Whilst I agree with your point of view (after all, just read the post with which I started this thread !) it is my opinion that in some cases it it fully justified for potential responder to seek clarification as to what the devil some posters are actually trying to say 
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Of course sometimes there may be an understood subject before the word, in which
[It is] So early in the morning that I…
There are a few things I find irritating, though generally not poor spelling or grammar, just certain specific things. The prime one is misuse of the apostrophe, particularly inserting it in plurals. Why people have such a mental block over the apostrophe, I have no idea: yes there a a few oddities, but using it incorrectly in one of the odd cases is not normally the problem, and because the exceptional cases are just that, I don’t find incorrect use irritation, just an indication of limited awareness. The problem is when is using it wrongly in the most simple of regular uses! The only two things people have to remember in order to get it right probably 99.9% of the time is i) to use it before the s added to denote belonging to someone/something, and ii) to use it to denote missing letters in shortened words such as don’t or haven’t. But it seems people feel they must bandy apostrophes about all over the place, in particular whenever there is an s at the end of a word - often everywhere except where it should be! If people don’t know how to use it it is better not to use it at all - there likely would be far fewer errors that way! (N.B. This rant is not getting at your apostrophe omission!)
Freudian slip - should have said possessive not plural! I’ll correct it now.
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So, yes I’m certain that some who might write a lot, maybe as a profession - could develop a deviation from what’s universally acceptable as a way to put in some character. Only if such a writer has a reader that understands.
The reader should have as much importance in the process.
An artist should hope that an idea put forward isn’t universally understood by everyone, and indeed might gain admiration from others by being obscure, naive or just intentionally wrong.
Yes, very good point, Pete.
This forum in general, does have a hint of uppitiness (that’s a word, man) to it. On all other forums I belong to, and threads I post to, I use a whack of intentionally abbreviated words because I’m typing on a stupid, faux, on-screen, keyboard. I use speech-to-text anytime I can, but late at night when I’m usually replying it’s not possible.
So, (there’s that word again …) words like cuz, thot bot, kinda, shoulda, and the like; I don’t use here. And I’m not one who is easily intimidated, but I suppose I don’t want members to be annoyed by my grammar as they’re reading the content of my post.
Anyhoo, just sayin’ …
Dave
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Fortunately most txt spk went out with the advent of smartphones… the trouble is much is unintelligible - is cuz cousin? Or is it an odd shortening of because, rather than the more common ‘cos? And what does thot mean? (I’d assume it was a fat finger typo, but it doesn’t fit anything obvious to me!)
If you are somewhere quiet, and speak clearly, then speech to text is a simple and quick means of entry: I find far quicker than typing on an iPhone, and far fewer errors. Unfortunately it is no good In a noisy place, or a quiet place where it would be inappropriate or unacceptable to speak out loud. It still needs a reality check afterwards, as sometimes it can go wrong!
The use of cuz in a sentence would make the context very obvious to even the those with English as a second language, so that’s really no an item unless one is extremely thick or slow.
But I do love Speech-to-text, I’m always amazed at how well it translates my speech. And for some reason it types cuz instead of cos, which is not the desired short form.
And, as you say, one really does need to visually check the text before hitting sent. I have had some translations that would have been very embarrassing.
But why do you say ‘Fortunately’ the short forms went out? Are you one of those that feel that any less than perfect grammar or spelling references are an atrocity, and a huge smear on the English language. Remember the whole point here is typing late at night on a tiny faux keyboard, and interacting with people from many other cultures/languages.
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I have simply always hated ‘text speak’. Too much of a bastardisation for me I’m afraid: it is simply longer English! In the days of having to hit each phone keypad key several times to select a letter I fully understood why people did it. Similar used to be used a century ago for morse code communications for speed of transmission. Personally befire having a smartphone I just avoided texting unless there was no alternative, and when I did text I mostly avoided text speak abbreviations. I do sometimes use abbreviations that developed over time, such as IIUC, but I don’t think that was only from phone texting.
Regarding your wider question, I have no problem at all with poor English from people for whom English is not their first language, and I accept the differences in non-British English. With British English l generally expect a reasonable standard of spelling and grammar, but I accept that not everybody’s education is up to it. Apart from a few bugbears like people plastering apostrophes before every s as mentioned in a previous post, it generally does not bother me as long as I correctly understand what is meant, and I don’t make a habit of criticising people who clearly have simply not been fortunate enough to have had good education in English. Different if I am recruiting people fot some roles at work, where ability to communicate precisely and unambiguously is vital. Someone once applied using text speak in their application. I didn’t bother trying to interpret…
Well, that all make sense.
Some abbreviations just seem to be accepted. For instance, I’ve always seen, and used, the word ‘thru’ on an engineering drawing, as in ‘thru hole’.
But even if the proper use of English, at the expense of additional typing using an annoying interface, is just a pet peeve of yours, we all have those. So in respect of that, as I posted above, I currently refrain (somewhat begrudgingly) from using any of the text speech that I and many others use so frequently on the other forums.
Depending on the translation the first word of the Old English poem Beowulf could be read as ‘so’.
Due to his limited education he probably hasn’t heard of that term.
I bet he doesn’t even know what a PCD is. 
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Sorry I muted this thread after I had to report here for using to many apostrophes and missed a few posts.
Clarification is one thing and I agree with you, but an assumption about grammar etc is another. Also there’s better ways to bring to someone’s attention the error of their ways (they maybe completely unaware) then mocking them online. We’re all adults surely we could be a little more tolerant.
You wouldn’t (I hope) go to a non English speaking country and criticise a local for speaking English with an accent.
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Yep, there certainly is, and I agree. Cheers.
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Clarification is the key.
The reader is entitled to seek clarification. The author is obliged to provide clarification. Otherwise it’s a guessing game.
Spelling, grammar, punctuation etc all play a part in clear communication. Quite often, most of us can understand the author without clarification, despite a host of obvious mistakes. But not always.
If the reader can understand what the author wrote, despite a few mistakes, but decides to mock the author, that’s a different story. And certainly not the nature of a nice person.
We all make mistakes. How we deal with our own mistakes and those of others, helps to define us.
It wasn’t mocking, it was a gentle joke that I assumed you’d take in the right spirit. You’re happy to post pictures of your living room with your art on full display so it seemed a reasonable assumption that you’re a grown man who’s well used to criticism, constructive and otherwise. I’d have left it there at the one jibe about being the best use of the grocer’s apostrophe today if you hadn’t followed with a slightly snotty ‘no idea what you’re on about’ response, which someone else then agreed with. So from a gentle jibe (look mate this is actually wrong) to two people apparently not having a clue, it seemed reasonable to make a simple post showing why it was so wrong with a nudge about how apostrophes work, in this thread where this sort of discussion belongs and not where the Alfa’s appeared.
I’m tolerant of a lot of things, but when someone is so catastrophically wrong and is then backed up by another person, I see nothing wrong in saying ‘no, this is how it works look.’ And to be honest, it shouldn’t be a surprise to find that some people are a bit picky about poor grammar on a forum where discussions about which black box or which cables, all worth a few thousand quid, are best at picking out the correct level of detail on a piece of music.
I agree. And most of the time, most of us on the Forum (IMHO) go along that route. But there will always be exceptions. Personally, I don’t mind the “language Police”, providing they don’t resort to mocking.
However, this thread is actually about “the use of English” so, providing we are all polite and reasonable, I do expect a fair number of comments and discussion about “the use of English” including spelling, grammar, use of “there” v “their”; “your” v “you’re” etc as well as clarity of meaning and how to avoid ambiguity.
Cheers
Don
You’re quite correct Pete, I wouldn’t. (See below)
I have lived and worked in many countries and am eternally grateful that English is widely used as the language of business, commerce, engineering and many other aspect of life. In the absence of anything better, ICAO (the International Civil Aviation Organisation) has agreed to the use of English in aviation.
I have had many people tell me that I should learn the language of the country I am living/working in. I managed in France and the Middle East from Lebanon to Oman, but I struggled with Swedish, Danish, Dutch, German, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Greek, and the various languages in Pakistan and India. As for the USA and Canada - no hope - words are the same but the meaning is different ! Everybody else just has to learn English in addition to their native language.
Back on subject, coming from the North East of England, I have a natural English accent that is unintelligible beyond a 20 mile radius of my home town, so I am the last person to criticise a non-native for speaking English with an accent.
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Pedantry is a particular male thing.
Women, blessed with more common sense, the ability to read minds and happy with just a Yes or No.
I don’t think they have ever held me accountable by how I have formed communications - only by my diction.
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Good job nobody has then. You seem to have invented an argument and then agreed with each other how poor that would be.
The modern English usage which bugs me is the “Luvvies” ’ tendency to start sentences with the word “so”, presumably with the meaning “therefore”.
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