Watch for chatspeak please

Quote:

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Originally posted by Kit 1934:
But when you are RELENTLESSLY making grammatical errors and spelling mistakes, you look so stupid.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">This is absolutely not an attack or anything, but I just wanted to comment on this remark. I think it's a bit unfair to be so harsh on some people who don't use grammar or spelling well. Some people might have real disabilities with writing and reading (like dyslexia), or they might have had a very limited education, or English might not even be their first language. Also, I know some very intelligent people who simply don't recognize when they make spelling errors, and using spell check might not always be convenient if you just want to make some quick comments on HB. This board should be for everyone, and I just don't want anyone to feel bad for having writing skills that aren't perfect. [img]frown.gif[/img]

Just my humble opinion...

When I first came to the board, I was really confused by all the abbreviations as well. We need an index sticky up at the top with all the American Girl abbreviations like "NWOB" and "AGPLA" for users new to the board.

And finally, what is this? [img]graemlins/handcuffs.gif[/img] Oh. They're handcuffs- from what it says between the colons. Haha, never mind.

We are not looking for perfection. We just want everyone to try their best to use good grammar.

It is fairly obvious when someone is using a lot of chatspeak and not using any uppercase letters, etc. This is what we are trying to avoid - not the inevitable typo.

It has been a long time since I have been in English class and I know I make mistakes, too.

I agree with Judi. We are not looking for perfection, but it becomes pretty obvious that it's not just random typos when a person consistently writes in all lower-case letters, or consistently doesn't capitalize when they say "I", or consistently leaves the "e" off the ends of words, or consistently substitutes numbers for words, or substitutes abbreviations for words, etc.
Joy

<font color="#33CCCC" size="1">[ July 18, 2006 03:45 PM: Message edited by: djsnjones ]</font>

Quote:

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Originally posted by thepidget:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Kit 1934:
But when you are RELENTLESSLY making grammatical errors and spelling mistakes, you look so stupid.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">This is absolutely not an attack or anything, but I just wanted to comment on this remark. I think it's a bit unfair to be so harsh on some people who don't use grammar or spelling well. Some people might have real disabilities with writing and reading (like dyslexia), or they might have had a very limited education, or English might not even be their first language. Also, I know some very intelligent people who simply don't recognize when they make spelling errors, and using spell check might not always be convenient if you just want to make some quick comments on HB. This board should be for everyone, and I just don't want anyone to feel bad for having writing skills that aren't perfect. [img]frown.gif[/img]

Just my humble opinion...</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I agree with this, ThePidget. Also, sometimes it's not a matter of spelling or gramatical issues but rather that sometimes when people type, they are bound to make typos. People type at different speeds and in different ways. I know I can't type the "correct way" - I just never got the hang of it. but I understand about not liking mistakes. I think of it almost as if you're talking to someone- you can stutter or accidently stumble on a word but that doesn't mean you're not smart. I think some typos should be okay so long as it's hopefully not every word. That's my honest/humble opinion.

I am very glad to see that some of you who were using chatspeak are apparently editing yourselves now.

There are still a few who are apparently continuing to use chatspeak. As I come across it, I will edit, as a way to let you know what we're looking for. If you see that happening with your posts, please either take that as a gentle hint to start editing yourselves, or email me with any questions or concerns or special needs that you may have.

Here are the types of things that I am looking for....

--writing out whole words, instead of leaving out some letters or substituting numbers for some words.

--using periods at the ends of sentences, rather than numerous commas and endless run-on sentences.

--using capitalization for the first word of every sentence, for names of people and places, and for the word "I".

--doing your best to spell words correctly. Occasional mistakes are to be expected, but consistently spelling certain words incorrectly implies that those mistakes are not typos. I'm a pretty good speller, but I keep a dictionary by my computer, to check myself when I'm uncertain on some spelling.

Thanks to all of you for whatever you're doing to make this board a pleasant place to visit.

Joy

I'm still finding some people who seem to have this habit or difficulty. If you are one of them, please email me and let me know if you have some kind of special needs that we need to make accommodations for.

Thanks,
Joy

Yes,I agree with ya,chatspeak is hard to translate. That's why I try and tell my fellow classmates not to use it, since they are just beginning to use the computer. [img]graemlins/cry.gif[/img] But they never listen..*Shakes head*

<font color="#33CCCC" size="1">[ August 14, 2006 02:02 PM: Message edited by: djsnjones ]</font>

Hello Moderators,

After reading through the above, I will definitely try to avoid chatspeak! Are abbreviations like "info" for information ok? That word is one of my common flaws.

Also, would you be willing to send out a thread when the glossary of AG related abbreviations is updated? I've managed to figure most of them out simply by context but it's great to have a reference area too. I'm pretty naive and would never have figured out ASL if it wasn't for this thread--now that I've been illuminated I agree it's not really appropriate for this board.

If there are spelling errors usually it is because I'm typing fast & just don't catch them.

Katie

If you check our FAQs page, there is a list there of the abbreviations that are allowed, although I have noticed that some of our common AG abbreviations aren't there, like....
AGP=American Girl Place
AGPC=American Girl Place Chicago
AGPNY=American Girl Place New York
AGPLA=American Girl Place Los Angeles

Does anyone else remember any others of our common AG abbreviations?

And "info" is so much a part of our everyday language that it is also allowed.

Welcome, and if you have any more questions, please let us know.

Joy

<font color="#33CCCC" size="1">[ August 14, 2006 04:19 PM: Message edited by: djsnjones ]</font>