Spelling counts. It’s the glue that holds our language together and is one of the under-pinnings of our society. Therefore when spelling goes out the window so do a lot of other things. Even in our hobby it is my firm belief that spelling is important, and it bothers me that poor spelling is on the rise, especially on BackPage, and in my opinion this goes hand in hand with the deterioration of everything we hold dear. Judging by many of the posts on this board the enjoyment and quality of this little pastime of ours as a wholeseems to be on the decline for both providers and hobbyists. For instance, has anyone ever noticed the correlation between ads with bad spelling and the likelihood that:

A) the ad is a scam
B) the pics are probably not really the girl you’ll be meeting
C) her pimp posted the ad and he can’t spell
D) All of the above

I have, and I think it’s time to point out the obvious. While we can’t go through each with a red tipped Sharpie and circle the offenders maybe we can at least bring attention to the issue and maybe, in doing so, try and turn this trend around. Now I have no problem with made up words to describe certain attributes, bootylitious comes to mind, as long as it’s not spelled bootilishus. Another thing I’ve noticed is that in the same sentence a girl is describing herself as an intelligent, college educated cutie she inadvertently drops the ball when she says she’s also adorible. Anyway I thought it would be helpful below to point out a few of the obvious ones, the first word is the correct spelling, feel free to cut and paste or to add some of your own.

Brunette: not brunet, brunatte, or god forbid burnette, which I have seen several times
Blonde: should always spelled be with an e on the end, not blond
Specials: this is a biggie, I am seeing speshuls a lot now. Scary.
Finest: not finist or finast
Beautiful: too many variations to list here, the strangest I have seen is bootifull
Fantasy: not fantisy or fantesy
Pleasure: not pleshure, pleashur, or anything else
Delicious: not delishus or deelishious
Innocent; not inocent, or innosent
Your: not ur or yor

Anyway, just a few thoughts for the evening. This is my first post here, hope you like it. Feel free to ad a few mispelled words which bother you.

-Holdan

Sexual Tension even the spelling police suffer from it

America cannot spell.  The education system sucks.  When SAT scores went down, we just added 100 points to all of them.  If you counted the number of time people can't get something as simple as "then"  and "than" right - - you'd lose it.  "bigger then a breadbox. "  It might drive you nuts, but I see people who have graduated from top 10 universities and who have 6 figure jobs who cannot spell and don't understand grammar.  That said - - it's probably not a reasonable disqualifier in this environment.

Also, the words "too" (adverb) and "to" (preposition) are too often confused.

I think it may be more a matter of people not proof reading what they write, thinking it doesn't really matter if people know what they mean.  But I feel more as you do - it does matter, and my opinion of them gets set in large respect by how they write.

I'm not sure I see it as the glue of society (Love and charity, for example, are much more important.), but important nevertheless.

Welcome to the Boston Board.  I look forward to more of your posts.

I am the most hobbiest of them all!  ~  I had an English teacher in high school who forbid us from using contractions in anything we wrote for him. I didn't understand why at the time, but after seeing all the confusion between "your" and "you're" even among the putatively educated today, I finally understand what he was trying to teach us.

Thanks, it's good to be here, or is that hear. Anyway thanks for the "welcome" and I'm already thinking of my next topic...names and derivations. Britneny / Britney / Britany etc.

I remember a year or so ago, there was a girl who used to post ads on BP in Boston who would describe herself as a "sexy Italian stallion". Spelling and grammar have always been a huge pet peeve of mine. I used to know a girl who would consistently spell "you" as "yew". What's really bad is that these people are obviously just ignoring the spell check on their computers. At least mixing up there, their, and they're, is a little more understandable. Or even than, and then. But misspelling is just plain lazy.
I'm sure someone will come along and point out some grammatical error I've made now...

she is typing with a pencil in her mouth, or speaking like she is texting her 13 year daughter, I won't see her.
I don't demand a college educated provider, but when the IQ level falls below a certain threshold I won't bite.

.....and the only time I might misspell something (and leave it accidentally) is because I didn't think about proofreading.  But....even as I type this reply (using Google Chrome) there's a spell-check.

Obviously I'm not a client so I can't say whether or not a poorly written ad is a deal breaker.
But I admit to having been unforgiving to retarded introductions in my inbox in the past.  
Not so much anymore- I've met many worthwhile clients who write very casually so I'm less likely today to ignore the short hand/text speak emails.  I just go with it until I can determine the client's level of seriousness and willingness to be verified.

I feel that the way a person writes is the way that they think- its like a blueprint to their mind IMO.  Reading someone's writing can be incredibly intimate.  What they choose to say and how they choose to say it definitely leaves an impression upon me.
I read an article in Time a few years ago ('Mourning the Death of Handwriting')  about increasingly fewer Americans being able to handwrite legibly due to technology.  I find parallels in that phenomenon and the general ability (or care) to express cohesive, coherent thoughts in writing, period.  With books like "Twilight" and "50 Shades of Grey" topping popular literature sales (both littered with redundant phrasing, weird fucking tense shifting mid sentence, etc) its clear that lazy writing is an epidemic.

Anyway, I think that an advertisement (no matter where its located) and a website should be proofread.  But I also think that if you're cruising Backpage you can't expect that a 20-year old trying to make a fast buck is going to describe her physical attributes or service with perfect grammar or spelling.
Education is just a bourgeois selling point for escorts- often a futile attempt to minimize the power differential between the client and provider or appeal to the client with the suggestion she is not just another whore but a girl that you'd last expect to be a whore....or something like that lol.

I think that for most clients the only thing that truly counts at first blush are photographs.  Everything else is icing.  
I don't think the majority clients would say "wow, those titties look so full, that body so tight...hold on, 'adorable' is misspelled...wait, there goes my erection...I don't believe I'll be calling her" lol.
Mindful writing, pride in one's presentation...all of these things are nice and do pay off for those of us who put a lil effort into it.  But ultimately being pretty and willing trumps the effort it takes to run spellcheck.

With that being said, my personal pet peeve is "discreet vs. discrete" (it is the most abused word in our business but I just noticed it misspelled on packaging in a store a few days ago and couldn't believe it).

Lol!

-- Modified on 8/4/2012 9:29:39 PM

Holden -- I mean Holdn -- I agree, I agree, I agree.  Sometimes I tell myself that people think they are going to avoid detection by robotic search engines that will send an FBI agent to every advertiser that uses the word "escort" in an ad.  I pity the schlub trying to sell his old Ford Escort on the web.  Hence, the "speshul" offers and other ridiculous non-words to throw LE off the sent, er, cent, I mean, scent.

I know I dilute myself.  I mean delude myself.  99.9% of the time it is just bad spelling and nothing clever.

Yeah, I think Americans' language skills need to be improved but, due to the influence of TV, movies, advertising, and the dumbing down of the education system, I don't think there will be r-o-l-a-i-d-s, I mean, relief, anytime soon.

I have to get this off my chest... poor spelling, poor grammar, and poor letter/email writing drive me absolutely insane.  Is it the dumbing down of America? Laziness? Or just a lack of interest in learning to use the English language properly?

Whether you ever took any interest in having a true command of the written word or not (it is actually very sexy) poorly crafted emails, advertisements and the like reflect on whom we are as individuals.

I love good grammar, nice sentence structure, syntax, and punctuation. Very few people know how to write a nice letter anymore which is an art in itself. This should translate to your email writing abilities.

Sometimes email maybe the first impression a person will get in any business. Regardless of what that business maybe I want them to know I am professional on all fronts. Therefore, please let's correspond with properly written words so we clearly and effectively communicate with one another.

If I receive an email that is poorly written, or someone cannot tell the difference between there, they're, and their ( Oh my don't get me started!) I already know we will not have good chemistry.  It is just a pet peeve that drives me up a wall.

As a society I honestly believe we have lost interest in proper grammar and English. Text speak is simply awful and those that use it should have their knuckles smacked with a ruler!

Rant over...

Feel free to pick my post apart for syntax, grammar, and spelling I am quite sure there are errors.

:?)

Grace

and that is the use of the "word" "cum", instead of "come".

Now, I'm fine with the use of "cum" as a verb for ejaculation, and also as a noun for semen.

But when people start saying:  "Cum on over to my incall for a great time.", I draw the line.

I wonder when and why "cum" first became a word to replace "come".

Also, "gonna" (for "going to") is not a word, if I have anything to say about it.

That makes me cringe!

-- Modified on 8/5/2012 10:31:40 AM

You're (not your) of course absolutely correct simply combining two words is not "gonna" work to create a new one. Proper parts of speech were taught in English classes even though that may have been many moons ago and many may not have paid attention.

Learning these things albeit considered somewhat "square" and nerdy can be kind of fun and interesting. Not everyone is a naturally eloquent writer, and some of those exercises may be fun, if English is not your first language it may be helpful to find some free online exercises to work on. I do it sometimes simply because I enjoy exercising my brain.

:?)

I am a bad speller and its not because I am stupid its because I am a foreigner I speak 4 different   languages How many do YOU speak ..??? To the guys who says ones they see a bad spelling they move on, good for me, I am sure you are boring people and I would not want to waist my time on you anyway ..Like i said I am a bad speller but I am well  traveled  and  seen at least 10 country's and most of you never even left MA .Yes I never went to college  but none of my dates find me boring and most of you think that  I am very smart, fun to be around ( I come over for two hours and you never want me to leave ,or my over night regulars we stay up most of the night and always find something to talk about so please stop pretending that you so picky and smart ,by the way when you pick your date its just a date  its not  like you picking your wife, you already have a boring one at home ..

Now that's hot!!!

HB,

Don't you just hate it when as an adult you realize that your English teacher actually was right? That all of those things that we were taught had a function and purpose? I thought that I had several truly insane English teachers in a row and now that I find myself looking at things from a different view point I am afraid that they were only slightly mad.

Obsessed with correcting poor grammar! I can see exactly what happened... Those poor souls must be rolling over in their graves! The agony I know that one old Professor must be going through reading things these days.

Grace

oh, and I use to shop at Finast.

Couldn't resist, I am sometimes a spell Catcher In The Rye sense of humor kinda way

-- Modified on 8/5/2012 1:48:09 PM

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdgnieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas thuohgt spleling was ipmorantt

Wow DT, I read half way thru this and realized WTF! I could care less if a girl can spell.... I look at the pics and decide. Lnaasmumer if uyo cna raed tihs pm me..... I wnat to see yuor ladnnig srtip!!!

guess what i could

Lol thanks augustwest, I was hopping someone would notise the ironie!

You write well and are one of the smartest.  Wish you safe and well.

1) Irregardless is not a word, this is more often spoken than it is written.  I've heard this used at even VP levels.

2) got to, it's have to folks

3) One of my favorite of all times, it's not Illa-noise.  This is one of my favorite because a girl on my management team pronounced it this way, since we hated each other she refused to change her pronunciation.  Just say Chicago then.

4) The enormous amount of people who make couldn't sound like cunt Shunt instead of shouldn't.

5) This seems to be a fairly new fad.  You agree with me and say "right", no need to say it another 4 or times.



So, it's not always just spelling and grammar.  Some folks should keep the mouth shut, especially around me because I will correct you.  Especially if you're reading straight from you're PP presentation and you still say the wrong thing?  In my mind, the point trying to be made is lost.

Of course, if you have a Boston accent we'll give you some slack.

-- Modified on 8/6/2012 3:06:45 PM

"Finest: not finist or finast"

If someone uses "finast", she may just have nostalgia for a top quality supermarket chain that is no longer in the area.



-- Modified on 8/6/2012 9:03:03 AM

I don't think anyone in this discussion had in mind to denigrate anyone who is not a native English speaker. I think any slight condescension is directed at native born Americans who fail to take advantage of a free and universal public school system and other available resources to learn the basics of effective oral and written expression in their native language. I think most Americans are helpful and supportive of foreigners learning our language. This is especially true of those educated lovers of language who are most likely to be what the wonderful Lynne Truss (Eats, Shoots, & Leaves) calls "Sticklers." English is the most difficult language to be able to spell well. Our vocabulary comes from many other languages with wildly differing phonetics and spelling conventions. That, of course, is an indication of the power and rich history of English. Contestants in spelling bees are allowed to ask the language origin of a word they are assigned to spell, and knowing that and being familiar with the spelling conventions of that source language helps them figure out how to spell it. If English were an easier language to spell, it wouldn’t have such a huge and powerful vocabulary! Making an effort to learn to spell well connects you with the history of our English language and allows you to express yourself with greater precision. Strict rules of spelling were developed in response to the needs of law and commerce. It allowed meaning to be conveyed unambiguously in areas of human activity were it was badly needed. Making an effort to learn to spell (something I always had to work at to be even passable) helps to preserve the power and precision that accrue to English because of its vast vocabulary borrowed from many other languages. Trust me, no one here meant to be critical of you of other visitors and immigrants from other countries learning our language. Quite the opposite, we view your efforts with admiration!

She's a ladie of lesher and she's lookin for caucasin gental men, go get her boys!

Well said, HB.

that shouldnt mean they get judged on thier intelligence level. I for one yes type fast and yes have ridiculously long nails. really !and well i sometimes dont go back n re check every lil typo. But i get the main drift across and get good clients and well the pupose of my ads n things gets addressed and across. Funny i took english composition levels one and two at quincy community in an effort to help me graduate on time with my class, i was well off partying with musicians in boston singing alot, and well missin school. I went to alot jams in powder house square and jp with older musicians. I knew what I wanted to do sing , not practice algebra. well i aced the college courses, got  A in both. I also was placed in honors english classes in high school. But sometimes i get hasty n ignore my typos, i always take it "wicked" personally when people bring up typing bad, I mean the point is to say hello leave a number meet dates. Just because a person has a fast brain its really no reason to cast judgement and assume they are un educated the purpose of english and words is to communicate a message to another human being, If they can read it why does it matter if an I is capialized or not, Whats the big deal, big whoop somem one typed fats, so you cross them off the list and say shes just not good enough to lick my nuts sack, I would never ! ha! me the high n mighty, geesh, who cares? wow. loosen up people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!my dear lord and suhweet babee jeeZus.

-- Modified on 8/9/2012 12:15:12 AM