Check your Messages

[BMCS T. D. Ellis]

I'm sure I misspelled something in here, but enough is enough...

Is it me or are we dumbing down our people. Has anyone looked real close at latest Coast Guard Magazine and USCGC Engineering, Electronics & Logisitics Quarterly (Winter 2008)? On the the back of both are stupid spelling errors.

On the back of Coast Guard Magazine, they spell maintenance:

M A I N T A N C E.

On the back of EELQ they spell securing: S-E-C-U-U-R-I-N-G.

I remember when I first came in how difficult it was to get a message released, God forbid you misspelled something. I send back so much stuff now because people do not use proper grammar, spelling and punctuation that I am ready to climb a tower with a rifle.

Please, I know we don't have time to check things like our communications that go out to other units, but I think we really need to double check things going out to the general public so we do not look like blithering idiots. For example, here is a list I have put together from Message Traffic, Logs and other Coast Guard publications over the last two years. Most were "FOR INTERNET RELEASE":

COLLER
FINGUR
SCRACHES
SHINEY
BRIEFIN
WILE
DURRING
ANCHORE
DEMANSTRATE
TRIPPLED
RESPONSE
BOUY
ELECTRONICAL
FRON
SMMAL
SECUED
BRIGHTLEY
EXTINGISHED
STANTARD
LIBERTYE
MORRING
TENDENS
BRIGHTLEY
WITHING
SUNRUSE
HABBOR
ALINEMENT
REQUIOR
PROVIDENCETOWN
SECUURING

BTW, My mom was a librarian so I thought every word was spelled D-I-C-T-I-O-N-A-R-Y until I was in sixth grade.

[ETC John D Zidek]

I can't remember where it was but, I recently saw "SNAFU" in a message.

"Z"

[ETC John D Zidek]

What bugs me is when people use words like there instead of their.

[MKC Craig Thorngren (Ret)]

What bugs me is when people use words like there instead of their.

Z,
I think you see those types of mistakes more often because using spell check only makes sure word is spelled correctly, not grammatically correct... Another big culprit is "auto correct".

Craig

[OSC Delain Tate]

I believe the problems with spelling today are the text/chat generation. They have abbreviations for everything, and people forget the basics.

On a side note...I did see FUBAR in a CASREP once. :)

-Delain

[MSTCS Jerald P. Motyka]

The one that kills me is LOSE/LOOSE, and I see it on here rather frequently.

If I did something to keep you from finding your sock, I helped you LOSE it.
If I stretch out your sock, it is now LOOSE.

I saw it in a CASREP once, and it nearly killed me. A gasket failed, making the system LOOSE pressure, and then once it LOOSED pressure, a fire started. :eek:

It's about enough to make me... make my head explode!!

[MSTC Shad Hudgins]

I got one, a big red sign placed at the entrance to the Yard said "Please show indentification...." It took them like a week to take it down after I mentioned it to the gate guard.

[BMCS Burt Ford]

I just opened an email and got this from a PO3;

"I am conforming that the small boats will be available tomorrow 6
MAY08 for a radio upgrade."

Burt

[BMCS T. D. Ellis]

I am glad to see you all brought me back down to earth.

Maybe I should have started this thread in the humor section.

[SKC Raymond Kurtz]

There really is no excuse for bad spelling in e-mails, message traffic and posting to forums such as this one, what with all of the resources available like Spell Check. Heck, MS Word will even check what you are typing as you are typing it to see if there are any errors. I do realize that Spell Check does not exist on this forum and in message traffic, but it is still very easy to type the document in Word and cut and paste to the forum or the message being typed.

Plus as professionals we should be proofreading our work just to make sure that choose doesn't slip in when we meant to say chose.

[BMC Russell Miller]

I got an e-mail from a young YN3 in a format of a text msg with the three letter and numbers in place of real words. After I explained the correct format she needed to use, I also explained to her I am told old to learn the new lazy person way of typing.:) :D

[ETCM Joseph Harold]

I got an e-mail from a young YN3 in a format of a text msg with the three letter and numbers in place of real words. After I explained the correct format she needed to use, I also explained to her I am told old to learn the new lazy person way of typing.:) :D


Told old???

:)

[BMCS T. D. Ellis]

MC,

I am told old myself. In fact, my CO, a W-4, is younger than me by about 4 months so instead of calling him the old man, I call him my younger brother.

[BMCS T. D. Ellis]

I got a new one today from the Coast Guard Institute. One of my BM3's just took the BM2 test.

He needs to work on the "ORDANANCE" vice ordinance section.

I am tempted to e-mail the CGI and tell them to pass him because he can spell ordinance correctly and they should.

[BMCS T. D. Ellis]

...and then we sent out a message today that I did not see that spelled instance; I N S T A N A C E

It never freaking ends...:mad:

[MKC Craig Thorngren (Ret)]

I do realize that Spell Check does not exist on this forum and in message traffic.

Ray,
CGMS does have a spell check feature. The two biggest problems with it that I saw were 1: All of our acronyms come up as spelling errors and 2: It does not check grammar...

Craig

[MSTCS Jerald P. Motyka]

Whether or not it has a grammar checker matters a damn... that's why God invented SHIPMATES!!! I don't give a rat's behind how fast a message has to go out... I ALWAYS print a copy and give it to someone to do a sanity/spell check.

For internet posts and the like, I'll never get ticked at "teh" as a misspelling of "the," as I do it all the damned time. Same thing goes for "fo rwhatever," as my thumbs move a bit faster than my fingers sometimes, and the space comes in early.

But for message traffic and official pubs, by George, they had BETTER be correctly spelled!

[AMTCM John Long]

Holy cow! You mess up the same ones I do.......teh and fo r

It's got to be the fat fingers or one finger is quicker than the other one next to it:D

[ETCM Joseph Harold]

I got a new one today from the Coast Guard Institute. One of my BM3's just took the BM2 test.

He needs to work on the "ORDANANCE" vice ordinance section.

I am tempted to e-mail the CGI and tell them to pass him because he can spell ordinance correctly and they should.

Where they talking about a laws, decrees and regulations, or guns, weaponry and armaments? The latter is Ordnance.

[BMCS T. D. Ellis]

MC,

Thanks. I am going to close my head in a car door.

tde

[YNCM Doug Squires (Ret)]

"Thanks. I am going to close my head in a car door.

tde"

Sounds like fun! Can I watch! :)

[BMC Russell Miller]

I keep a dictionary in my desk draw or I use the greatest spell checker in the world, all I say is BM1 how the heck do you spell the name of that parish. I still have not found a Cajun to English translation guide yet.:D

[SKC Raymond Kurtz]

Holy cow! You mess up the same ones I do.......teh and fo r

It's got to be the fat fingers or one finger is quicker than the other one next to it:D

Wow! Thank you, I thought I was the only one to type "the" as "teh", it really drives me crazy. As hard as I try not to do it, I still type "teh" when I meant to say "the".

[AMTCM John Long]

Ya Ray...I'm not a typist by any means. I have to look at the keyboard when I type. I can't look at the screen and type like most folks. My fingers don't have a good enough memory.:D

[BMCS Dave Considine]

One of the best things they give you at the Chief Petty Officer Academy is the "Webster's Instant Word Guide". I use it almost everyday. It sits next to my keyboard. It is in that box full of the books they gave you at the CPOA. Go into the basement and open it up, it will be there.

As it says on the back, "entries for 35,000 words that often raise questions about spelling or hyphenation."

They should probably give that to everyone at boot camp! At only $6.50 for a new hardcover, they are worth their weight in gold.

http://www.amazon.com/Websters-Instant-Word-Guide-Merriam-Webster/dp/0877792739/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210761395&sr=8-1