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Earlier quoted context omitted.
We are equating that after years of education, with the subject of English (albeit American English) being a core class for EVERY YEAR of attendance, and with spell checkers on most forum communities, that if someone still goes out of their way to transpose "lose" with "loose", then, yes, they are probably an idiot.
*then
Earlier quoted context omitted.
We are equating that after years of education, with the subject of English (albeit American English) being a core class for EVERY YEAR of attendance, and with spell checkers on most forum communities, that if someone still goes out of their way to transpose "lose" with "loose", then, yes, they are probably an idiot.
> they are probably an idiot. Did you mean "He is probably an idiot." or "They are probably idiots."?
I always blamed Captchas as being to hard and not user friendly.
This title got me wondering - maybe it was by design, and I am an idiot.
this would also seem to discriminate against people who aren't native english speakers (or w/e other language).
I, however, wish my Web had more input from illiterate people. There are a lot of them -- the majority of the world, an overwhelming majority when you restrict yourself to the English language. They have lives, thoughts, and stories too. And if it weren't for recorded music, oral historians, and the occasional documentary they'd be completely invisible in our media.
Of course, the average comment thread on the web is a terrible way to interact with the literate and the illiterate alike. ;)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
*then
I know this is not appropriate, but it made me laugh so hard. I'm trying to write as correct as I can, but the GP just proved that these mistakes happen to everyone, even the people that think that it might make sense. What about non-native speakers? Their point might be valuable, the participation in a discussion really help- and meaningful, but still - these now/know, there/their, you're/your mistakes are common. A…
In my head, "then" and "than" sound totally different. Same with "they're", "their", and "there", "loose" and "lose", etc.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's no excuse not to know common homonyms and misspellings. A smart person who has trouble with them knows they have trouble with them, knows what they are, and knows to double check himself. If you don't do at least that, you probably aren't that bright. We'll forgive the less common words like your "grammer".
This sounds like a social signal, not a cause-and-effect relationship. You are not establishing that some quality of being an idiot causes someone to have poor grammer, you are saying that the ought to know their grammar “just because.” Your argument reminds me of the argument that someone ought to wear a suit and tie to work: There is no excuse for not knowing that a suit and tie is what people wear to work, and any…
EDIT: To clarify, it doesn't have to be that stupidity causes bad grammar, but if bad spellers are likely to be bad commenters, that's all you need.