Somthing else for the spelling police!!!

On Mon, 06 Nov 2006 13:58:45 +0000, whisky-dave wrote:

>
> "H Duffy" <hester_duffy.DeleteThis@nospam.hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:4r3lpmFp03riU1@individual.net...
>>
>> "Lori Pierce" <LPIERCE.DeleteThis@wi.rr.com> wrote in message
>> news:bc13h.49316$IO2.36493@tornado.rdc-kc.rr.com...
>
>>> Ahhhh the dumbing down of society.......
>>
>> Fortunately, it's not being accepted without a fight;
>> http://www.24dash.com/education/12440.htm
>>
>> We _really_ need to improve the quality of basic English grammar and
>> spelling in our schools;
>
> But how do we do that ?

The first step would be to stop accepting and encouraging sloppiness.

#Andy#
 >> Stay informed about: Somthing else for the spelling police!!! 

"whisky-dave" <whisky-dave.TakeThisOut@final.front.ear> wrote in message
news:eing2s$pqq$1@qmul...
>
> "erithromycin" <erithromycin.TakeThisOut@ananzi.co.za> wrote in message
> news:4r46oqFpl822U9@individual.net...
>
>
>>
>> As for how many books they read in a year, well, that would be
>> terrifying,
>> wouldn't it? I smell a survey in the offing.
>
> It would be interesting but I heard Newton wasn't an avid book writer

Did you mean reader or writer? He wrote several books and lots of shorter
pieces, and was certainly extremely well-read, so either way, you heard
wrong. Well, assuming you mean Isaac Newton, who is usually the person we
think of when someone refers to "Newton". Perhaps you meant someone else?

> neither were most
> of our most famous intelligent people, in fact Professors have always had
> a reputation
> of being a bit 'off the wall', crazy and not conforming to being normal,
> some might call them rebels.

Well, yes, bt that doesn't mean they don't read; it's pretty much impossible
to become a professor (in the UK at least) without being extremely widely
read. It's a slightly different thing in the US, where "professor" is a job
title, pretty much equivalent to "lecturer", rather than an honorific, but
even so, it's not easy to secure a University teaching post without being
widely read.

> And as for Steven Hawking, well what can one say.

Do you have a point to make? Again, he's widely read.

> But the majority of us are brought up to obey our betters more than think
> for ourselves

Speak for yourself.

H
 >> Stay informed about: Somthing else for the spelling police!!! 

On Mon, 06 Nov 2006 14:15:44 +0000, H Duffy wrote:

> In addition, I think that higher up the foodchain, in Universities, we need
> to insist on a higher standard than we currently seem to get;

Indeed. I get the impression that as the years go by, fewer kids pass
exams, therefore the solution has been to make the exams easier rather
than improve the quality of the education being given.

The idea of allowing text message abbreviations in exams should have never
even been suggested let alone considered.

The other day I was watching "Threads" (the film about a Nuclear attack on
Sheffield) and there is a scene set years after the attack where the kids
speak a very basic type of English due to there being virtually no
Education avenues.

Even without a nuclear war, the possibility of kids growing up like this
seems a frightening possibility and Varizo is living proof.

#Andy#
 >> Stay informed about: Somthing else for the spelling police!!! 

???
Ben
"whisky-dave" <whisky-dave RemoveThis @final.front.ear> a écrit dans le message de news:
einebe$p6h$1@qmul...
>
> "Benoît Meulle-Stef" <bmsguitarsNOSPAMS RemoveThis @biz.tiscali.be> wrote in message
> news:YPCdncbsxLBxE9HYRVnyvA@scarlet.biz...
>> Even with Spanish and French? :-)
>
> Even with crabs you won't get the job.
>
> Doh !
>
>> Ben
>> <thecoven.uk RemoveThis @ntlworld.com> a écrit dans le message de news:
>> 1162630850.075522.165260 RemoveThis @h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
>>> Damn right!
>>>
>>> It's a blatant disregard for common sense, and a basic laziness that's
>>> overcome the youth of today.
>>>
>>> If you can't read & write plain English, then you won't get far in this
>>> world.
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: Somthing else for the spelling police!!! 

"Benoît Meulle-Stef" <bmsguitarsNOSPAMS DeleteThis @biz.tiscali.be> wrote in message
news:X7OdncKXL-Waz9LYRVnyrQ@scarlet.biz...
> ???

Top-posting gives you crabs.

Rather than replying above what you're replying to, snip out the bits you're
not responding to, and put your response below the text, as I've done here.
It's much easier to read and follow conversations that way.
You'll notice that quite often, people will break a long post into smaller
pieces, and insert their reply into the text; again, this makes it much
easier to follow than simply replying to the whole lot in one go.

H
 >> Stay informed about: Somthing else for the spelling police!!! 

On 2006-11-06 15:23:32 +0000, "H Duffy" <hester_duffy DeleteThis @nospam.hotmail.com> said:

> Top-posting gives you crabs.

Your posting gives us HEADACHE, SICKNESS and DIARRHEA.

--
"The regulars in this group all come across as racist drunkards that
seem to hate any horror movie made after 1979 or isn't Italian." -
Superfly Silverman, 29/08/06
 >> Stay informed about: Somthing else for the spelling police!!! 

"Shiflet" <rshiflet.DeleteThis@charter.net> wrote in message
news:AyW2h.1055$vj4.998@newsfe07.lga...
>
> "Varizo.." <varizo.DeleteThis@yahoo.com.sg> wrote in message
> news:1162619157.383952.180730@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
>> It was on the radio in the week that exsaminers in skools hav got to
>> acsept txt message replys ,
>
> Maybe in whatever shitty area you live in, but not here.
>
>> V.
>>
>
>
I have not heard anything about it either. Maybe the people who do text
messaging like that should learn how to spell too.
 >> Stay informed about: Somthing else for the spelling police!!! 

<thecoven.uk.TakeThisOut@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:1162630850.075522.165260@h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> Damn right!
>
> It's a blatant disregard for common sense, and a basic laziness that's
> overcome the youth of today.
>
> If you can't read & write plain English, then you won't get far in this
> world.
>

Unfortunately, sometimes it seems like less people are realizing that all of
the time. I am finding more and more people here in the states who are
speaking less and less english.
 >> Stay informed about: Somthing else for the spelling police!!! 

"Varizo.." <varizo RemoveThis @yahoo.com.sg> wrote in message
news:1162619157.383952.180730@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
> It was on the radio in the week that exsaminers in skools hav got to

<snip>

Yeah.....give us some actual sources here so we know you are not just trying
to justify your atrocious spelling.
 >> Stay informed about: Somthing else for the spelling police!!! 

"Zareth" <dfmnfdjndfnjed.TakeThisOut@jdfsjkldfkj.fhfe> wrote in message
news:EKJ3h.2918$qJ6.2271@trndny07...
>
> "Varizo.." <varizo.TakeThisOut@yahoo.com.sg> wrote in message
> news:1162619157.383952.180730@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
>> It was on the radio in the week that exsaminers in skools hav got to
>
> <snip>
>
> Yeah.....give us some actual sources here so we know you are not just
> trying to justify your atrocious spelling.

It did turn up on the UK news, although the only sources I can find are
talking about the condemnation of the suggetsion, rather than its support;
http://www.24dash.com/education/12440.htm

H
 >> Stay informed about: Somthing else for the spelling police!!! 

"H Duffy" <hester_duffy.DeleteThis@nospam.hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:4r8uubFqgs6qU1@individual.net...
>
> "whisky-dave" <whisky-dave.DeleteThis@final.front.ear> wrote in message
> news:eing2s$pqq$1@qmul...
>>
>> "erithromycin" <erithromycin.DeleteThis@ananzi.co.za> wrote in message
>> news:4r46oqFpl822U9@individual.net...
>>
>>
>>>
>>> As for how many books they read in a year, well, that would be
>>> terrifying,
>>> wouldn't it? I smell a survey in the offing.
>>
>> It would be interesting but I heard Newton wasn't an avid book writer
>
> Did you mean reader or writer?

He wasn't into story books.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/ockham/stories/s223949.htm

"I've lost count of the great creative thinkers who had difficulties of this
kind in school. Can it be chance that the mathematical/physical line right
back to Newton shows it? Poincare, the acknowledged genius, averaged out as
an imbecile on the Binet IQ test, brilliant in some areas but dragged down
by abysmal scores in others. Very typical of these children. Lucky for him,
he was an honoured scientist at that time, not a schoolchild! Both Maxwell
and Faraday are on record as having had such problems and even Newton was
said to be 'inattentive' and 'not bookish', which probably amounts to the
same thing. Can this be chance? Is it not more likely that the brilliance of
their abstract visual imagination, their capacity to scent out the beauty
and order in seeming chaos, and their sheer inventiveness all came at a
price?"

>
>> neither were most
>> of our most famous intelligent people, in fact Professors have always had
>> a reputation
>> of being a bit 'off the wall', crazy and not conforming to being normal,
>> some might call them rebels.
>
> Well, yes, bt that doesn't mean they don't read; it's pretty much
> impossible to become a professor (in the UK at least) without being
> extremely widely read.

But they aren't reading up on how to pronounce words or the correct grammar
to
be used on a Tuesday evening.


>> And as for Steven Hawking, well what can one say.
>
> Do you have a point to make? Again, he's widely read.

I wonder if he changes pronouncation if the word starts with a capital.
 >> Stay informed about: Somthing else for the spelling police!!! 

> Top-posting gives you crabs.
>
> Rather than replying above what you're replying to, snip out the bits
> you're not responding to, and put your response below the text, as I've
> done here. It's much easier to read and follow conversations that way.
> You'll notice that quite often, people will break a long post into smaller
> pieces, and insert their reply into the text; again, this makes it much
> easier to follow than simply replying to the whole lot in one go.
>


Ok
Ben
 >> Stay informed about: Somthing else for the spelling police!!! 

whisky-dave wrote:

>> We _really_ need to improve the quality of basic English grammar and
>> spelling in our schools;
>
> But how do we do that ?

The most obvious solution is to start setting standards and requirements
on both teachers and students and then hold them to them. Most
importantly stop lowering exam requirements just so that more people
will pass. Instead make people who fail get extra lessons.

Dag
 >> Stay informed about: Somthing else for the spelling police!!!