# Breaks!



## cw955 (Apr 8, 2003)

FFS it's BRAKES. Breaks means that it gets broken. Now your BRAKES might be broken But they are still BRAKES.
Can't anyone spell anymore?
Buy a dictionary [smiley=book2.gif]


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## sporTTyminx (Mar 5, 2009)

Interesting.

What the hell are you talking about?

I am a stickler for good spelling....


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## Guest (Jun 22, 2009)

haha, i know what provoked this


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## sporTTyminx (Mar 5, 2009)

Well tell me then.....


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## Guest (Jun 22, 2009)

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=144659
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=144602

:lol:


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## Tim G (Feb 16, 2005)

:lol: :lol:


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## sporTTyminx (Mar 5, 2009)

LOL

Thanks guys...i do love a man that can spell!

And in that thread was...'there a nice deep yellow.'

It really annoys me when people get their, there, they're mixed up.


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## skiwhiz (Feb 17, 2008)

sporTTyminx said:


> LOL
> 
> people get their, there, they're mixed up.


long time since I have seen that one used, takes me back to teaching


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## sporTTyminx (Mar 5, 2009)

Really? I use it all the time and so should that person who said his things were a nice deep yellow. Not 'there' a nice yellow, they're a nice yellow!


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## skiwhiz (Feb 17, 2008)

sporTTyminx said:


> Really? I!


Yep 30 yrs of working in sport and not having to write much for about 15 of them, I bet its not in spell check either, the Yanks have a lot to answer for when it comes to dumbing down.


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## sporTTyminx (Mar 5, 2009)

Agreed. But this stuff is basic and kids just aren't learning the fundamental aspects of our language. Doesn't matter these days anyway, it's all about content not spelling or grammar.

What sporty stuff did you do?


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## Nilesong (Jan 19, 2009)

Mobile texting has a lot to answer for. I can't understand half the texts I receive from my daughter. (Or is that recieve??) :lol:


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## jammyd (Oct 11, 2008)

I da no wat ya takin abut...

I think that's the lingo these text freaks use! My 17yr old cousin is a prime example... she will send me a txt  and I will have to call her to decipher it


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## cw955 (Apr 8, 2003)

Nilesong said:


> Mobile texting has a lot to answer for. I can't understand half the texts I receive from my daughter. (Or is that recieve??) :lol:


I before e except... ...Oh I give in http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8110573.stm

(and here viewtopic.php?f=2&t=144781 is it a MK 1 thing? :lol: )


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## Dash (Oct 5, 2008)

I have a spelling checker
It came with my PC
It highlights for my review
Mistakes I cannot sea.

I ran this poem thru it
I'm sure your pleased to no
Its letter perfect in it's weigh
My checker told me sew.


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## skiwhiz (Feb 17, 2008)

:lol: :lol: :lol:


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## denTTed (Feb 21, 2007)

And more..
http://www.********.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=144823


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## jammyd (Oct 11, 2008)

My god, The man can not string a sentence together...


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## jonah (Aug 17, 2002)

sporTTyminx said:


> LOL
> 
> Thanks guys...i do love a man that can spell!
> 
> ...


Just remember that spelling isn't just a sign of lazyness and being thick, some people generally have problems with spelling as I do, although I make an effort and try to get my spelling and grammer correct. :?


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## Dave-TT (Feb 24, 2009)

lol ditto i'm also not that great at spelling, even though i am an IT Consultant! But the funny thing i always find is that even though i am dyslexic and cant spell very well, i can still spell DYSLEXIC hahaha figure that one out :lol:


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## jammyd (Oct 11, 2008)

Dave-TT said:


> lol ditto i'm also not that great at spelling, even though i am an IT Consultant! But the funny thing i always find is that even though i am dyslexic and cant spell very well, i can still spell DYSLEXIC hahaha figure that one out :lol:


Thats gets me too... My better half is Dyslexic yet it is the one word she says she never has a problem with... Being an IT Consultant too, I know my spelling is awful, I blame spell check!


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## droopsnoot (Sep 5, 2002)

And I propose "broke" vs. "broken". No matter how hard I try, I cannot get across to some of our staff that "my printer is broke" is meaningless - after all, printers don't have money of their own. Now, "my printer is broken", I can understand.

And spurious question marks and exclamation marks wind me up. When I get an email that says "I am having trouble installing your software?", I don't see how that is a question. Are you asking me whether you're having trouble? I don't know. And is "Can you sort it out????" more of a question than "Can you sort it out?" because it has more question marks? Surely there aren't degress of being a question - a sentence is either a question or it is not. And from there, we lead on to "fairly unique" and "very unique", and my head explodes.


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## Dash (Oct 5, 2008)

I can cope with extra punctuation, as I think they can convey extra emphasis in a sentence that you would normally not be able to put over in a written form.

With the Internet, written form has become a lot less formal. It's more reflective of how we speak in a face-to-face situation.

I struggled with using a question mark when there wasn't a question for a while. Now I'm more comfortable with it's use - as asking a question is more to do with the pitch of your voice in informal language than using the right words.

"I don't get it?"

This is common enough in spoken language, but should probably be "I don't get it. Please could you explain it?" Being lazy, we shorten it.

"Huh?"

"Huh???"

To me, the first reads as that, the second reads as "Huuuhhh?".


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## garvin (May 7, 2002)

The one that makes me shudder is "would of" or "could of" as in "I would/could of done this or that" - arrgghhh!


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## danielW2599 (Mar 20, 2009)

Providing people don't use text speak, does it really matter if a sentance is not 100% grammatically correct?


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## sporTTyminx (Mar 5, 2009)

danielW2599 said:


> Providing people don't use text speak, does it really matter if a sentance is not 100% grammatically correct?


Yes, i think it does. Only my opinion of course.


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## Mark Davies (Apr 10, 2007)

sporTTyminx said:


> Agreed. But this stuff is basic and kids just aren't learning the fundamental aspects of our language. Doesn't matter these days anyway, it's all about content not spelling or grammar.


Ah! Now see - when you decide to be pedantic about spelling or grammar you have to be sure you get it exactly right. If not, someone is always going to come along and point out your mistakes. It's one of those 'casting stones' and 'glass houses' sort of moments. Anyone else see it?

I'm with you though. I find the decline in the standards of our written language catastrophic. And yes, it does matter. When you are speaking with someone face-to-face and your language fails to accurately convey your meaning then you have the opportunity to correct yourself. When your language is written it must be precise because you do not have any second opportunity to explain what it was you really meant. You have to convey your meaning accurately first time round. It needs to be precise.

Apart from anything else, it represents a certain discipline in life that is wholly lacking in general.

I absolutely refuse to use 'text-speak'; even in texts. Language is the one thing that differentiates our species from everything else. It is at the core of human civilization. We should never take it for granted.


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## sporTTyminx (Mar 5, 2009)

Thanks for that Mark!

I do think it matters. I see sloppy grammar and spelling every single day of my life and my post about it not mattering anymore comes purely from an academic viewpoint. I see students handing in work that is simply atrocious both in terms of grammar and spelling, but it's all about content these days.

So whereas i said it doesnt seem to matter anymore, it doesnt in the college i work in, but for me personally, it matters a whole lot.


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## Mark Davies (Apr 10, 2007)

I'm in two minds.

George Bernard Shaw was constantly at odds with his publishers over grammatical errors within his works; in particular with respect to words ending in '-ly', where he would insist in adding an extra 'l'. He argued that in certain cases it eased the flow of reading and was what most people would expect to be there. Personally, I follow his form - as you see in this very sentence.

So therefore, I have to accept - to a certain degree - that correctly conveying your meaning in a manner that is more readily understood by your reader is a legitimate position to take. But as you see, I do not adopt that double 'l' in all cases.

There needs to be a certain flexibility, because language is continually developing and is never a constant. However 'flexibility' has a limited application. There is a definite difference in flexibility and simple laziness. And there is a much bigger step from laziness to outright, bloody ignorance!

Our education system seems to have lost that notion of discipline almost everywhere. There seems to be no notion of getting things right - or certainly no correction when things are done wrong. That breeds a sense that discipline simply does not matter, and that attitude is at the heart of much that is wrong within our communities.

It might sound somewhat Victorian, but proper grammar really could be at the heart of proper society.


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## sporTTyminx (Mar 5, 2009)

Mark Davies said:


> Our education system seems to have lost that notion of discipline almost everywhere. There seems to be no notion of getting things right - or certainly no correction when things are done wrong.


I agree completely. I am still unsure of how kids in school are supposed to know what they are writing is right or not, if the teachers do not correct it and then explain the reasons it is incorrect.

Just the way it is i guess.


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## Mark Davies (Apr 10, 2007)

It's not good enough though, is it?

Part of my job deals with checking the written work of colleagues in training. Not too long ago I was going through a document and the author clearly was struggling with the spelling of the word 'knife', so what did he do? He simply - in the middle of a written sentence in a legal document - drew a picture of a knife!

I mean - WTF! (That's irony, by the way).

I could do this when I was 11 years old - and here we have people in their twenties seemingly incapable of handling the basics. It's a sorry indictment of our current philosophy in education.


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## sporTTyminx (Mar 5, 2009)

OMG (more irony!)

Did you put red scrawl around the picture with 'see me' in the margin?

Seriously though, it isn't good enough. I can't see it getting any better though, can you?


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## Mark Davies (Apr 10, 2007)

No. I've long since given up. I guess all we can do is satisfy our own standards.

You and me against the world!


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## Wallsendmag (Feb 12, 2004)

At GTI International yesterday on several stalls "We except all major credit cards"


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## Mark Davies (Apr 10, 2007)

wallsendmag said:


> At GTI International yesterday on several stalls "We except all major credit cards"


Even worse! When you are going to the effort of putting up a sign or printing a leaflet then for f*cks sake get it right! It winds me up, no end. :x


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## droopsnoot (Sep 5, 2002)

At the car boot sale yesterday someone was selling "Golddigga" bracelets which, although I know nothing about them, seemed to be fakes. What did it for me was the "authenticity certificate" that these people had obviously knocked up for themselves which said "Guaranteed genuine braclets".

And I love the local kitchen company who probably paid a lot for their van signwriters to claim that they can offer a "3-D prospective view". I mean, at a push it could be correct (as they're offering a view of the prospective kitchen installation) but I rather think they meant "perspective".

I too have started to give up on these things, it seems like very few people care any more. It's just frustrating that I had to spend so much time learning this stuff when I was in school, and it's not fair that it's no longer a requirement.


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## droopsnoot (Sep 5, 2002)

Mark Davies said:


> sporTTyminx said:
> 
> 
> > Agreed. But this stuff is basic and kids just aren't learning the fundamental aspects of our language. Doesn't matter these days anyway, it's all about content not spelling or grammar.
> ...


I don't, unless it's the missing comma before "not" in the last sentence. But I'm not sure about that.



Mark Davies said:


> I absolutely refuse to use 'text-speak'; even in texts.


Yes, and certainly not in emails.


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## Mark Davies (Apr 10, 2007)

droopsnoot said:


> sporTTyminx said:
> 
> 
> > Agreed. But this stuff is basic and kids just aren't learning the fundamental aspects of our language. Doesn't matter these days anyway, it's all about content not spelling or grammar.
> ...


Open to debate, of course, but my view is that the last sentence should in fact be two sentences. The first sentence would also need the addition of 'It' at the start, otherwise it is incomplete. Also as you correctly point out there should be some punctuation in the second half, though again debatable whether that should be a comma or a semi-colon. So:



> It doesn't matter these days anyway. It's all about content; not spelling or grammar.


No doubt we could pull some of mine apart too. I think these days it would be almost impossible to find any kind of concensus on what is right or wrong.


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## NaughTTy (Jul 9, 2003)

My pet peeve in our ever-declining language is the use of "till" when shortneing "until". I used to try to correct people on it but it's everywhere now, even in some books that are supposed to teach our children to read. I found it used incorrectly in at least 3 of my daughter's Oxford Reading Tree books.

If you are going to shorten it, please get it right - it's 'til (now wait for garyc to tell me that's for lazy people anyway ;-) )


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## cw955 (Apr 8, 2003)

Mark Davies said:


> No. I've long since given up. I guess all we can do is satisfy our own standards.
> 
> You and me against the world!


And me - Let's all stand up for spelling!

BTW - My favourite piece of irony


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## sporTTyminx (Mar 5, 2009)

Hey Mark.
Thanks for pulling my sentence to pieces. I thought we were on the same side?

Anyhoo... ( :wink: ) I think you may need to have a look at this:



Mark Davies said:


> The first sentence would also needs the addition of 'It' at the start, otherwise it is incomplete.


Not that i am looking for faults or anything...like you said, you and me against the world! Oh, and cw955


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## cw955 (Apr 8, 2003)

The point of this thread was not to pick on the odd mistake but the continual misspelling of common words. So I don't want any bickering among the spelling police [smiley=argue.gif]

We all have occasional lapses of typing skills, but I go on a number of fora and the word 'brake' or 'brakes' seems to me to be the most common to be spelt incorrectly.

I think I am going to need therapy soon as I'm even emailing the BBC to correct the spelling on their website!


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## sporTTyminx (Mar 5, 2009)

Hey, give me a brake will you? I am just having a brake from the tennis...Murray...will he win it? Wonder if he needs a brake?


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## jammyd (Oct 11, 2008)

sporTTyminx said:


> Hey, give me a brake will you? I am just having a brake from the tennis...Murray...will he win it? Wonder if he needs a brake?


Stop braking the rules


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## Mark Davies (Apr 10, 2007)

sporTTyminx said:


> Anyhoo... ( :wink: ) I think you may need to have a look at this:


It's a dangerous game, being pedantic! Well spotted. I did say someone would come along and find fault with me somewhere. Typo now corrected. :wink:


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## droopsnoot (Sep 5, 2002)

cw955 said:


> The point of this thread was not to pick on the odd mistake but the continual misspelling of common words. So I don't want any bickering among the spelling police [smiley=argue.gif]


Yes, you're right. I am on sticky ground when it comes to commas, semi-colons and the like, but the glaring things are, well, glaring.


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## sporTTyminx (Mar 5, 2009)

Mark Davies said:


> sporTTyminx said:
> 
> 
> > Anyhoo... ( :wink: ) I think you may need to have a look at this:
> ...


lol, rotflmao..... 

So. Now we both know that we are pretty good on the spelling and grammar front...should we call a truce and conquor the rest of the uneducated's? :lol:


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## cw955 (Apr 8, 2003)

sporTTyminx said:


> So. Now we both know that we are pretty good on the spelling and grammar front...should we call a truce and conquor the rest of the uneducated's? :lol:


[pedant] Shouldn't there be a space either side of the ellipsis when used in that particular context [/pedant] 
Ok fainites.
(Not going to mention conquer or the apostrophe :wink: )


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## KammyTT (Jun 28, 2006)

i canna see fit the problim yer ah gan on aboot? fits ah the fuss like :lol:


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## sporTTyminx (Mar 5, 2009)

cw955 said:


> sporTTyminx said:
> 
> 
> > So. Now we both know that we are pretty good on the spelling and grammar front...should we call a truce and conquor the rest of the uneducated's? :lol:
> ...


You don't miss a trick do you? Far too clever for me.

I'll just sit at the back with my dunces hat on.


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## cw955 (Apr 8, 2003)

sporTTyminx said:


> You don't miss a trick do you? Far too clever for me.
> 
> I'll just sit at the back with my dunces hat on.


Nah, it's a consequence of working on some Plain English stuff for work, makes you a bit hyper.
You're welcome to sit at the front and the dunce's hat doesn't suit you so leave it at the back for the next one who can't spell breaks; or should that be brakes?


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## R6B TT (Feb 25, 2003)

My Dad's department used to have to write technical manuals for Aviation equipment - weapons control systems, Flight Management Computers etc. Back in the 80s, they had to write manuals for the US which were for a reading age of 12 maximum - and these guys are in charge of Tomcats and 747s ...

By the way, its consensus Mark


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## cw955 (Apr 8, 2003)

R6B TT said:


> My Dad's department used to have to write technical manuals for Aviation equipment - weapons control systems, Flight Management Computers etc. Back in the 80s, they had to write manuals for the US which were for a reading age of 12 maximum - and these guys are in charge of Tomcats and 747s ...
> 
> By the way, its consensus Mark


"Up to 16 million adults - nearly half the workforce - are holding down jobs despite having the reading and writing skills expected of children leaving primary school" - Guardian 24 Jan 2006
You need a reading age of 8 to read the Sun.


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## tony_rigby_uk (Nov 27, 2008)

Have you ever considered that maybe the english language is rather dificult?

My sister who is a english teacher (and by the way my spelling is bad) has always said that trying to teach the english language is very difficult, once people reach a certain age if they've not been nurtured at school with trying to correct the areas that they are failing with then in later life they find it very difficult to adapt and correct it..

i must admit i think the school gave up on me with spelling, my handwriting is that bad i don't think they wanted to read it. I'm in the last year of a degree too (Bsc Hons) I dread every exam as i know it'll start off fine for the first 45mins. then after that for the next 2hours 15mins it's sloppy and unreadable.


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## seasurfer (Apr 10, 2009)

cw955 said:


> FFS it's BRAKES. Breaks means that it gets broken. Now your BRAKES might be broken But they are still BRAKES.
> Can't anyone spell anymore?
> Buy a dictionary [smiley=book2.gif]


Maybe your brakes are having a break :lol: :lol: :lol:

Seasurfer


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## sporTTyminx (Mar 5, 2009)

This sentence sums up for me exactly why we are in the state we are in:



tony_rigby_uk said:


> My sister who is a english teacher (and by the way my spelling is bad) has always said that trying to teach the english language is very difficult, once people reach a certain age if* they've not been nurtured at school* with trying to correct the areas that they are failing with then in later life they find it very difficult to adapt and correct it..


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