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November 18, 2005 category: Stare
If you're going to run a gossip rag, or any sort of web-based publication, there are really a great many spell-checking options available to you. Some hints, from your friends at Factoids:
Someone doesn't "brake" their neck.
Neither does someone "peak" through someone else's window.
We're fairly sure no one has ever "collaberated".
We can't help but notice you're selling ads on your site. Dast we suggest you might could bump that asking price a wee smidge should you bother to look like you actually give a snot about what you're doing there.
Comments
Yes, well, we were trying to...um, er...well, we suppose we were trying to not be big meanies.
· November 18, 2005 07:26 PM
Hack...
Not to put too fine a point on it, but this isn't a spelling problem. "Peak" and "brake", at least, are spelled correctly. (I concede "collaberated".) It's a literacy problem. Back in the pre-Dark Ages, when I was in school, we were taught about a thing called "grammar". (Hence, the name "grammar school".) Specifically, we were taught about "homonyms", which are words spelled differently that sound alike, e.g. "peak" and "peek".
One has to be familiar enough with the language to know the difference betwixt the two. This comes from doing something called "reading". If you don't read, you can't write (to paraphrase Linda Ellerbee's aunt). If a student is not required to read and to write, they will be unable to do so in a clear and concise manner.
And, no, "grammar checkers" can't make up for a lack of basic literacy. If one follows all a checker's suggestions all of the time, one will wind up sounding like, well, a computer.
· November 19, 2005 01:49 PM
Point conceded...their grammar does indeed suck.
· November 19, 2005 03:25 PM
Spelling flames are more fun if you post a link to the spelling-challenged author's work. That way we can all follow the link, have a good laugh, and leave referrer log entries making fun of the author! Double plus good.