Spell check

[hyphenate]

How many people use it? Does it find a lot of misspelled words for you? The one problem I have with it is that it can't recognize some of our favorite shorthand acronyms.

I admit I can sometimes be a bit OCD when it comes to spelling, and thankfully, the spell check does manage to point out typos when I've made one, but thankfully it doesn't pick up too many spelling errors.

Who bothers to run their posts through a spell check at all? And how confident are you with your spelling, anyhow?

Are there sometimes words that you constantly misspell? One that I've noticed a lot is "there, their and they're." And of course, the most annoying one, for me to see in other people's posts, is "its, it's." Admittedly, I'm so geared as a writer and an editor to spot that one a mile away, so I try to ignore it when I see it from others!

Dish--tell us your adventures in spelling!

[RebelOne]

1. I know. I am a copy editor and some of the errors

I see in many posts make me cringe. Especially the apostrophes in plural nouns. And "its" and "it's" drives me crazy. I think a grammar check should be added to the spell check feature.

[hyphenate]

2. lol!

I agree wholeheartedly.

But some people think of DU (and other such forums) as less structured than writing a term paper or thesis, or some other such hopelessly stodgy paper. To a point I agree, but for those of us who are writers, editors and other people working a great deal in the English language, it's terrifying to think that for some, this kind of writing is the only kind they can do.

What makes it more important is that often people will say the wrong thing, either unknowingly or unintentionally, and the entire post/essay will change its focus. That can be very bad. :)

We all come here for different things, the least of course is our desire to "hang" with like-minded folk, and some of us take our writing more seriously than others. The only concession I make here is that I don't self-editorialize myself as much when I'm posting, which is a habit I picked up quite early in life. It means that I tend to keep a rambling tone instead of a more concise and polished one.

A friend once told me that I am the master of embellishment, because I tend to explain things that often lead up to the final rendering of a story. I've tried to tone that down, and have yet to start a posting with "it was a dark and stormy night." :)

[Neoma]

3. I'd say that.

It causes myself to misspell more then correct me.