Spelling in text messages

[Citanul]

How big a turn off is poor spelling and grammar in text messages for you? I'm not talking about the occasional typo as we all make those and don't always catch them before hitting Send (and I'm hoping that I haven't made any in this post), but rather regular misspellings and mistakes. Depending on your preference, that could also include the use of abbreviations like "ur" for "your".

Is it being overly picky/anal/shallow to find poor spelling unacceptable? Or is it justified given the existence of predictive text and auto-correct to expect a reasonable level of correctness?

To add a further aspect to this question (which takes it out of being just a hypothetical situation for me), what if you had yet to meet them in person? So your only communication up to this point had been either through online chat/email or text messages.

Would you be more forgiving of someone you'd met in person meaning that you weren't just relying on their messaging style to shape your impression of them? Or is poor spelling a no-no regardless?

 

[High Fidelity]

It bugs me

It only takes a few seconds more to just type normally.

 

[scraparcs]

It annoys me, but I'd still meet them.

 

[TheGirlOnFire]

It bugs me

It only takes a few seconds more to just type normally.

I've always wondered what they do with all the extra time they save of like two seconds.



It really bugs me especially text talk, come on.

 

[Gnarwhal]

I'm an unapologetic fascist with spelling and grammar in just about all situations. Text messages are certainly no exception, it drives me up a wall when friends send me things with multiple exclamation points or question marks, or four periods instead of the proper ellipses. Don't even get me started when they say "U" instead of "You" or anything like that.

Granted, I internalize all of it, I've yet to really reprimand anybody for atrocious spelling or grammar.

 

[Soyeong]

I used to be annoyed by it until I had to type out a message on a phone that didn't have a keyboard. I had hit a button a few times to get to the right letter and do that one letter at a time. Now, if I can understand what they are saying, then I try to let it pass. For many people that is just the way that they learned how to type. However, if they consistently have a lot of spelling errors and don't bother to even use spell check, then that reflects poorly on them. Having good spelling isn't the only quality I look for in others, so deciding whether to meet would depend on how well we connected in other areas, but it would influence my opinion of them.

 

[thehappyvirus]

Not many things bother me, at least, not like they used to. Things like "u" instead of "you" don't bother me like they used to. It seems I've garnered more patience for things like this than I had a few years back.

Now granted, I do have some friend whose texting is horrible in such that they use "gud" instead of "good" or "dun" instead of "done" and they leave out any type of punctuation/capitalization/grammar. Those people I rarely text lol

 

[High Fidelity]

I've always wondered what they do with all the extra time they save of like two seconds.



It really bugs me especially text talk, come on.

Ikr?

 

[TheGirlOnFire]

Ikr?

What ?

Hahaha see I can't even understand it...

 

[Citanul]

I used to be annoyed by it until I had to type out a message on a phone that didn't have a keyboard. I had hit a button a few times to get to the right letter and do that one letter at a time.

When I had a phone like that, I still took the time to use proper spelling and punctuation, as awkward as it might have been. But that's possibly just me, and I don't necessarily expect other people to be as fastidious as me.

However, in my case we've been exchanging messages via WhatsApp, which means that full keyboards are involved. Which for me makes it very hard to justify a message like "Wats for lunch" as I just don't see what can be gained by leaving out the three characters that were omitted.

 

[High Fidelity]

What ?

Hahaha see I can't even understand it...

It means "I know, right". I was being sarcy

 

[TheGirlOnFire]

It means "I know, right". I was being sarcy [emoji14]

Like I wasn't

 

[Soyeong]

When I had a phone like that, I still took the time to use proper spelling and punctuation, as awkward as it might have been. But that's possibly just me, and I don't necessarily expect other people to be as fastidious as me.

However, in my case we've been exchanging messages via WhatsApp, which means that full keyboards are involved. Which for me makes it very hard to justify a message like "Wats for lunch" as I just don't see what can be gained by leaving out the three characters that were omitted.

Ya, I did too, but it caused to be less annoyed by of those who did use shortcuts. I'd agree that having a full keyboard does not excuse that, but it is something that can be overlooked if you are compatible in other areas. It might be the case that they really have no idea that they are giving a bad impression and it might be something that they would be willing to change.

 

[sundewgrower]

Honestly I find texting a royal pain unless it's casual, I know them, or they're shy.
For instance, I have a friend who's working on her English, and will reply back in text messages on Skype half the time.
It doesn't bother me since the abbreviations are shorter, and that's alright with me.
But if you're a guy trying to chat with a girl, I think writing in a more studious, and coherent messages best.
Later on, I'd drop the formalities, and etc. But I don't text with abbreviations or short hands. So I just text like I am typing now, but only shorter.

 

[Poor Beggar]

How big a turn off is poor spelling and grammar in text messages for you? I'm not talking about the occasional typo as we all make those and don't always catch them before hitting Send (and I'm hoping that I haven't made any in this post), but rather regular misspellings and mistakes. Depending on your preference, that could also include the use of abbreviations like "ur" for "your".

Is it being overly picky/anal/shallow to find poor spelling unacceptable? Or is it justified given the existence of predictive text and auto-correct to expect a reasonable level of correctness?

To add a further aspect to this question (which takes it out of being just a hypothetical situation for me), what if you had yet to meet them in person? So your only communication up to this point had been either through online chat/email or text messages.

Would you be more forgiving of someone you'd met in person meaning that you weren't just relying on their messaging style to shape your impression of them? Or is poor spelling a no-no regardless?

I agree. Without basic rules communication doesn't work. This is the same reason I hate all the "heiroglyphs" companies use on electronics. Just use WORDS (known symbols really) such as "Power", "On", "Off", "Rwd", "Fwd", etc.

 

[KitKatMatt]

I don't like to text. Tiny, tiny keystrokes with my big fingers.

When I do, I normally just drop capitalization (which the phone usually corrects anyways, unless they're certain proper nouns). I also might drop punctuation at the end of the message if it's a period.

I HATE abbreviations. The only people I mind texting are the ones that type around the same way I do, lol. I can handle a light sprinkling of acronyms, though.

 

[whois]

Is it being overly picky/anal/shallow to find poor spelling unacceptable?

in regards to phone text messages, yes.
you can use only so many characters in a text, and unless you have unlimited texting, this costs money.
so, "words" like r8, gr8, m8, and ur, can save you some money.

i find this sort of thing on a message board such as this one unacceptable though.

 

[AnneY]

I used to be annoyed by it until I had to type out a message on a phone that didn't have a keyboard. I had hit a button a few times to get to the right letter and do that one letter at a time. Now, if I can understand what they are saying, then I try to let it pass. For many people that is just the way that they learned how to type. However, if they consistently have a lot of spelling errors and don't bother to even use spell check, then that reflects poorly on them. Having good spelling isn't the only quality I look for in others, so deciding whether to meet would depend on how well we connected in other areas, but it would influence my opinion of them.

I have a phone like that (I know, I live in the dark ages) but I still use full sentences with proper punctuation. But this is mainly because the only people who text me are people who use English as a second language, so they need to know what I'm saying. I've yet to have someone send me a text with 'text speak', but if they did, I wouldn't be too annoyed depending on the level of 'text speak' and if I could easily understand it or not.
The only person I use 'text speak' or deliberate misspellings with is my younger sister when we're chatting on Facebook. And that's mostly when I'm being silly or obnoxious anyway. Otherwise I try to write correctly.
'Text speak' on forums, in emails, or on Facebook updates though, that's something else entirely. There's no reason for it, unless it's to deliberately be silly or something like that. I can't take people seriously if they constantly use 'text speak' when there is no reason for it. However, this wouldn't keep me from meeting a person in real life.

 

[sunshineforJesus]

I dont mind too much

 

[Citanul]

in regards to phone text messages, yes.
you can use only so many characters in a text, and unless you have unlimited texting, this costs money.
so, "words" like r8, gr8, m8, and ur, can save you some money.

What if it's a short message to begin with. I gave the example of "Wats for lunch", and adding the extra three characters to make it "What's for lunch?" would still have been under the character limit.

Or what if it's some other text messaging service which doesn't have a limit?