Why is the 's' in 'science fiction' capitalized in you're signature? That better not be a typo.
I was riffing on ripster's .sig. It's a parody, so it follows his lead, in form at least.
Captain, do you read and/or write for a living? It seems like most people who don't tend to rely too much on spell check and/or suffer from laziness. Moreover, even the very best spellers can have trouble with some of the crazy subtleties of English grammar rules and word usage. For example, it's always difficult for me to determine whether it's correct to use "which" or "that", and it's nearly impossible for me to determine when to use "who" versus "whom". As another example, is it correct to put the comma and period outside the ending quotation marks (as I have above), or should the punctuation marks go inside the quotation marks?
I am the child of a professional editor, so I do come from a rarified environment. Still, if our goal is to communicate politely, then it behooves us to strive for intelligibility and correct usage of our language. It is just RUDE to write what you do not mean, yet expect your reader to correctly misinterpret you. English is ambiguous enough without carelessness exacerbating the arcana and thereby devolving into obfuscatory jingoistic argot. See what I mean? ;-)
Of course, people make typos and sometimes miss them in the proof reading (you DO proof your writing before hitting send/post, right??). However, habitual abuse is unforgivable, as is laziness in any endeavor. As Yoda said, "Try? TRY? There is no try! DO, or NOT DO!" Perhaps quoting an infamous abuser of English is detrimental to my cause, but since Yoda's primary language is ostensibly not English, he is allowed leeway, particularly since his grammatical errors do not inhibit the communication of his great wisdom. Likewise, I would give wide berth to ESL people here, but still expect them to work to improve, and certainly to correct chronic abuses that are easily learned, e.g.: then vs. than, your vs. you're.
Remember that some people find things like this hard. I for one have poor spelling but am trying to improve on it. It doesn't make people feel good when they are trying to get something across and people just take the piss even though they know what they mean. Grow up and stop being a ****.
It is commendable that you are working to improve your communication skills! However, your last statement appears to be self-reflexive. :-/ Please refrain from further inflammatory commentary.
Speaking of "further": farther refers to greater measurable lengths, further refers to greater, non-length, quantities. Also, the rules for use of quotation marks are a not arcane, and probably left for another post devoted solely to that one point.
