poor spelling -- it matters

[glow_worm]

I just read one of my own posts & cringed when I discovered all of the misspelled words. Luckily we have an "edit" button.

Yes, we're not in school. And yes, a post is not an essay. But the sloppy spelling does matter, for this is a public domain. We represent nursing to the consumers & potential nurses perusing this board, and to one another. Poor spelling makes the writer look like an idiot (ditto with charting).

Each time this issue is brought up, the messenger is beaten to a pulp. Please forgive me for pointing this out, but it does matter.

[gwenith, BSN, RN]

OOOPSS! As An Aussie how could I forget the Maquarie Dictionary?

Point I am making (and you have probably got it by now) Is do not judge by parochial standards - there are AT least 3 ways to spell even some of the more common "English" words. English is an evolving language.

BTW What about those to whom English is a second language? Shall we admonish them for speaking out with less than perfect use of the language.

[RRMLPN]

Typo Queen myself at times. I admit i'm a terrible typer and my fingers run ahead of my brain at times. I correct when i can and have time. Oh well.

[KaroSnowQueen, RN]

My personal pet peeve is misspelled words. Here on the BB its not a big deal, we're laid back, or in a hurry, or just so happy not to be at work, nobody should care.

But out in the real world, at work, I do cringe to see college graduates, professional men and women who cannot spell a simple word to save their souls! I think if we have a college education we should at least try to give that image when we are in a professional setting. Some of the nurses' notes I have seen are so misspelled you wonder how these people got through school.

And I'm not talking about long medical terminology. I mean normal words, such as: thoughts, notified, psychiatric, physician, pharmacy, consultation, catheter, ostomy. Words we should have learned and known how to spell the first semester of school almost!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And so misspelled you know they didn't just transpose letters or something, but are WAAAAAAY off the mark (physhican, ostuomy, consultated).

Again, not referring to things here on the boards, but in RL at work.

[gwenith, BSN, RN]

Sometimes the mispelling is poor hearing - of long standing. Seen it on more than one occasion. They are spelling what they hear but since the hearing is different, different soulnds are emphasised and so spelling alters.

Often it is because there is very little emphasis in their lives on reading. They are not illiterate but they just do not read more than road signs each day. Had this with a student once - woeful spelling and her grammar was worse - recommended she started to read ANYTHING so long as it was words in a row. By the end of the course she was 100% more literate.

[nurse2002]

Originally posted by gwenith

Sometimes the misspelling is poor heairng - of long standing. Seen it on more than one occasion. They are spelling what they hear but since the hearing is different different soulnds are emphasised and so spelling alters.

Often it is because there is very little emphasis in their lives on reading. They are not illiterate they just do not read more than road signs each day. Had this with a student once woeful spelling and her grammer was worse - recommended she started to read ANYTHING so long as it was words in a row. By the end of the course she was 100% more literate.

Please dont think I am being sarcastic. I swear I am not. But did you misspell just now on purpose or are those typos?

[gwenith, BSN, RN]

typos - hurrying to get to work and this BB has small writing in the submit box for my ageing eyes. Will edit now. Please don't tell anyone else? please?

[Mimi2RN, ASN, RN]

Originally posted by P_RN

When I read ANYTHING from novels to toilet paper wrappers I spellcheck.

Small misspellings like -ible or -able etc. aren't too bad, but the two, too, to ; their, they're, there......REALLY bother me.

I realize some people don't care about their spelling or grammar, but it bothers me.............One spelling mistake is a typo, any more than that I want to correct, can I have a red pen? It looks really bad in charting!

Didn't we have a thread like this not long ago?

[NICU_Nurse, BSN, RN]

Originally posted by P_RN

And I'm sorry... I LOVE elipses...my High School English teacher got me started on it. It's called conversational writing. Go figure!

Conversational writing? Is this what it's called? THANK YOU!! I do that, too.

My husband has a different bad habit- commas. He is SO articulate- best speaker I've ever had the pleasure of listening to. Very intelligent. When he types, he types like this, you see, because, well, he was, told to put a comma, where you would pause to take a breath, or to put emphasis, and it turns out like, THIS. It drives me crazy. I'm his editor for school papers and such, and I'm like, DELETE! DELETE! DELETE!!

[Hardknox]

Originally posted by gwenith

OOOPSS! As An Aussie how could I forget the Maquarie Dictionary?

Point I am making (and you have probably got it by now) Is do not judge by parochial standards - there are AT least 3 ways to spell even some of the more common "English" words. English is an evolving language.

BTW What about those to whom English is a second language? Shall we admonish them for speaking out with less than perfect use of the language.

ITA! We have already been told that some people were afraid to post because they were not made to feel welcome. Well, if they don't have a dictionary or a firm grasp of English how welcome will they feel knowing someone is out there with a red pencil ready to correct their spelling?

This is supposed to be an informal bulletin board--not a master's thesis project. Some of the best posts are impromtu and speedily written and often the person sees the spelling error and edits it later.

Lighten up!

[KMSRN]

Spelling and grammar are very important but I attribute most of the errors here to typing errors or just being in a hurry. But on charts - that's a different matter. They are legal documents and it really irritates me to see spelling errors. Usually the errors are drug names which can found easily enough in drug books. I have seen nurses and secretatries guilty of this.

[liberalrn]

I think that the difference between mispellings and typos can be fairly obvious. for some reason, prob. d/t so strange lack of appropriate musculature, I always mispell aslo--I mean also. Typos don't bother me. Misuse of words bothers me--the example of too, to, two was used. But, I , like most of the rest of the BB, come to it at odd hours, after long shifts, and then 2nd shift at home......I'm too tired to care most times. I do try to edit if I see that the meaning is changed by my mistake. If this isn't understood by the layman (and who are they to be arbiters of my behavior?--I'm as human and imperfect as they are!), well, that's too bad. Thought: who would have predicted that typing 101 would have turned out to be more important than a college education?!

[ShandyLynnRN, BSN, RN]

You've gotta be kidding me.