Why can't cyclists spell?

gbnz · Post by **gbnz** » 4 Aug 2017, 7:26am

Isn't it about time the forum had a spell checker?

It's difficult to read all those posts were peeple discribe wear fay've been, without a grimace :wink:

.

Heltor Chasca · Post by **Heltor Chasca** » 4 Aug 2017, 7:55am

Plenty of pedants on here to pick your posts apart, so no need [emoji6]

karlt · Post by **karlt** » 4 Aug 2017, 7:58am

Just spell "pedalling" right (peddling is selling) and I'll be happy. That and learning the difference between "lose" and "loose"

John1054 · Post by **John1054** » 4 Aug 2017, 8:09am

Some of the posts read more comically with the mistakes.

whoof · Post by **whoof** » 4 Aug 2017, 8:13am

I wish that people would stop saying things such as 'you will be walking up the hills in that gear' or '23mm tyres will rattle your fillings out' when they mean 'I would be walking up the hills in that gear' and '23mm tyres will rattle out my fillings'.

pedalsheep · Post by **pedalsheep** » 4 Aug 2017, 8:29am

I've read cycling books on Kindle where 'pedal' is constantly spelt 'peddle'. It drives me nuts!

bikepacker · Post by **bikepacker** » 4 Aug 2017, 8:30am

Creative spelling I love it. :wink:

How many creatively different ways are there to spell 'station'?

foxyrider · Post by **foxyrider** » 4 Aug 2017, 8:31am

One regular of course is breaking performance, there are some destructive people out there - must be due to not using their brakes!

cycleruk · Post by **cycleruk** » 4 Aug 2017, 8:39am

Obviously it's not just cyclists as observed when on other forums.
There was a time (recently) where children were being taught to spell like it sounded. [i](Or not being corrected if spelt wrong)
Perhaps current misspellings or misuse are a product of that ?
It does grate when I come across misused words and one for me is "brought" when it should be "bought".
Nowadays I rely on a spell checker as the old memory is fading but I always have had trouble with certain words and a main one is parallel. :oops:

simonhill · Post by **simonhill** » 4 Aug 2017, 8:54am

A word of defence (actually lots of words), spell checkers on people's devices, often with an American bias, don't help.

I'm more troubled by abbreviations and first letter initials, eg AFAIK. You get to know most after a while, but some just confound me.

karlt · Post by **karlt** » 4 Aug 2017, 8:55am

cycleruk wrote:Obviously it's not just cyclists as observed when on other forums.
There was a time (recently) where children were being taught to spell like it sounded. [i](Or not being corrected if spelt wrong)
Perhaps current misspellings or misuse are a product of that ?

The accepted practice is for children to make a best guess if they don't know the spelling rather than interrupt their train of thought whilst doing creative work. Correcting the spellings comes after getting the ideas down, but it's still done.

It does grate when I come across misused words and one for me is "brought" when it should be "bought".

To her dying day my mother could never grasp this. "Bought" just didn't exist in her lexicon - in her idiolect the past tense and past participle of "buy" just was "brought". You couldn't shift it. It's all about mishearing in childhood; I swear she also used to eat cold slaw (well, it is served cold, isn't it?), difficult people were "Obsctroculous" and if she wasn't sure whether something would happen it would be said that "it awe depends". She was dyslexic; never knew if there was any kind of link.

Nowadays I rely on a spell checker as the old memory is fading but I always have had trouble with certain words and a main one is parallel.

*bias (previous post). Interestingly a lot of people struggle with "bias" and "biased". And don't, please, get me started on the difference between "infer" and "imply".

TrevA · Post by **TrevA** » 4 Aug 2017, 9:01am

Breaks instead of Brakes is another favourite!

Heltor Chasca · Post by **Heltor Chasca** » 4 Aug 2017, 9:02am

pedalsheep wrote:I've read cycling books on Kindle where 'pedal' is constantly spelt 'peddle'. It drives me nuts!

Ooo! Any Kindle recommendations? I've just finished a Stephen King novel (Green Mile) and I am in between books.

Thank you [emoji4]

Heltor Chasca · Post by **Heltor Chasca** » 4 Aug 2017, 9:06am

Funny life comparisons: Bushcraft forums have dreadful spelling compared to cycling ones.

Maybe cycling brings more Johnny Foreigners like me to the surface. And we all know we speak 'Queens' better than the locals.

Innit?

eileithyia · Post by **eileithyia** » 4 Aug 2017, 9:06am

cycleruk wrote:Obviously it's not just cyclists as observed when on other forums.
There was a time (recently) where children were being taught to spell like it sounded. [i](Or not being corrected if spelt wrong)
Perhaps current misspellings or misuse are a product of that ?
It does grate when I come across misused words and one for me is "brought" when it should be "bought".
Nowadays I rely on a spell checker as the old memory is fading but I always have had trouble with certain words and a main one is parallel.

A friend was taught this way at junior school, they could not understand why she could not spell when at senior school and it was seriously going to affect how she would be graded at '0'level, for Biology we were told if we were on a marginal between grades score, looking back at spelling would make the difference being graded up or down.

But spell checkers, americanised ones, and anticipatory spellings by devices can contribute to poor spelling. I know I have 'written' something via my phone and posted then wondered how on earth a word I had spelt correctly was re-spelt to something else.
We do need to remember that some may have dyslexia. Some of the poor spelling / grammar maybe due to English not being a first language.
Yes I do cringe at poor spelling, and can be a pedant, but then remember how my own device can re-spell something... if i am not vigilant in checking before clicking on post and try to be a little more forgiving.

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