posted on March 28, 2003 06:28:15 PM new
. . .good grammar? Reading through some of the auctions on Ebay, I have to wonder how many sellers actually graduated from high school. The misspellings, the bad grammer, the run-on sentences and use the use of all caps are driving me crazy. Is it just me or does this bother anyone else? I find it difficult to bid on something when the seller cannot even spell the word "necklace" correctly. Hopefully, this isn't a statement as to the quality of education since the 1970's when I graduated. Maybe some sellers just don't care or just don't worry about it? Am I being too picky when I read and re-read my auctions to be sure they make perfect sense and everything is spelled correctly? Is is too much to ask people to pickup a dictionary if they have doubts about the spelling of a word? Tell me, please!
posted on March 28, 2003 06:37:20 PM new
::Hopefully, this isn't a statement as to the quality of education since the 1970's when I graduated.::
Unfortunately, it is. The mail order company I used to run also received thousands of letters from kids around 8-14. Considering their spelling and structure skills, not to mention penmanship... we are doomed.
posted on March 28, 2003 06:38:47 PM new
Good question but relates to way more than ebay. I returned to college recently after 10 years and am so disgusted at how many of the student and even teachers who have bad grammar. My English teacher often misspells words when writing on the blackboard.
People just don't care. I read recently how a teacher was appalled that a girl in her class abbreviated every word in an essay. She wrote it like she was online in a chat room, abbreviating it all. They had a copy of what it was and it was the worst thing I had seen in a long time.
posted on March 28, 2003 06:49:43 PM new
I used to proofread the newsletter at my church, and I had so many corrections in red ink that it looked like someone had bled all over it! The first time I did that, the editor called me and thanked me profusely for the many things I picked up on that no one else had found.
I continue to be amazed at the errors I find in auctions. I wonder if some people have a pet chimp that they allow at the computer?
I suppose there's not much hope that things will get better, Heck, a whole lot of people voted for someone who has difficulty constructing coherent sentences and can't pronounce polysyllabic words (i.e. nuclear and subliminal). It infuriates me that someone who represents my country truly does sound like an uneducated yahoo.....
Without eBay, I might have a real life...
[Edited for a smiley....]
[ edited by mcbrunnhilde on Mar 28, 2003 06:52 PM ]
posted on March 28, 2003 07:00:29 PM new
It don't bother me as I was in Viet Nam trying to stay alive while others were getting the college education I couldn't afford.
As long as I prosper on eBay I don't care if my spelling is perfect or not. Apparently I still get my point across with a high school
education for my sales are outstanding and have been for over four years now. I try to get it right, but if I don't it don't really
bother me.
I'm not selling classes in English. I'm selling merchandise.
The only reason all caps bothers me if because it's hard to read. It all runs together.
posted on March 28, 2003 07:14:41 PM new
Yes, I have also noticed the terrible grammar and spelling. Is is used where are should be used for example. Some auctions I have read make me wonder most most are fine.
I have a friend who teaches high school kids who have been in trouble or had babies and are in a special class with different disipline. She said she has given the students a noun and verb and ask them to construct a sentence using them. She said most of them could not even come up with a simple sentence. Makes you wonder what the future holds for our business world.
As for our president speaking the way he does. Read what kind of education he has.
President George W. Bush: Received a Bachelors Degree from Yale University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He served as an F-102 pilot for the Texas Air National Guard. He began his career in the oil and gas business in Midland in 1975 and worked in the energy industry until 1986. He was elected Governor on November 8, 1994, with 53.5 percent of the vote. In a historic re-election victory, he became the first Texas Governor to be elected to consecutive four-year terms on November 3, 1998 winning 68.6 percent of the vote. In 1998 Governor Bush won49 percent of the Hispanic vote, 27 percent of the African-American vote, 27 percent of Democrats and 65 percent of women. He won more Texas counties, 240 of 254, than any modern Republican other than Richard Nixon in 1972 and is the first Republican gubernatorial candidate to win the heavily Hispanic and Democratic border counties of El Paso, Cameron and Hidalgo. (Someone began circulating a false story about his I. Q. being lower than any other President. If you believed it, you might want to go to URBANLEGENDS. COM and see the truth.)
I would say he is one of the most educated presidents we have had in a while.
Give him a break he is from Texas! Depending on the area where we were raised we ALL have certain slang and use strange words or combinations there of. In some parts of the east words that end in an A are pronounced as an R. New Yorkers say "yous guys". People in the south say y'all and fixin. In East TX they say things I don't even know how to spell. People in Southern California have a slightly nasal tone. We all have some kind of accent which makes this country interesting as far as I'm concerned.
posted on March 28, 2003 08:20:15 PM new
I think spelling and grammer are important but to an extent.
I wouldn't get bent out of shape because someone didn't spell great or even take the oppunity to check there spelling.
Most of us have more important things on our minds that we just dont stop to think before typeing, we are always in a hurry, never enough time in a day so rushing most of the times is what I think causes lots of the spelling errors.
I can understand what your saying, but for myself I don't let it bother me.
I'm not here to judge why, but to try to do MY best, which is all I can worry about.
posted on March 28, 2003 08:51:58 PM new
paws, This really has nothing to do with you. Just the way it was all ran together about the Pres. You gave a PERFECT example for the all CAPS case.
rampaged, now look at the example illistrated about the PRES. You must be kidding that same imformation in ALL CAPS would be harder for you to read? Come On,,,,
ramp, The choice was YOURS, when you got back From Viet Nam the U.S. Government gave you Ten years to complete a College Education and offered you monthly payments,MONEY to do so. You then could afford it, YOU chose not to.
Viet Nam had nothing to do with your Education, YOU did or Didn't.
.02 cents.
Snap! snap! snap!,,,,,,Whiiiiiip it, Whiiiiip it GOOD! OUCH!
[ edited by fetish128 on Mar 28, 2003 08:59 PM ]
posted on March 28, 2003 09:05:08 PM new
One time I gently explained to a seller I was already communicating with by email that the fabric she was selling was "sequined" fabric, not "sequenced" fabric, meaning it had tiny plastic reflective dots all over.
She said she spelled it in her auction the way it was spelled in the printed lable on the end of the manuifacturer' cardboard bolt it came on!
I expect some poor grammar and misspelled words in Ebay listings. I'm pretty good at both myself, but not perfect. But when I see a printed ad in a national magazine or in the newspaper with words spelled incorrectly, I am quite surprised!
The funniest incident I witnessed personally was an employee wrote on a customer's service order that he had "raped" her equipment when he meant "wrapped" it. Then he left a copy of the paperwork at her house. I called to apologize to her and she thought it was hilariously funny. She just kept giggling and said she was going to show it to her husband, the very thing I called to prevent.
posted on March 28, 2003 09:10:10 PM new
I type slow and spell bad but GOD BLESS AMERICA I'm making money !! I do keep a dictionary by my side but to err is human to forgive divine.
posted on March 28, 2003 11:06:53 PM new
Toasted. If you could post here how to get that Beautiful waving American Flag on my E bay auction page, Muchly appreciated. I would Love to place it right on my LOCATION. On all of my auctions. Is there a way to do that? Everyone elses help is Very appreciated too. Thank You all Very much. Semper Fi. God Bless America. God Bless the Troops and God Bless Those Few,The Proud, The United States Marines!.....Salute!
Snap! snap! snap!,,,,,,Whiiiiiip it, Whiiiiip it GOOD! OUCH!
posted on March 29, 2003 02:05:46 AM new
It's easy to use Microsoft Works Word Processor to create your auction description. It has spell check, a thesaurus, and in some of the newer versions, a grammar check. I often use it to create, then copy and paste to the auction.
posted on March 29, 2003 04:14:56 AM new
Hi fetish128.You can go to yahoo and do a search for American Flag gif. ,find one you like then look at the site and see what they want for you using the flag ...most places just want you to say they're name (like thanks xxx.com for the flag).Then right click and save the picture .Load it to AW and list it just like any other picture you would list in your auctions.I'm not real good with html code so I would not be able to tell you how to put it to the left or right.But here's a great site to teach you howhttp://www.boogiejack.com/html_tutorials.htmlHope this helps !
posted on March 29, 2003 04:45:25 AM new
Long live the misspellers! I find some great deals on eBay because of them. Like the brand new boots (retail $160) I bought for my girlfriend for $60 because they were spelled HARELY rather than Harley.
I used to collect Budweiser stuff. It amazing what you can find if you look under budweser, budwiser, etc.
Having said that, I do find it a shame when I come across an auction that looks like a blind monkey typed it.
And the fact that Bush has problems pronouncing certain words should have no bearing on his ability to lead this country. To this day I have problems correctly pronouncing sandwich.
posted on March 29, 2003 04:57:32 AM new
I thought you might find this interesting.
Below is a hand written note,written in a book dated 1565.
From a grammatical and spelling point of view looks like things have not changed that
much.
STC 13440. Pforzheimer 490; Hodnett 2489-2496. The presentation inscription reads: 'This is also Jeamissis boke wch she sent me her Fellow gyles Vawde at the daye of her maredge unto Robert Mowle the 10th of phebruwary 1566 at 6 of the cloke in the mornynge wch I pray god she maye
Realtor for Century 21 AAIM Realty Group in Cape Coral Florida
posted on March 29, 2003 05:00:28 AM new
The occasional minor mis-spelling (grammer/grammar) doesn't bother me too much. I tend to attribute it to mis-typing (which I've been known to do <grin>
But what bothers me is poor sentence construction and things like "it don't" and "I don't spell good". Agghhhh!!
As for President Bush attending Harvard and Yale - well, that merely shows what coming from an influential family and having money can do for you. I went to MIT and am friends with two people who went to Harvard. For twenty years, we've kidded each other over which school is better. They are both mortified that President Bush went to Harvard. They cringe every time he makes a particularly obvious faux pax in public because they know it's just more ammunition for me. <grin>
(I should mention that both of them got into Harvard on merit - both came from poor families and are extremely smart.)
posted on March 29, 2003 05:47:01 AM new
Misspellings, good and bad grammar, Our president's problem with
certain words. That's all part of being human. We all make mistakes.
Makes life a little more interesting. On Ebay misspelling a key word
a seller might cost you a few bidders. As a seller you can misspell
keywords in a search to find bargains. Sometimes.
Now, when you find a particularly poorly written auction, you could print
the auction. Correct and grade the paper. Once corrected you could
throw it away since you've had a little fun at the sellers expense. Or
show it to your friends. Put it on your refrigerator. Mail it to the seller
so he/she can put it on their refrigerator.
Or you could scan it back in and add it to a compilation of horrible
Ebay ads. Put the compilation on a CD and sell the CD (on Ebay of
course) for $9.99 plus $3.00 shipping and handling (international shipping
slightly higher).
As to the person who went to Vietnam instead of college. Thank You for
serving your country.
posted on March 29, 2003 06:10:02 AM new
Actually, while sometimes it may be good for a laugh it is also good for a bargain. Last Christmas season I started looking for an item for my boyfriend in September. I watched for months as the prices went up to $200 and more. Which of course I would not spend. Two weeks before Christmas I typed in search and made a typo. I didnt realize it until I hit search. Low and behold 1 auction came up of course misspelled just like my typo. I got the item for $30 and was the only bidder. And to boot these were nicer than some I had seen go for $200. Moral of the story, sometime bad spelling helps the buyer.
posted on March 29, 2003 06:53:29 AM newOne time I gently explained to a seller I was already communicating with by email that the fabric she was selling was "sequined" fabric, not "sequenced" fabric, meaning it had tiny plastic reflective dots all over
I see that all the time. It drives me nuts. As do sellers that spell "sandals" as "sandles"
posted on March 29, 2003 07:10:39 AM new
My kids went to or are in Catholic School for all 12 years. I cannot begin to imagine how many thousands of dollars were spent on the schools. How many hours/days/weeks/months we spent helping them at home.... It amazes me.
My children are in no better shape then if we had saved the money and sent them to public schools.
They all have a hard time with simple math! The Catholic Schools allowed them to use a calculator in class (even in the earlier years).
We had to force them to learn their times tables at home. We allowed no computers or calculators at home.
Now after the many thousands of dollars and work... My son wants to be a singer (read waiter). My daughter aspires to be a Hostess at the local eatery. My other daughter sees nothing wrong about living with me and Ebaying forever....
posted on March 29, 2003 09:29:39 AM new
-get a load of this auction-
Item # 2312973659
hes selling an umbrella-that gives 100 square feet of CHADE...it's also good for for
your JAGUZZI....I was wondering if if he put it there for a joke-you cant make this sh.. up!
Of course he comes from floriDUH--no wonder they cant read ballots down there-they cant even spell.The problem was I was going to bid on this,but he would probably spell the name of
my home town wrong,and I'd never get it! LOL
posted on March 29, 2003 09:32:24 AM new
Toasted-----Thanks for the great advice! I did a search for flag gifs and came up with a great one.
Fetish-------Just go to <A href="http://www.3dflags.com">3D Animated Flags--By 3DFlags.com</A>
I hope I did that right to create a hyperlink. Anyway like Toasted said you can download it as long as you create a hyperlink to their website and give them credit for it.
Now if I can just figure out how to put it where I want it in my auctions.
posted on March 29, 2003 10:25:14 AM new
Your very welcome Paws4god and Thanks Patty for telling us how to get it where we want to put them .Html code drives me crazy
[ edited by fetish128 on Mar 28, 2003 08:59 PM ]
