ANSWERS: 53
  • Neither,Im not retarted ..lol i can figure out what everyone means.
  • No.....Like I've told someone before stop being a obsessive grammar nazi! Ones spelling and grammer mistakes does not make a person stupid! Get over it!
  • That is a hard choice to pick. I would have to say grammar, because you can learn how to spell a word. It is hard to learn correct grammar though. Sometimes I don't even use correct grammar! Although they both irritate me very much. So does bad punctuation and capitalization. I make sure my posts have none of them, or at least I try.
  • Irritate? Neither. I can think of better things to get irritated over.
  • Incorrect grammar annoys me more. I'm sorry to say this, and it's one of my flaws, but I really do judge you when you use bad grammar. I can't help it. I'm sorry.
  • Neither irritate me. Judging a person according to grammer and spelling is like insisting that everyone know what you know. Suppose the person you are judging is 10 (I've seen quite a few on here), or english is not their first language? What does that say about ME if I have judged their intelligence, or ignorance based on something they haven't yet grasped. I don't find that any different than judging by skin color. It's predjudicial. Sadly, when we judge based on simple things like that, we also miss out on a lot. There are a lot of wise people who do not have a mastery of language. Guess how I know? Edit: Glenn, this answer is a response to an AB question, not an employer or college admissions board. The question doesn't ask "How would you judge an employment, or college application, with bad spelling or grammar?". The quesion asks if either of them irritate me. I answered the quesion in that context. This is my opinion, which is what was requested. I do not agree that people who do not know how to communicate effectively are limiting their opportunities. They aren't the one's limiting their opportunities, it's the ones who judge them that are. I think that's rather sad, since by judging these people we not only limit their opportunties but also limit our own by shutting people out. I also am constantly striving to improve my communication skills, and I think everyone should do so. However, when we see someone who's skills are less advanced in our own language, who are we to judge that they are not trying to improve? My first employer was born and raised in Alsace France. His english was terrible. I was fifteen when I began to work for him. He constantly asked me how to spell english words and proof read things for him. Thirty years later he's better at his english, but still has a difficult time being understood. He has not worked for anyone but himself since we was 24 years old. He's been a succesful owner of three businesses for thirty-five years and currently runs a gourmet French restaraunt. He owns several rental properties and does not have to work at all. He chooses to. I have no doubt that he is judged daily for his poor communication skills, but he never let that hold him back. He was a millionaire by the age of forty. That man is only one of several I have known who have similar problems with language and writing skills. Some were born and raised right here in the States. Some are not business owners but have succesful careers. I would not argue that they all would have had an easier life if they had better skills. What I will say is that the reason they were able to do what they did was their attitudes. Attitude weighs far more toward success than spelling and grammar. A good attitude will overcome anything. A bad attitude can render perfect spelling and grammar meaningless. Every successful person I have known that also had trouble with english had a great attitude. THAT is what I learned from knowing them, and I learned to improve my own attitude from exposing myself and accepting them without judgement. If I had judged these people based on their poor skills, I never would have learned the valuable lessons I did from them. Having learned so much from these people has led me to conclude that getting irritated and judgemental over someone's poor skills can be a great loss. That's a risk I would rather not take. Edit: Bob Blaylock, I understand competely where you are coming from, but I think you missed my point. There are points we agree on, and others we don't, and the one's we agree on are probably the most important. Bob Blaylock said, "All we have here on which to judge one another is what we write. If all you write is garbage, then you will be judged to be illiterate and stupid." Sure Bob that's all we have if we don't look any further than the grammar. There are human beings on the other end of the poorly written submissions, and some of them are more intelligent than we would know if we didn't bother to look past it. I'm not arguing the realities of the world we live in. I agree that one's chances of success are greatly improved if our communication skills are top notch. The comparison between these people and blind drivers is a little extreme. I've never heard of anyone being injured or killed by a poorly written hit-and-run sentence. I'm not sure where the whining enters into a critique of my answer. Perhaps you were speaking in general terms. I agree that whining about anything is counter-productive, Which is why I stated that attitude is what really makes the difference. (Of course, I could have put that in there after your response- I'm not sure of the timing.) Finally, I never said that poor writing and communication skills were a sign of wisdom. I said poor communication skills are not necessarily a sign of a lack thereof. Impeccable communication skills are also not neccessarily a sign of wisdom. THAT is EXACTLY why we should look past the skills to the person behind them. There is a lot of treasure behind some of the "garbage". There is also a lot of garbage behind some perfect grammar. You only find what's behind by looking behind. Don't look behind, and you never know. "You know everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects." Will Rogers, New York Times Aug. 31 1924 "All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure." Mark Twain, Letter to Mrs Foote, Dec. 2, 1887 "I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him." Galileo Galilei Italian astronomer & physicist (1564 - 1642) "The difference between ignorance and stupidity is that ignorance can be improved upon by choosing to improve. Stupidity is choosing not to improve." Odzihozo, Anserbagger, 2006
  • Bad grammar. Because if the grammar is bad, then I usually can't understand it. I understand perfect grammar just that way, perfectly. But I can't for life of me figure out bad grammar. Bad spelling however, can usually be inferred as you read. You can take guesses as to what the person might be trying to say. And you've got to give them points for trying. It's kind of like context clues; You read the sentence, and try to infer what the word means, or in this case, is.
  • It does, but English is my thrid langauge and sometimes I make grammatical errors. I try though to make sure I am making sense and passing the message clearly. So forgive me, if I make mistakes.
  • mehh I don't really care on either of them...At least they are trying
  • none. I can understand what it means.
  • They're not so much irritating as a pet-peeve of mine. My husband can't spell to save his life, but I still love him. His grammar isn't any better. I am constantly correcting him. Part of that comes from having a mother that was a teacher and her constantly correcting me. I tell my daughter all the time that just because we live in Kentucky she doesn't have to talk like it. It irritates me that whenever something happens in Kentucky, the news media never picks the people to interview that are able to talk correctly and don't have an teeth missing. They always find the most "hick", "backwoods" person to talk to. There are people in Kentucky that have good spelling and grammar skills that also do not where overalls and do wear shoes. That irritates me more than anything!
  • spellin lol.. jk jk... I think bad grammar is worse
  • thenk i booth
  • Proper grammar is certainly harder to learn, so I'm probably more forgiving of grammar mistakes. As long as I understand someone, I just look past grammatical errors and misspellings and move on. We all make typos, misspellings, and occasionally choose the wrong word. I do get a little irritated over constant, blatant spelling errors though, because it's not hard to pick up a dictionary, regardless of disability, age, etc.
  • I am not perfect ... so I don't judge, Some were not as fortunate as others ... (no offense intended) differences ... US - UK http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwesl/egw/jones/differences.htm
  • none; Bad spelling and bad grammar usually amuses me and makes me feel good for correcting whoever had the bad spelling/grammar. Besides, I have bad grammar and spelling too. (the more I type grammar, the more its spelling seems wrong. ....)
  • Definitely bad Grammar. But that contains bad spelling, so I guess I dislike both.
  • neither.. bothers me. because i mess up all the time.. and let me say people jump all over me for it. !
  • I am more concerned about incorrect word choices than either poor spelling or poor grammar. Lack of vocabulary or misuse of words leads to more misunderstanding than either grammatical errors or poor spelling, and the point of writing is to communicate ideas. While I may be mildly irritated by sloppy grammar or spelling, it doesn't usually interfere with my ability to comprehend the message. Incorrect word usage, on the other hand, distorts meaning. Edited 9/29/08 to correct typo.
  • Bad spelling
  • I consider bad spelling is my weakest point and it stops me from write whatever in my mind. I sometime rephrase the words that I want to say. I am writing this answer and I am using Microsoft word so I can check spell before I post my answer. If you guys find any mistakes in spelling then you know that I am weak in spelling. By the way, English is not my native language
  • Bad spelling irritates me more than bad grammar. Especially since the advent of the internet and the vast number of countries represented on this site alone. English grammar is hard to master. What really, really bugs me is people coming on community sites like this and typing some kind of computer shorthand as if they were text messaging a friend. "r u @ skool?" grrrr.
  • If you keep spilling your dose, you wont get better! Then you will NEVER learn to sew.
  • Are you trying to hurt me!? For the love of god, stop it!
  • Sumtiems whn i m trying 2 make freinds n they can't spel gud i dun want 2 b freinds n e more. I ABHOR poor spelling.
  • Only when it's done on perpose.
  • idiot due as idiots does.
  • It does. It really really does.
  • Yes it drives me crazy! There are plenty of programs to help spell check if you don't know look it up. Also it makes me feel a five year old is asking the question.
  • if it is a big word or hard word no because I suck at spelling but it is when they write in slang or texxt form that gets me
  • know iht dus knot
  • No, I find other ways to act like a prick. :)
  • Seure cna bcause thne i cna't unredstnad wtha teh preson si syiang???? LOL
  • I can get past spelling, who's to say it wasn't a typo? Bad grammar can be really irritating though!
  • They are about the same. I am a poet and fiction writer. I also know from experience how mean people can be. I have sloppy spelling and grammar problems. It takes a lot of work for me to get things right. But I love the power of the written word. There are loads of very important people in history that had problems like these. If anyone thinks it is a sign of poor IQ, they are full of beans. It is actually a sign of poor practice. It is laziness. I have a friend who teaches English grammar at a local collage. She often tells me how frustrated she gets. She never quits, however. She finds a way to build the students interest and confidence. She is a great teacher. I have never understood how picking at someone helps. You’re not helping! You are hurting the person’s feelings! I also think we must resolve ourselves to the plain fact that we are not living in a society of the written word anymore. People text, they phone, they email. They rarely write letters. People do not read as much either. Other than proof readers, teachers, and editors, the habit of correcting people on spelling and grammar errors can make it worse. There is always a tactful and nice way to handle such a matter. If it bothers you so much then stop reading it. That is my advice. It works for me.
  • Both irritate me equally
  • grammar. typos happen, but grammar is coming straight from you.
  • Bad spelling annoys me more.
  • grammar. It's like you never learned how to speak to another person, like, of the same species.
  • Grammer, spelling has never been my specialty. So when I see spelling mistakes I usually ignore them unless it's a very obvious mistake.
  • bad grammar. spelling errors happen often, but being grammatically improper can have lasting consequences as a reflection of ones own intelligence, in my opinion.
  • I'm 70 and too damn old to get "irritated" any longer. I pop a few Stoli's on the rocks and happily find that I can figure out just about anything the nitwit's tryin' t'say. Anybody wanna get me a refill...easy on the ice?
  • both....spelling first but both are equally irritating.
  • Honestly, I think that most people say "I'm a terrible speller" the way so called "modern" women say "I'm a terrible cook." There's something about that, I don't know, that sounds affected, like the joke about all women being shoe fanatics. I hate that kind of shit. People who pigeonhole themselves for the sake of others' reactions or others' entertainment.
  • I believe that there is no perfect writer. Even if I am a writer, I do commit mistakes at times. Wrong grammar irritates me more because it is not nice to read.
  • Of the choices listed I find grammer irks me the most. I believe that so because my spelling is lacking but when speaking I can usually find close to the proper words and structure.
  • Neither.
  • What I find interesting is, the fact that some Americans will quickly say,"you're in america, speak english"! And, they themselves can't speak the language either.
  • I usually don't have the best grammar in the world, so i don't tend to criticize over that. But, if you get some dumbass who can't spell cat correctly, we're going to have a problem!!!!
  • Grammer. I still can't spill worth a darn, but at least I can talk guud.
  • i WOULD HAVE TO GO WITH BAD GRAMMAR. bECAUSE YOU CAN ALWAYS FIGURE THE WORD OUT IF IT'S SPELLED WRONG.
  • Grammar! You should actually refer to it as poor, not bad grammar to be correct. Sorry, I couldn't help myself.
  • Incorrect grammar is more likely to confuse than incorrect spelling in most cases. I am not particularly irritated by either. Some people have been lucky enough to have been well educated, others have not been so lucky. Formal grammar is hardly touched upon in schools in Britain at present. It is hardly surprising, then, that even honours undergraduates find it difficult to write well. It is not their fault, so there is no point in being irritated by it. What is irritating is students' general unwillingness to accept that their writing needs to be corrected.

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