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Is politely correcting someone's grammar/spelling offensive? Why? - Printable Version

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RE: Is politely correcting someone's grammar/spelling offensive? Why? - Aduu Avagnar - 08-20-2015

(08-19-2015, 09:29 PM)myahele Wrote: as other's have said, who care if there's some minor spelling or grammatical error.

Whether it's may I or can I? Or the missus of there, they're or their; it does not matter since you know what they mean.

I supposed you can RP as someone like that, but the other person must know and/or agree to be corrected.

I've seen such character's on TV and they can be quite hilarious if done right
*ahem* I believe that's 'misuse' Tongue

In all seriousness I would like to echo the statements made before. If I can clearly understand what they are trying to convey, I leave it. Hells I make too many mistakes to go around correcting people. If, however, I cannot decipher it, then I ask them to clarify their intent.

If they have asked in the past for corrections as they are learning the language etc, then I am likely to offer pointers.


RE: Is politely correcting someone's grammar/spelling offensive? Why? - Paradox - 08-21-2015

I wouldn't say it's offensive per se, but it's also somewhat embarrassing to correct them in front of people. In most cases if a few mistakes really breaks your immersion so badly you have to correct them to survive, doing so in private is the best thing to do. To be fairly honest, I myself don't correct people. Mostly because I don't care. I know several individuals that are very well spoken when they speak, but typo like crazy when they type or type run on sentences like they were going out of style. A lot of the potential offense also comes from the fact that while many people know exactly what they're saying, typing it is hard for them and they don't like being pressured. My policy is, if it's not largely unreadable, the human brain can decipher what they're saying well enough for it to be understood, and that's genuinely all you need.


RE: Is politely correcting someone's grammar/spelling offensive? Why? - LiadansWhisper - 08-21-2015

I think that unless you know them personally and do it privately, it's probably bad form.


RE: Is politely correcting someone's grammar/spelling offensive? Why? - KitKat - 08-21-2015

I'm a bit of a spelling and grammar freak. Even then, I'll only correct people that I know are open to being corrected.


RE: Is politely correcting someone's grammar/spelling offensive? Why? - Fox - 08-21-2015

If I wanted feedback, I'd ask for an editor. This being said; I'm not asking for one to proof read my roleplay. Usually I will catch my typos, however they do slip in. I had someone do this to me the other day and frankly it pissed me off. They weren't part of my rp, they weren't even a part of my FC or the people I was playing with. It's frankly; none of their concern. I know the difference between 'they're' and 'their'. Unfortunately at the time I was under the influence.

And considering the fact that I have worked as an English professor's aide; yes I take offense to it when someone snidely makes comments, especially when they don't have any idea what's going on beyond the screen. It's not their place to make remarks. It's not so much that I don't know, I understand rules concerning the language- it just sometimes happens. And it's not really anyone's place to take it upon themselves to -teach- me. They aren't a professor that I'm taking a class under nor are they my editor.

If someone doesn't like like typos, then they can keep it to themselves. It comes off as snobbery when people do it in this manner. If it's unreadable and you can't make sense, just politely ask in private. Don't randomly correct people you have no idea about, especially if you aren't rping with them.


RE: Is politely correcting someone's grammar/spelling offensive? Why? - Lydia Lightfoot - 08-21-2015

(08-21-2015, 12:30 AM)LiadansWhisper Wrote: I think that unless you know them personally and do it privately, it's probably bad form.

This, totally.

If it's not somebody that you're invested in friendship with, then all you can politely do is decide for yourself if the errors are bothersome enough to you to warrant disengagement from the scene. If so, excuse yourself and find some other RP. If not, then shh and just try to overlook it for the sake of that fun RP you're enjoying, and if they do become a new friend then maybe you can talk to them about it sometime in the future.


RE: Is politely correcting someone's grammar/spelling offensive? Why? - Sigil.9054 - 08-21-2015

I would hope that "politely" doing anything is non-offensive by design.

That aside, I typically don't correct anyone's grammar/spelling other than my own. I do make exceptions for "repeat offenders", but I usually do so privately with the intention of sparing them further embarrassment from a continued mistake.

Ultimately, I don't expect anything even nearing perfection, and I only really care if the mistakes are making things unclear. For example:

"this weekend i helped my uncle jack off a chocobo"

^ I'd request clarification on that really, really fast.


RE: Is politely correcting someone's grammar/spelling offensive? Why? - Devyn Piper - 08-21-2015

(08-19-2015, 11:00 AM)Gegenji Wrote:
(08-19-2015, 10:57 AM)FreelanceWizard Wrote: I can even grit my teeth and suffer through "irregardless," "for all intensive purposes," and "mute point." Smile

What would happen if someone used the phrase: "Irregardless, for all intensive purposes its a mute point"?
I would, like, literally explode! Wink

In all honesty, I'd probably just cry.  Loudly.  While banging my head into my desk.


RE: Is politely correcting someone's grammar/spelling offensive? Why? - C50802160 - 08-22-2015

This is probably one of the most annoying things about roleplaying, I have dyslexia so sometimes i will mess up the spelling of my words and it seems like most people i have rped with in the past take serious offense to this. Literally I got so self conscious of it being pointed out i would re read my rp statements 9 to 10 times before i hit enter, then i would get yelled at for being too slow and ruining the flow. At this point I tend to avoid rp with people I do not know, and when i do get into that situation i will to try to put in as little detail as possible (less of a chance to misspell words that way) but that also comes with it's own bag of hate. I just can't win lol. Although currently I'm trying to get past this and get back into the fun parts of rp. 

So yea, no don't correct me on my spelling i already know I'm terrible at it lol

Edit: I have found that the rp community in general in this game is much nicer then some of the other games i have played havn't run into this issue here yet lol



RE: Is politely correcting someone's grammar/spelling offensive? Why? - Vallerin Hortimont - 08-23-2015

If you simply cannot contain yourself, do it in a tell. No need to try and belittle someone in public.


RE: Is politely correcting someone's grammar/spelling offensive? Why? - Seye Qhesu - 08-23-2015

If it is completely terrible I have been known to politely message them and ask them if they spell check. Normally the basic sentence structure will prove if English if the first language or not of the one in question.

Depending on the answer I receive I often drop the subject and cringe through it as it is not fair to the person to cut RP (unless it literally fries my brain) or offer up trips and tricks to help with spell checking such as using Google search or having MS word opened to pretype what you want to post ingame and spellcheck that way.


RE: Is politely correcting someone's grammar/spelling offensive? Why? - ZacharyVolfire - 08-23-2015

If you read anyone of my post on this site. You probably have cringe once (or several times) at my horrible grammar and spelling. I mistype all the time and when told about it i nod and re do the statement or whatever I typed. As long as your not rude it's ok just to alert someone w ho may or may not have seen their mistake or notice. Like I do all the time.


RE: Is politely correcting someone's grammar/spelling offensive? Why? - Asmodean - 08-23-2015

(08-23-2015, 03:44 PM)ZacharyVolfire Wrote: If you read anyone of my post on this site. You probably have cringe once (or several times) at my horrible grammar and spelling. I mistype all the time and when told about it i nod and re do the statement or whatever I typed. As long as your not rude it's ok just to alert someone w ho may or may not have seen their mistake or notice. Like I do all the time.

This is the same for me. I mistype all the time and have horrible spelling. I have been cheating as of late by using a speak to search option om my tablet but when I haven't you can tell. I think faster then I type so I have often missed entire words making post both in game and here very odd to read. T.T

As long as you are trying to help by pointing it our via tell then I'm fine with being corrected. Just try to avoid making it look like your calling the person out in the middle of group of others and you should be fine.


RE: Is politely correcting someone's grammar/spelling offensive? Why? - Flickering Ember - 08-24-2015

(08-19-2015, 01:13 PM)Roen Wrote: I never correct someone during RP.

The little text window is terribly limiting, I don't get to see my full post most of the time before I hit enter, and most of the time I am furiously typing. I know what I want to say, but my fingers sometimes skip a word or misspell something. I know it happens to me, and it can happen to anyone. I don't feel the need to correct that.

Usually the person I am playing with can figure out what I was trying to say, although if it can be grossly misinterpreted, I will correct myself immediately (or two sentences later when I actually read what I said...). Else I would prefer that the scene just kept going, rather than be bogged down by corrections.

If I keep making mistakes, I usually stare at the screen in disbelief, bonk my head a couple of times, and apologize in party chat (( )) ... but I still just keep the scene going.


These are my thoughts too. It's really hard to correct or notice that something is grammatically incorrect if you can't look at your full post. Because of this, like Virara pointed out, it is very easy for me to write something that comes off as redundant. 
Everyone has different things they value in RP but for me I care more about pace. If I don't make a timely post then the other RPer(s) is having to wait longer. Whenever I do have to go back and fix or reword something, it's usually an extra 30 seconds at least. 

A quick flow in RP helps keeps it energized and lively. There's a delicate balance between substantial posts and timely ones. I try to keep my RP responses in one on one / small group RP to 3 minutes tops. If a grammar error is the difference between 3 min or 3 min 30 s I will choose a grammar error. I have ignored typos multiple times in order to keep the flow of RP going rather than going back and obsessing.

I type colloquially as well so, I'm usually happy if A. I can understand what is written B. There is capitalization. C. Punctuation.