The rules just create fear of failure. Spelling doesn't matter and too many people are worried about. It decreases in importance as more people realize that computers make spelling easier. Language is about 'meaning' not rules. What do you say?

I say you have to much time on your hands.
Haha, just kidding.
I actually think spelling right matters, I want to be able to attempt to read something, and not have to hope it's not spelled wrong.

I say Mum they say Mom, I say tomatoe they say tomato I say potatoe they say potato etc etc etc.........my way is correct so is there way

Spelling matters, speaking doesn't. Speaking you can rely more on context and dialect to get the meaning out of a phrase. In writing, all you have is spelling and the way the words come together. Lose one, and the other may create ambiguities.

i.e.
There, their, they're
Bare, bear
To, too, two

The way those word are pronounced, you don't hear much of a difference (when considering the average English speaking person). Writing those however, you can come up with some pretty interesting sentances if you mess up

Note: A computer doesn't always catch such mistakes. While you can make the argument that they are more grammatical mistakes that spelling mistakes, look closely at bare and bear. Those can be keyed in, one i place of the other by accident, and passed over by a spell checker because they are actual words.

That's right. The auto spelling check reduces a lot of worries, and labour too. But there are some technical, and new words, that have to be dealt carefully.

spelin mattas coz i dnt lyk pl hu tlk lyk dis on da net cos dey get used 2 it n den start usin it in da rong places lyk work, skool etc.

Real english:

Spelling matters because I don't like people who talk like this on the internet, because they get used to it and then start using it in the wrong places like work and school etc.

Spelling matters in my books

^^^ Exactly why it matters. Ok, sure some people make the odd mistakes here and there but still you can pretty much tell what they meant just by the rest of their sentence since it was written right. But if people start writing with like every 2nd word wrong then it gets hard to really tell what they mean when certain words get messed up.

Plus look at the difference in Naz's 2 sentences. Theirs barely any difference in the lenght so why not take the small extra effort and write it correctly.

I tend to believe that spelling matters a lot. Its not huge and granted you can generally understand what a person's meaning is no matter how bad there spelling is, but personally I dont like sounding like an idiot.. most times its grammer and punctuation mistakes that irk me though. Does noone know how to use a comma anymore?

I'm french so English is a little iffy for me. I must say I've gotten a lot better since I first started posting here. As for commas, no I don't really know when I should be using them. I've always had problems with them. I used them here and there when I think it's right but I don't really know the rules for them.

C'est très important de maîtriser l'orthographe. Si on continue ainsi à se fier aux machines pour tout corriger, on ne saura plus parler normalement!

Just kidding... but seriously, I agree. Spelling matters. I've seen many coworkers write like that on medical reports!! Seriously!

Basically, when you are saying something out loud and you stop to breathe, thats when you add a comma... comma just means "to break up" - So you are basically breaking up your sentences so it's easier to read... instead of reading one huuuuuuge sentence, you read all separate sentences broken up with commas, so long as its all on the same subject, because when the subject changes, thats when you start a new paragraph

I haven't done English for 3 years, excuse me if I'm off, but thats pretty much it.

There is no comma after AND either, "and" is a break up, so a comma isn't needed

Hmmm... Thanks, I learnt something new. I was kind of using it in that sense but I was never sure if it was right.

EAXT: Your french? I never knew!

Like many fellows here in Quebec, I have to be bilingual in order to run a business .

Wait so does that mean Dan knows french too?!

Pas un autre français!

lol



Yes he does

Wow, so how is it that I've been on these forums for over 4 years and I've never notice that like half of you people are french or know french. That's just crazy.

Sorry for going off topic on the last couple posts.

On topic: Spelling incorrectly just makes you look uneducated.

I don't agree to that fully. True it might LOOK like your uneducated, but it doesn't mean you are. Some people like me just have difficulties because English for me isn't my primary language. I do try my best to write properly though.

I think I would replace the word uneducated with lazy instead, because a lot of the time that is why people make mistakes. Either they don't take the time to look up the words to see if they are right or they just don't care about improving themselves. Also, some people are just plain lazy and/or think they are cool ritin lik dis.

I didn't mean it like that. I meant when people write like "u r 2 kool"
It makes you look so stupid.

ru fereelz? i sownd uber leet!

Very true indeed. Languages are for expression, they are needed to express your feelings. And if there are some minor mistakes, then that is bearable. And specially thanks to our machines that have made our lives so easy.

You know what is ironic about this topic? Nobody has mentioned the typo in the description yet:

uhh, i'm guessing that was put there on purpose to be ironic.. not like the Alanis Morrosette version of ironic, but the actual meaning of the word ironic..

Well i can't comment on intent, but i definately find it amusing

Where I live if you want to do business with EVERYONE, you better know Mandarin, Spanish, English very well, as well as Korean convrsational, not so much Japanese but it also helps in some areas..yea...

Where I used to work it was commissione based, I only knew english so I was on the low end, my friend who knew spanish/english would make about $1500 in comission after tax, and the person that knows english/spanish/mandarin and some japanese makes about $4000 after tax in commission...yea >: plus his hourly, so he make about $7000 a month after tax, and this is just a stupid cellphone sale store lol.