The dumbing down of America

[kab69440]

Let's not forget everyone's favorite... 
... the people who say nucular instead of nuclear. NEW-clee-ahr. It isn't that difficult.

[Charger1970]

Some of my other favorite non-words;

irregardless
anyways
alls
supposebly

[pettyfan43]

I may have missed this already, but how about they're, there and their?

That is a pet peeve of mine.

[Headrope]

I believe the majority of errors are edited in.
Several generations have been raised to depend on grammar and spell-checking computer programs. What they type is often correct but they choose instead to trust in Microsoft Word to perform the final review of their copy.

[nh_mopar_fan]

A store in scenic Lawrence MA.

How's that bilingual education treating you? 

[bull]

I see spelling and grammar mistakes all the time in public and it drives me nuts. There's a restaurant near my house that used to be named Good Buddie's Restaurant. So was it owned by a guy named Buddie? If so how come he doesn't spell his name "Buddy" like everyone else? If it's supposed to be "Buddies" why is there an apostrophe? I guess I'm supposed to think it's plural possessive which makes no sense either. I'm glad they renamed it. At work the apostrophe is abused all the time. Someone will write something like "Bolts nuts and other fastener's" and that drives me up a wall too. Why does the word fasteners get an apostrophe but not the words nuts and bolts? By the logic of the person writing that shouldn't every word that ends with an S get an apostrophe before it?

Another annoying thing I used to see at places like Google while looking up car pictures was when I would get "corrected" on the abbreviated spelling for certain years. If I type in "1960s muscle cars" I would get corrected and asked "Did you mean 1960's muscle cars?" No! I didn't mean to say 1960's you moron! I meant 1960s; exactly what I wrote because it's what is correct!

BTW -- I didn't run spell check or look up any words while writing the paragraph above. How did I do?

Now, print this list below and stick it to your computer monitor:

Two - 2
Too - also
To - expressing motion, direction, comparison, etc.

Their - possessive as in "their house."
There - location (for the most part) as in "there it is."
They're - a conjunction of they are.

Your - possessive as in "your house and your car."
You're - a conjunction of you are.

It's - a conjunction of it is.
Its - possessive as in "its paint was red and its bumpers were chrome."

[Brock Samson]

 Thanks for the laugh,.. 'bout time..   

[Charger_Fan]

Let's not forget everyone's favorite... 
... the people who say nucular instead of nuclear. NEW-clee-ahr. It isn't that difficult.

The 'nuclear' abuse drives me nuts & gets abused quite often on news programs...and even by our own president!
That just made me think of two others that drive me nuts too..."jewlery" instead of jewelry, that is aired on the radio comercials almost daily around here...and "realitor" instead of realtor, often said by realtors themsleves!

I used to have a friend in high school who said "sterel" instead of stereo. I'd even say it back to him really s l o w l y, and he still couldn't get it.

[twenty mike mike]

Let's not forget everyone's favorite... 
... the people who say nucular instead of nuclear. NEW-clee-ahr. It isn't that difficult.

The 'nuclear' abuse drives me nuts & gets abused quite often on news programs...and even by our own president!

Make that TWO presidents who make that mistake. How ironic that the libs use Dubya's misuse as proof of his stupidity, yet Jimmah Cahtah is the Hero of the Left, and he says it as well. Jimmah has NO excuse, since he was on a nuke boat when he was in the Navy.

[kab69440]

Another annoying thing I used to see at places like Google while looking up car pictures was when I would get "corrected" on the abbreviated spelling for certain years. If I type in "1960s muscle cars" I would get corrected and asked "Did you mean 1960's muscle cars?" No! I didn't mean to say 1960's you moron! I meant 1960s; exactly what I wrote because it's what is correct!

BTW -- I didn't run spell check or look up any words while writing the paragraph above. How did I do

"1960's muscle cars" is indeed the correct way to print that. You are making "1960" possessive by asking for pictures or information of automobiles belonging to the time period 1960- 1969.

[bull]

Another annoying thing I used to see at places like Google while looking up car pictures was when I would get "corrected" on the abbreviated spelling for certain years. If I type in "1960s muscle cars" I would get corrected and asked "Did you mean 1960's muscle cars?" No! I didn't mean to say 1960's you moron! I meant 1960s; exactly what I wrote because it's what is correct!

BTW -- I didn't run spell check or look up any words while writing the paragraph above. How did I do

"1960's muscle cars" is indeed the correct way to print that. You are making "1960" possessive by asking for pictures or information of automobiles belonging to the time period 1960- 1969.

No, 1960 is singular and 1960's is singular possessive. 1960s is plural and the correct way to refer to the years from 1960 to 1969 in this context. There is nothing possessive about asking for pictures that were shot during the time period known as the 1960s. Anyway, Google and Yahoo don't try to "correct" me any longer so I assume someone finally fixed the mistake, or they dropped the issue.

[kab69440]

No, 1960 is singular and 1960's is singular possessive. 1960s is plural and the correct way to refer to the years from 1960 to 1969 in this context. There is nothing possessive about asking for pictures that were shot during the time period known as the 1960s. Anyway, Google and Yahoo don't try to "correct" me any longer so I assume someone finally fixed the mistake, or they dropped the issue.

:hah:1960s's muscle cars?

[400/6/PAC]

I see spelling and grammar mistakes all the time in public and it drives me nuts. There's a restaurant near my house that used to be named Good Buddie's Restaurant. So was it owned by a guy named Buddie? If so how come he doesn't spell his name "Buddy" like everyone else? If it's supposed to be "Buddies" why is there an apostrophe? I guess I'm supposed to think it's plural possessive which makes no sense either. I'm glad they renamed it. At work the apostrophe is abused all the time. Someone will write something like "Bolts nuts and other fastener's" and that drives me up a wall too. Why does the word fasteners get an apostrophe but not the words nuts and bolts? By the logic of the person writing that shouldn't every word that ends with an S get an apostrophe before it?

Another annoying thing I used to see at places like Google while looking up car pictures was when I would get "corrected" on the abbreviated spelling for certain years. If I type in "1960s muscle cars" I would get corrected and asked "Did you mean 1960's muscle cars?" No! I didn't mean to say 1960's you moron! I meant 1960s; exactly what I wrote because it's what is correct!


BTW -- I didn't run spell check or look up any words while writing the paragraph above. How did I do?

Now, print this list below and stick it to your computer monitor:

Two - 2
Too - also
To - expressing motion, direction, comparison, etc.

Their - possessive as in "their house."
There - location (for the most part) as in "there it is."
They're - a conjunction of they are.

Your - possessive as in "your house and your car."
You're - a conjunction of you are.

It's - a conjunction of it is.
Its - possessive as in "its paint was red and its bumpers were chrome."

I vote Bull for President.

[Mefirst]

The idiots are taking over... It is scary, just thinking about it.. In 30 years the most powerful country in the world will be run by idiots

[1FastCharger]

The idiots are taking over... It is scary, just thinking about it.. In 30 years the most powerful country in the world will be run by idiots

China? I doubt that in 30 years we will be the most powerful.

[Mefirst]

The idiots are taking over... It is scary, just thinking about it.. In 30 years the most powerful country in the world will be run by idiots

China? I doubt that in 30 years we will be the most powerful.

[tricky lugnuts]

Has anybody on here seen the movie Idiocracy? It's a bad movie, but all too prophetic and certainly worth the hour and a half it will take to watch. In other words, we are very, very screwed.   

[nh_mopar_fan]

Luke Wilson wasn't it?

Hilarious

[tricky lugnuts]

That's right...

We can't be too far from the great landfill avalanche of 2505. One of my favorite parts: "Welcome to Costco, I love you."

Another: "Brawndo, it's what plants crave."

[DukesofHoward]

What I find annoying is the current 'coolness' of speaking and even writing in ebonics. If you were raised in an area where you learned to speak that way, then that is cool, it is part of your identity. But to attempt to adopt it later in life is as corny as all the kids that adopted the California Valley accent in the 80's.

Message boards are interesting too. I host one and visit many. It is interesting how offended some people get when you mention their poor spelling. I can think of a particular guy who would get words so screwed up that you could barely make out what he was saying. When corrected he would point out he was "typing with an accent and isn't making fun of someones accent rude?".

The Ebonics thing is what kills the English language . Besides it doesn't even sound cool . It just makes the speaker sound unintelligent .

I disagree. It indicates that the speaker is unintelligent.