a clear and concise description of your problem and ask a specific question, don't expect an answer.

by ernie meynard

Agreed. Sloppy communication, to me, connotes sloppy thinking. Why would I waste my time trying to interpret?

by shanghai sam

In my years as a programmer, I have found
that mistakes will be made. One important
aspect of Software development if proofing
your work. It is far too easy for the common
spelling errors to foul up a good presentation
or programs flow. A good leader always checks
their teams final delivery.
There are many who would point the finger at
a mistake, and so few that offer constructive
criticism. Lets work together!
Often a projects deadline limits the
available time for intense error proofing.
Therefore the managers are best off to ensure
the teams have the best tools at hand. Consider
this: The better the tool the better the job.
In closing the issues of our spelling directly
affects the Customer and the integrity of our
I.T. company's image. Lets try a little harder to
use the rules of spelling that our grade school
teachers tried so hard to teach us.
I am glad this Spelling issue is being considered
and for our customers sake, I hope the I.T.
management will do a better critique of their own
teams work.
Sincerely, phowell6@charter.net

by dds-jak

I agree. Typos, bad spelling detract from a message even when the reader understands perfectly what was being conveyed.And in my experience, IT 'techies' find it difficult to make a good business case in most organisations because apart from the confusing jargon, even the non-technial English they use tends to be wrong (spelling, grammar etc.)

But the situation will only get worse. As technologies converge and messages,information are/is created through different media, the limitations in the technology will play a big role. Here in Asia, as SMS becomes more popular with links into e-mail etc., the chances that you would get a message as it should be spelled are getting more remote and this has nothing to do with English as a second language!

by angsax

Fundamentals of education are almost gone in the US education system. There is a laissez-faire attitude in our (US) society. If you read books about education it will not take long to see the problems we have. "Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Kids Feel So Good About What They Don't Know", is an excellent example. My wife now homeschools our son and we WILL see that he is competetent AND confident with his academic skills.

Remember, what you put down in writing CAN be used against you.

by expatjohn

Ebonics, not Eubonics, at least according to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.

by admin

I obviously didn't look up the word Ebonics, sorry about that, it is, as pointed out, ironic. This isn't, by any means, a good excuse, but I don't think I have ever used the word in written form before.
Anyway, I'm just a member at Tech Republic, not employed or writing articles for them other than random thoughts and observations as a member. You may have deduced this by now if you noticed that the original post remains intact with the incorrect spelling :).
Anyone can start a discussion here, although I have found that it is a good idea to check spelling if you do;>

by epepke

must either be a really good form of Eubonics or the way Eubie Blake used to talk.

Or both.

by cbelge

Spelling is important to everything incl?ding IT, it is the basis for communication

by colin

Correctness of spelling is surely affected by the context of the communication. Shortened expressions have been in common use from the days of flag signals. If we restrict ourselves to electronic communication, then the telegraph system used many contractions when sending a message.

In terms of IRC or IM, text is used to represent speech and I know that I, for one, often use words in speech that I'd have to check the spelling if I wrote them down. Words committed to IRC are spoken on the electronic wind. Words committed to paper for presentation to the board of directors may well be archived for eternity.

In short, correct spelling is important but depends on context.

by shanghai sam

The ironic part of this discussion is that the person kicking the whole thing off misspelled Ebonics.

Did anyone see the article about RAID posted on this site recently? The author spelled 'striping' wrong throughout the entire article. He spelled it 'stripping'. Apparently articles submitted to TechRepublic aren't reviewed by editors. Maybe the editors can't spell either!

by darkchilde

I believe that spelling and grammar are important. And I am not talking about "typos"; you can always type "teh" instead of "the" accidentally. I know I have done that by accident. But, in my opinion people who post a question or an answer, should be careful about what and how they are writing. I have found by people generally that I make few mistakes in English, although I am not a native speaker. and talking about spelling and grammar, you should see the confusion that people make writing in the Greek language!

by david taylor

of course it's important.

1. If I was writing code, if a function or variable name is spelt wrong, it's not going to work!

2. If you use a search engine, searching on the wrong spelling will not provide such good results (obviously!)

3. If I am writing a quotation or a report for a client, they will not be impressed if I can't manage to write without typos, especially given that spell-checkers have been around for years.

4. Maybe not wholly relevant here, but the meaning of a legal document can be drastically affected by the placement of a comma.

by t. e. walker

Sloppiness in thinking is often indicated by sloppy spelling, as already noted on this topic. It can also indicate a lack of respect, in a fashion. If you respect someone, you attempt to ensure that your communications with them are to the best ofyour ability. Admittedly, errors occur, but a pattern of typo's and misspelled words in any post here shows that the person posting does not feel we are important enough for the (small) extra amount of effort it would take to correct most spelling and typographical errors. In short, such a poster is exhibiting his/her lack of respect for the group as a whole.
(IMHO only, standard disclaimer applies, subject to revision without notice.)

by agiias

The goal - convey thoughts, ideas and concepts. Spelling and grammer are audience dependent(dependant) standards for written communication. Adherence to the standards provides an author with limited assurance an audience comprehends the conveyanceand the goal is achieved. With an audience that will refuse to see the forest for the trees, spelling and grammer are paramount.

by gboyer

I can deal with the spelling and typographical errors. But what really annoys me is the incorrect usage of words. My favorite (or least favorite) example is people who don't know the difference between "lose" and "loose". I have seen hundreds of posts from different technical folks that say things like "I hope I didn't loose my file" or "If my boss does that again, I'm going to loose control".

ARGHHHH!!! (Did I spell that right???)

Regards,
Gary

by epepke

"Loose" as a verb is perfectly fine, though it probably doesn't mean what the author intended. It's a good one for making fun, as it's often quite diametrically opposed. "To loose weight" always reminds me of a hammer-thrower. I saw David Letterman loose some fat, too--it was a stocking full of lard dropped off the top of a building.

I think that you left out some of the A's in "AAARGHHH."

by generalist

I suspect that the topic is winding down for a month or so, at least until someone makes another major spelling error in a TechRepublic article.

At the same time, it does need to be brought up from time to time. There are two many people who don't know how too spell, much less put to words together properly.

I suspect that misuse of words and/or grammatical errors will be the next hot topic in this area. (Hey, I know how to/too/two spell...)

by epepke

I always used to be a good speller. Alas, having to condense meaningful variable names into as few characters as possible has ruined it all.

I find that when I am posting in quasi-conversational fora, I also make many homophonic errors, such as "they're" for "their" and "it's" for "its." Not surprisingly, these are the kind of errors that most annoy me in others. I do really know the difference, but perhaps the process of writing quickly uses more of the parts of the brain that do speech.

by cavedweller

I used to work with a woman who took great pride in her spelling and grammer. She had no qualms about pointing out other's deficiencies. This was in sharp contrast to her personal emails send from home which contained all kinds of ad hoc abbreviations and alternate spellings.

Why does this happen? Why do good spellers go bad?

by admin

It's amazing how long some people can spend fighting their fates and covering up their true selves.
Bad spellers often try to cover by pointing out the deficiencies of others and learning all they can about the subject. Often, they may even obsess about control to the point where they may become teachers, or spelling bee organizers. Unfortunately, they often cannot maintain this cover and either their bad spelling leaks out in quirky examples, or they eventually explode in a cloud of misspelled words and faulty abbreviations. It's sad really. There is help available. We can all learn to accept our spelling. :)

by jamesrl

If you go through my posts I am sure that you will notice many minor spelling errors that, if you asked me to spell orally, I'd never make.

Truth is that I and many others can spell, but our typing sucks. And we get away with in other places because of the existance of spell checkers.

Does it matter? In this forum, perhaps not. However if I was making a presentation to the president, I would be more careful than I am here. I know when I see vendor presentations with spelling mistakes I think the person hasn't spent enough time on their presentation.

James

by expatjohn

Spelling is vitally important. In addition to the examples provided by the originator of this post, a major spelling issue that drives me to drink is the "your/you're" confusion. It's like this: typos are one thing, but if you can't even use proper grammar or proper usage, you come off sounding illiterate. I'm not an intellectual snob, but those who write "Your not installing W2K right," etc., make themselves out to be dullards. It's that simple.

by generalist

I cringe when I see syntax errors that pass the spell checker but fail basic grammar. A lot of these problems can be caught through use of syntax checkers.

I could say that such things are unexceptable, but that would be an acception not to be tolerated.

by admin

popping up well over a year! TechRepublic has certainly changed a lot in the discussions since then! Sometimes I get a little teary eyed reminiscing about the old discussions..... :>

by admin

Just as I hit "post" I realized I had a spelling error in the title! :) ~believe!~

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