Fur and fir. A mild rant.

[madderbat]

Get down off your high horse Peter. Go and get a teaching job and put the world right. The grapes on this vine all have their own talents and beauty and who are we to complain if they don't fit with ours!

Bubblewrap left school at 15 and has worked like a trouper all his life. His English and Maths are of a higher standard than most people these days, but: he has a problem with a keyboard and is not always 100% with his spelling. So what.

He still beats me at scrabble!

[Snadger]

LOL, I went to find some of those spuds - fancied growing pink fluffy ones!! Keep your sense of humour folks

You can hang them in the car with the furry dice!

[Snadger]

Some folks do have problems with spelling, Mr D is dyslexic, and spells as he speaks, which means he oft makes mistakes, but as long as folks can understand, then I dont really think it matters in a place where people are all united by an interest and would know what was meant. Me, I spell very well, but my fingers cant keep up with my brain when typing, so often make typos, its not that I mean to do it, just that it happens!

Now, if it was something legal or work related, then spelling to me is extremely important, and txt spk is something I think should be banned! I believe it is now acceptable to use it in an examination????? WTF??? Are we really sure that we wish as a society to polute the language of Shakespere with such unadulterated slovenly slang!! Ok, talking in slang is something that we all do, and having a regional dialect is something I take a certain pride in, but to my mind writing is something else again!

Sorry, rant over!

My son has an A level in English literature and uses txt spk all the time.

I think that written language, like every thing else 'evolves', it has evolved now from the olde worlde puritan thee and thy and in the future txt spk could sadly be the norm!

[shirlthegirl43]

You can hang them in the car with the furry dice!

You been spying Snadger? Actually it is my neighbour's car with the pink furry dice!

[Alison]

Gee Whiz, I think it's late in the night to be getting into that kind of pedantry, Grandpa Dragonz. I don't think, in grammatical terms, there is anything wrong with "more wet". I think it would be equally correct to say
wet wetter wettest or
wet more wet most wet
It's just a matter of stylistic preference. But maybe a real pedant knows better. Anyway, on a gardening site, I think it matters not a jot.

Agree entirely, Alice - and for the record it's all of the above today, cats, dogs, the whole lot!!!!!

[pigletwillie]

I will agree that it doesnt really matter that things are gramatically incorrect or that the spelling is askew. However In the real world its the people who can read, write and understand grammer who are always going to get on more successfully. Communication is king.

Would you look twice at a job application that was written in text speak? Especially if you had plenty from people who can actually string a decent sentence together. People slag off the state of our childrens education yet are too lazy or slovenly to correct themselves. We have free education that the third world would give its eye teeth for, yet we cant be arsed to make use of it.

My grammer or spelling is not perfect but out of personal pride I at least try to ensure that the sentences read ok and the spelling is somewhat near to what it should be.

And its not more wet:-

wet
wetter
wettest

Something I was taught whilst at junior school.

[bubblewrap]

Yes.

But this one does get up my nose a bit.
Getting names right is important.

Unitam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant

[Pottypotter]

Before you critisice think about it, you wouldn't critisise someone in a wheelchair because they didn't get up and walk. some disabilities you can't see ie: dyslexia. hope I spelt that all ok without my dyslexia software.

[bubblewrap]

Before you critisice think about it, you wouldn't critisise someone in a wheelchair because they didn't get up and walk. some disabilities you can't see ie: dyslexia. hope I spelt that all ok without my dyslexia software.

Dyslexia was not recognised when I was at school you were just thick! At least some things have changed for the better.

[nick the grief]

Why are so many grapes posting about "Pink fur apple" potatoes?

They are "Pink Fir Apple".
...........

Luckily I only grow varieties I can spell

[pigletwillie]

I totally agree PP, but that doesnt excuse the majority of people for being lax.

As several people have already pointed out, its only a forum, people are after information, not an English lesson and you can set whatever standards you want for your own posts with impunity.

[nick the grief]

I totally agree PP, but that doesnt excuse the majority of people for being lax.

As several people have already pointed out, its only a forum, people are after information, not an English lesson and you can set whatever standards you want for your own posts with impunity.

On a similar vein, I had an email from someone who said they were an english teacher praising the allotment website for the information but bemoaning the grammar. I replied with my normal sarchasm then formward his note to my friend saying look what some Knobhead had written. Trouble was when he replied to me it copied it to him as well Ah well, at least he knows what I think now

[Pottypotter]

Dyslexia was not recognised when I was at school you were just thick! At least some things have changed for the better.

No it wasn't when I was at school, I didn't know I was dyslexic until I started uni at 30+ luckly one of my tutors spoted it and they sent me for the tests. my life would of been so much different if I had known when I was at school.

[Two_Sheds]

It's bad enough ...without finding keen gardeners saying they grow a non-existant variety

did ya mean non-existEnt?
(I'm a pedant too )

[Peter]

Touche Two-Sheds.

It is just the computer programmer in me coming out.

Like the condecension Lesley, is that along the lines of "Jeffrey Barnard is unwell." ?

Yes I AM aware of dyslexia and do make allowances for the variety of folk we have on the vine.
My two finger typing allows me to make plenty of mistakes.
I did say "mild" rant, no high horse involved, not the least bothered with english teacher spelling, just this particular one that has got up my nose a bit.
As I understand it the fir bit of the name refered to the smell/taste of this variety, therefore it has a context and meaning.

So please it is fir not fur in PFA.