When buying firearms, does grammar irritate you?

[larryh1108]

Not everybody is good at writing. There are different levels of education but they are still good people.

What I can't tolerate is when someone posts on a forum using the twitter or text language. These posters are obviously educated enough to write properly but they do not use periods, commas or capital letters. They type one long sentence and use condensed text talk. These forums do not have a character count for posts. It has almost become a virus to the twitter crowd and has become very annoying on the boards. To me it shows serious laziness and disrespect to the written word.

 

[76shuvlinoff]

I spell and punctuate poorly. My handwriting is scrawl so I tend to block print. Creating an ad for firearms, bikes, cars, or whatever takes a painstakingly long time so I tend to forgive grammar issues and get the deal done.

But then in these times poor grammar can be a sign of an overseas scam artist too.....

 

[wrench]

I can get past the bad grammar and spelling, but those nasty, dirty feet in the pictures make it hard to do a deal...
Photo editing software is free and easy to use.

 

[rondog]

What I can't tolerate is when someone posts on a forum using the twitter or text language. These posters are obviously educated enough to write properly but they do not use periods, commas or capital letters. They type one long sentence and use condensed text talk.

Oh, grrrrr. That stuff REALLY burns me! I hate it. I refuse to use it, period. I write a text message just like a forum post or an email.

 

[SconnieGirl]

I can get past the bad grammar and spelling, but those nasty, dirty feet in the pictures make it hard to do a deal...

Agreed. I will forgive bad grammar for a good deal, but I will not abide some guy's nasty feet in the photo.

 

[Tobias1900]

It bothers me when a manufacturer uses poor grammar, but not during a private sale.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

When dealing, I only hear and see $.

 

[glennv]

Steven Hawking's grammar sucks and he's pretty bright. Not too concerned about grammar though. Just be happy it's English...for now.

 

[Quentin]

Not everybody is good at writing. There are different levels of education but they are still good people.

What I can't tolerate is when someone posts on a forum using the twitter or text language. These posters are obviously educated enough to write properly but they do not use periods, commas or capital letters. They type one long sentence and use condensed text talk. These forums do not have a character count for posts. It has almost become a virus to the twitter crowd and has become very annoying on the boards. To me it shows serious laziness and disrespect to the written word.

This bothers me as well. I can tolerate some bad grammar but when I open a thread where the thread starter obviously has no respect for his/her readers, I close the thread and move on.

It just seems to me that when starting a serious topic the OP should attempt to be clear and have enough pride to use proper English or at least do as best as possible. Same goes when selling a product, why not make a positive first impression.

 

[BobTheTomato]

There, their, they're.....you can deal with it if you try.

 

[SuedePflow]

Poor grammar is at least slightly irritating anywhere online. It really depends on how poor it is though. Simple typos are no big deal. But I have absolutely zero patience to sit and read three paragraphs with not one capital letter or punctuation mark.

When it comes to a seller selling something, I'm far more irritated at a lack of information such as: model number, condition, and most importantly- images.

 

[Deus Machina]

Bad writing always irritates me, in pretty much any situation. I don't expect English major quality, but I expect anyone old and responsible enough to deal with firearms to manage better than middle-school English class.
Until I was in it, I never expected to see that sort of thing in my Creative Writing class...

I won't--I usually can't--deal with 'txt speek'. I can't bring myself to fumble through it. Any attempts at a business deal using that sort of language turns me off. It's unprofessional and best.

Besides, there's a darn spell check function on everything now.

Also, I've found that people that use that language are more likely to omit or offer mistaken information than someone that has passed English 101, too. I've seen cases of misspelled model numbers.

 

[Elkins45]

What I can't tolerate is when someone posts on a forum using the twitter or text language. These posters are obviously educated enough to write properly but they do not use periods, commas or capital letters. They type one long sentence and use condensed text talk. These forums do not have a character count for posts. It has almost become a virus to the twitter crowd and has become very annoying on the boards. To me it shows serious laziness and disrespect to the written word.

In the days of the simple 0-9 keyboard phone it might have had a place, but with a virtual keyboard it takes just as many keystrokes to type 2day as it does to type today correctly. Anybody using an IOS or Android device is just being hip, trendy or lazy if they use textspeak.

To answer the question: why should I deny myself a good deal because someone has a grammar problem?

 

[km101]

Bad grammar/spelling is not a prime consideration when making a buying decision. But it is a factor. If they cant put their information down on the page correctly, I have no faith that what they are posting is actually what they want to sell. So I tend to pay less attention to posts/ads that are sloppy or use poor grammar. If they cant post information correctly, what else is wrong in the ad?

 

[Gun Master]

Gramma an Bying guns

Hit shore don't taek much 'ta rile sum folk. Sum aint had a good edukashion lacke me. utters caint tipe good. This here compooter keyes aint so ez 'ta larne. I aint larnt pairagraf keye yet. We does bess we can. I don't believe people should be so judgemental!!! Others need to get down from their high horse ! That said, "Have a nice day".

 

[Archie]

Perhaps...

When someone wants to sell me a Colt Woodsman for $200 I tend to be forgiving as to their grammar.

I agree, up to the point of:
- getting the $200 out of the bank,
- driving the thirty miles or so to the seller's location;
- spend an hour finding his house because he not only cannot write, but he doesn't know where he lives, either...
- Then finding out the Woodsman is actually a Rohm Industries .22 long rifle revolver. Because the seller doesn't understand that little detail, either. ("Well, it is a .22 and I call it a Woodsman...")

Just for clarification, I am not trying to embarrass the individual who posted this. I can swallow a bit of sloppiness for a good deal as well.

(Of course, this sort of transaction can make one wonder in what fashion the seller obtained the firearm. Ahem.)

Poor grammar bothers me. No, I am not perfect, but I do attempt to proofread what I write. (I don't mind being stupid, I'm sort of used to it; but I HATE looking stupid.)

Seriously, poor grammar, incorrect spelling or proper spelling of wrong word is an indication of sloppy thinking and procedure. (I just had to check the spelling of 'procedure' - again.) In my not minor experience dealing with humanity at large, I find 'sloppy' attitudes tend to cross over into other areas of life.

"Words, which are the dress of thoughts, surely deserve more care than clothes, which are only the dress of the person."
Philip Stanhope, Fourth Earl of Chesterfield

[The writer now steps off his soap box and places it back under the shelves in the corner until next time.]

 

[shotgunjoel]

You could also think about it that if they're sloppy they may not know what they have and sometimes you can get a gun for a good price. I bought a numbers matching, excellent condition Swedish Mauser a year ago for $325 because the guy had crappy pictures and a minimal description and it was a new 30-day auction (so it was way at the bottom). I emailed him and asked for some details, like matching numbers and bore condition, as well as some specific photos. Turned out in my favor.
Just yesterday I picked up a Sig P226 with 4 magazines I bought on GB. Description was minimal, and I couldn't see everything I wanted to in the pictures, so I called the shop. Turns out it is a West German model, I paid $530 shipped and was surprised when it came in the original box with manual, target, and the original plastic packaging. It has some finish wear, but internals look like it hasn't seen more than 100-200 rounds.
There really are some gems out there on GB if you look around and find those listings that most people would gloss over due to bad pictures and vague descriptions.

 

[gym]

I just always hope that their negligence doesn't carry over to their description and care of the weapon, Which it usually does.

 

[12131]

Oh, the irony...

I'm betting he did that on purpose.

 

[12131]

Personally, I don't care.
As long as the person is honest in dealing, that's all that matters to me.

 

[SHOOT1SAM]

When I'm looking online at certain firearms,whether local,or not (whether implies, "or not"; "or not" is, therefore, redundant) I cannot bring myself to buy something from someone who has absolutely terrible grammar, spelling, and punctuation. It just comes across as sloppy. I don't like to do business with sloppy people. You would think that they would try to be somewhat professional when selling something like firearms; after all, they're not toys.

Am I the only one who reacts this way ?

There; I corrected the punctuation & other errors for the OP!

Sam

 

[BlisteringSilence]

I'm not going to lie, the one that really drives me up a wall is the inability of someone to know the difference between sell (a verb) and sale (a noun).

I will sell you a rifle.

I have a rifle for sale.

ARGH.

 

[Ignition Override]

Not really.
Some of the educated, enlightened people I know, whether family members or not, are mostly very indifferent towards guns
(they all avoid a debate), or don't really care about our ability to buy semi-auto sporting rifles. Some people in classical music circles involving my wife have an MA or PhD and nearly perfect grammar. Some of them must supplement their very meager 'music incomes' by teaching.

If somebody's grammar is lousy but the person is very pro-2nd Amendment, the sloppy grammar is fine.
This type of person supports our freedoms. Just in General, the Duck Dynasty sort of crowd is more patriotic than so many of the San Fran., Hollywood/Manhattan NY types I've chatted with during travels.

 

[DammitBoy]

if there price is write it ill be mine irregardless. good grammer ain't that hard

lol

I'll take a seller/buyer with bad grammar over a bad attitude all day long. Sometimes the uneducated man is a lot more honest and loyal than the elitist snob.

 

[postalnut25]

I am not the smartest cookie, therefore I try to take advantage of the spell check and grammar check functions on the computer when I am trying to sell (not sale) a firearm. Those functions are free to use, and will assist many people in their efforts. An added bonus is that said users don't look like morons in front of the entire internet universe.


Edited to add: This is my 500th post. I hope that most of my posts have been thoughtful, and that the spelling and grammar made them readable.