Grammar and Spelling Importance

First, I'll include this disclaimer: I'm as guilty as anyone when it comes to making mistakes in spelling and grammar. It happens. We're human.

Moving on... In lieu of "Top 3 Thursday", I'm going to make this post. This week's topic was "Top 3 Books". Let's face it, I don't read. Its never been my cup of tea.

I post regularly on a weather forum and sometime this past weekend a thread was started in our "General Discussion" forum about grammar and spelling and the different dialects that this country offers. Since taking part in said discussion, I have been labeled a "grammar nazi". I will say, when in a personal conversation (i.e.: instant message, face-to-face, etc.), that I will use dialect. Example: "Hey dude, you wanna come hang tonight?" "Sure, man. What time ya thinkin?" "Whenever you're ready, we're just chillin", but I digress.

There is a time and a place for everything. Using such dialect on a public forum, in my opinion, causes you to appear ignorant. The issue at hand stems mainly from only a few items.

1. "There", "their", "they're". I could go on all day about this. Not only did the individual that started the thread use them incorrectly in the post that triggered it, but also claims that he knows the difference and simply doesn't care how he uses them when typing. Time out. Hold your horses, bud. I, along with most people, are far more likely to be swayed to your point of view if you at least appear to have a decent understanding of the English language. I have never heard the voice nor seen the face of 90% of those posters, but those that use at least close to proper English when typing get far greater respect than those who do not. If you want to be an idiot, do it on your own time. Don't waste my bandwith. Otherwise, their inbox will be flooded with messages and there will be nothing they can do about it until they're finished being lackadaisical with their grammar. See folks, it's not that difficult.
2. "To" and "Too" Again, why do we have so much trouble with this? This is third grade English, people. Are you going too the store, or are you going to the store? I believe I may be going to the store, too. To buy you this book.
3. Punctuation For the love of everything that is holy, please put a period at the end of your sentence. I can't stand reading sentences that seemingly ramble for an entire paragraph. This irks me most in text messages. It's already difficult enough to discern a tone of voice, but throw in a run-on and I'm likely to delete said message and not reply. Which is easier to read? Rhetorical, obviously, but here we go.... "Went to the beach today we saw flocks of seagulls and scantily clad females everywhere wish you would have been there", OR "Went to the beach today. We saw flocks of seagulls and scantily clad females everywhere. Wish you would have been there". I think the choice is obvious. Another thing that could be an addendum to this point is capitalizing the first word of your next sentence. Did you finish your previous statement, or did you accidentally place a period there?
4. "Your" and "You're" You're going to be the death of me because you can't seem to get it through your head that "you're" is a contraction for "you are" and "your" is the possessive case of "you".
   

Heaven knows that some people simply are bad spellers. I understand that, but, really, if you're going to post something in a place that the entire world can read it, please open a Google tab. I won't even bother delving into the misspelling of common words, but I must ask this question: What in the world happened to proof-reading something? I will read this post three or four times before I officially click "Publish Post". Take a little time and make sure you've got everything straightened out. You never know who might be reading what you're posting.

~B