Grammar for Gunnies

[Ltlabner]

No, I don't believe anyone is saying that ... the recurring theme I notice (and wholeheartedly believe) is that on a public forum, we simply should be striving to represent ourselves to the best of our abilities. We all recognize that our membership isn't possessed of equal levels of higher education, that many here speak English as a second language, etc., etc., but the fact remains, we have a responsibility to portray ourselves, concomitant to our RKBA message, as committed to diligence in all aspects of our lives, not solely the ownership and use of firearms.

Do you honestly think a hard core anti even reads THR, let alone would be swayed because of good spelling and snappy prose?

Nor do I think anybody who might be "on the fence" would be swayed by nicely written posts on the internet.

The main problem with this is that not everyone is here on THR, or even on the web in general, to make an impression on those around them. Perhaps we have a higher percentage of folks here who do have an activist mind set, but overall most folks are merely killing time and trying to find some enjoyment.

Thank you for saying what I was trying to spit out.

 

[.38 Special]

Do you honestly think a hard core anti even reads THR, let alone would be swayed because of good spelling and snappy prose?

Nor do I think anybody who might be "on the fence" would be swayed by nicely written posts on the internet.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=371112

Might turn out to be troll or sockpuppet, but I do think you'd be surprised at the variety of folks who lurk here. And while I'm not sure how impressed they might be by really nice posts, you can bet that at least some of them will take note of the stuff apparently written by drunken eight year olds.

I remember, some years back, a complaint about a news team that arrived at the annual NRA conventions and, out of a room full of suits, picked the two mouth-breathers in camouflage to interview. There's an image here that we are combating whether we like it or not.

 

[Kalashnikov]

Words are the greatest weapon to have on ones side. However their use is not a one-size-fits-all situation. Like guns there are moments that require the surgical precision of a sniper rifle and moments that require the upfront and blunt trama of a 10 gauge sawwed-off.

 

[catfish101]

One’s education is, in fact, directly tied to one’s rhetoric.

Thats not true in all cases. I agree formal education can make a big difference but it is a mistake to think that education and intelligence are the same thing and without one you can't have the other.

 

[rainbowbob]

Ie. I would rather have a root canal than a Hi-Point.

Shouldn't that be: I.e., I would rather...etc. ?

 

[catfish101]

This is gun related.

You know I have thought about this and there is point to made here. Allot of our problems with the anti gunners is the lack of common sense.

Our society has pushed formal education so, much in the past few years, that it has made some people think for themselves. If the information didn't come out of a professors mouth or subject that was in a school curriculum it doesn't mean anything and can't be of value.

I am not against formal education at all, even though I don't have much, but education can come from other places besides a classroom.

The point I am trying to make is that people with that attitude can't or won't think about issues for themselves. They look at some statistic or listen to some news station and let those things make their decisions for them and not let some common sense make their decision. I guess there are people that would look at this forum for the grammer not the content.

Common sense tells us that banning guns ain't gonna stop crime.

Sorry -"ain't"- I digressed.

 

[mnrivrat]

It's been a fun filled thread , not without its moments of humor, for me at least.

I thought I would sort of close out my part, as it is winding down, with a little thing I found regarding a classic american writer :


The following three quotations were used by the editors of the Univ. of Cal. Press for the dust jacket of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, (1988) to illustrate Twain's repeated denunciations of proofreaders.

Yesterday Mr. Hall wrote that the printer's proof-reader was improving my punctuation for me, & I telegraphed orders to have him shot without giving him time to pray.
- 1889
In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then he made proof-readers.
- 1893
Will you make an order in writing & attach it to my MS., & sign it & back it with your whole authority, requiring the compositor & proof-reader to follow my copy EXACTLY, in every minute detail of punctuation, grammer, construction, and (in the case of proper names, spelling). . . I am thus urgent because I know that the Century proof-reader is insane on the subject of his duties, & it makes me afraid of all the guild.
- 1894


I guess some of us are not the only ones that muster an attitude regarding this subject matter.

 

[Chuck Dye]

Lloyd Bentsen, call your...
____________________________________________________________________________________________

I know Mark Twain. I've read Mark Twain. You're no Mark Twain.

 

[Brian Dale]

Ouch! Are you going to kick his dog, too?

 

[mnrivrat]

You bet I'm not - but then I never claimed to be , did I ?

I'm just happy not to be a proof-reader !!

Particularly on a firearms forum. I don't think I could handle the stress !

 

[rainbowbob]

iespell is a "FREE" SPELL CHECK download that works well on FORUMS.

I downloaded iespell yesterday...and I'm not impressed. It misses many obviously misspelled words and has no grammmar check. When I tried to use it to check this post, the only option it gave me was to download iespell...again! :banghead:

Does anybody have a suggestion (besides writing in Word and cutting/pasting back to here)?

 

[LWGN]

Try Firefox for auto-spellchecking

When I post from my browser, there appears to be an automatic spell check already running -at least, I assume that is why my typos get underlined in red. I am using the free Mozilla Firefox as my browser. Perhaps it is a built-in function of the browser? If so, one more great reason to use Firefox, in addition to the fact that it is much smaller and faster than Internet Explorer, and, from what I understand, less vulnerable, as well.

 

[rainbowbob]

Try Firefox for auto-spellchecking

OK...I downloaded Firefox and I do see the spellchecker, although it is part of the google toolbar (which is probably available in IE). here goes...

 

[Doggy Daddy]

rainbowbob
I do see the spellchecker, although it is part of the google toolbar (which is probably available in IE)

Aye, it is available for IE. I've used it on those few occasions when I doubt my perfectness.

 

[A man with a gun!]

I couldn't give a hoot about perfect spelling, sentence structure or the proper use of a comma.

The only thing that bugs me are those single paragraphs with two or three thousand words.

 

[MakAttak]

The only thing that bugs me are those single paragraphs with two or three thousand words.

IcanunderstandthatyouareannoyedbypeoplewhorefusetoseperatetheirideasHowevermissingcommasormisspelledwordscanmakemeaningsobscureaswellIfyouwanttobeunderstoodtakethetimetosaythingscorrectlyOtherwiseyourreaderhastoworkfartoohardtounderstandyou.

Incidentally- the above is how people had to read Latin through the middle ages.

I prefer when I don't have to decipher a post.

 

[GearHead_1]

OK...I downloaded Firefox and I do see the spellchecker, although it is part of the google toolbar (which is probably available in IE). here goes...

Now you have me wondering. I've been running FireFox for years and always liked their spell checker. I'm not using and won't use Google's (or any other) toolbar. Now I've got to figure out which one I'm running. If I'm not mistaken the latest version of FF includes a spell checker.

Yup, just checked, it's not an add-on but rather part of the application.

 

[Jamie C.]

With the new version of Firefox, the spell checker runs automatically in the window you type your post in. You don't need the Google toolbar or whatever it is.

When you make a spelling mistake, it's underlined in red. Right click on the word, and a menue will come up with a choice of properly-spelled words. You can click on one of those to replace the misspelled one.

Oh, and I think you need to download the Dictionary plug-in to get it to work... ( Been a while since I loaded this version, so I don't remember for sure. )


Edit: Just remembered that there's another version of Firefox coming out this week... ( Released Tuesday? ) It's even newer than the version I'm currently running ( 2.0, I think ), and may work differently.


J.C.

 

[rainbowbob]

The only thing that bugs me are those single paragraphs with two or three thousand words.

I'm with Man With a Gun. I will suffer poor spelling and grammar (and am undoubtedly guilty of such offenses myself).

But I simply will not read run-on paragraphs - regardless of their brilliance. Too much work!

 

[La Pistoletta]

I don't get spell checkers. I've always found them annoying and I'd rather learn to do it right than have a script to it for me.

Besides, if a Swedish high school graduate can manage English, there's really no excuse for most native speakers not to.

 

[Jamie C.]

La Pistoletta, some of us have old cranky brain cells that need reminders every now and then.

And that's mostly what I use a spell checker for.


J.C.

 

[Brian Dale]

Besides, if a Swedish high school graduate can manage English, there's really no excuse for most native speakers not to.

{Slim Pickens' voice}

I think that he's got us with that one, boys...

{/Slim Pickens' voice}

 

[La Pistoletta]

La Pistoletta, some of us have old cranky brain cells that need reminders every now and then.

And that's mostly what I use a spell checker for.

I concede that age can affect the need for one. I guess if you use it correctly, rather than have it run on autopilot, it can help.

 

[Jamie C.]

Oh, and another thing to consider:

I use words here talking to you guys that just don't come up in conversations with "normal" people, as a rule.

And words I don't use that often are likely the ones I have the most trouble spelling...


J.C.

 

[.38 Special]

I run Firefox and find it extremely helpful. Even though I'm a pretty decent speller, I'm a hunt 'n peck typer, and Firefox has saved me an awful lot of embarrassment.