self-corrected spelling??

December 4, 2010 4:56 PM

is there a protocol for correcting one's own spelling mistakes in a comment in the subsequent post?
posted by parmanparman to Etiquette/Policy at 4:56 PM (53 comments total)

People tend to do it, flag both comments as something we'll see ["breaks the guidelines" or HTML error] and if we see it and we've got time, we'll fix it. I don't know why people are fussy about it, but some people are and we try to accommodate them.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:03 PM on December 4, 2010

And I don't know if this has anything to do with your jokey comment in AskMe about ten minutes before you posted this, but it was deleted so you don't have to bother asking us to fix your typo.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:11 PM on December 4, 2010

There's a cream for that, so no, you don't have to burn.
posted by nomadicink at 5:26 PM on December 4, 2010

In the subsequent post? So you mean, you make a spelling mistake in a comment, then you go to the bottom of the page, click on the "Newer >>" link, and post another comment correcting your typo in the other thread?

That's jacked, man. Just jacked. Why would you do that?
posted by Eideteker at 5:29 PM on December 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

But more seriously, if you want to correct a typo that you made a few minutes ago, the protocol is to fly around the Earth at relativistic speeds until the planet's rotation reverses, casting everyone violently off the surface of the world, thus rendering your typo irrelevant.
posted by Eideteker at 5:31 PM on December 4, 2010 [5 favorites]

Way to be movementist, you flyer loving bastard.

*teleports away*
posted by nomadicink at 5:36 PM on December 4, 2010

You have to install the Three Minute Edit greasemonkey script.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 5:52 PM on December 4, 2010 [2 favorites]

Was this jokey the comment the one in my question about hair?

Because I didn't see who posted that, and then it was gone, and I'm really bothered because I can't figure out what the heck it meant.
posted by meese at 5:57 PM on December 4, 2010

seppuku
posted by Babblesort at 6:16 PM on December 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

Mmmmmmmm, beans.
posted by fixedgear at 6:18 PM on December 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

I don't know why people are fussy about it

Probably because they don't want some snide typo troll type trying to shame them for it.
posted by Artw at 6:29 PM on December 4, 2010 [3 favorites]

If the typo doesn't change the meaning of your sentence (for instance, for some reason I often leave off a "n't", I have no idea why but it reverses my logic fairly often) don't post an immediate comment to fix it. We either already know you aren't that stupid OR believe it for reasons that a simple spelling correction won't rectify.
posted by DU at 6:39 PM on December 4, 2010 [3 favorites]

Personally, those self-corrections are one of the things I like about Metafilter. It strikes me as saying, "I care about my comments and I really should have caught that."

Probably because they don't want some snide typo troll type trying to shame them for it.

Indeed, there's some of that going on in the recent Wikileaks thread.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 6:54 PM on December 4, 2010

To indicate that you want to replace something with something else, you can say s/something/something else/g

(This is the search and replace syntax used by sed, vi, perl, etc.)
posted by finite at 7:22 PM on December 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

s/\/g/\/g (the g is only necessary after the third slash if you want to replace multiple occurances. also: backslashes can be used to escape literal forward slashes. most mefi readers understand and appreciate the subtleties of this syntax, so, please, do strive to get it right.)/
posted by finite at 7:28 PM on December 4, 2010 [2 favorites]

I usually go... "Oh rats. What I meant was..."
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 8:52 PM on December 4, 2010

Personally, those self-corrections are one of the things I like about Metafilter.

Seriously. There are plenty of sites where people don't give a shit about spelling or grammar, and I'm glad Metafilter isn't one of them.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 9:37 PM on December 4, 2010 [2 favorites]

I concur, that.
posted by clavdivs at 9:54 PM on December 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

DU writes "(for instance, for some reason I often leave off a 'n't', I have no idea why but it reverses my logic fairly often) "

This seems to be the only type of typos I makenotice after posting (thanks to spell check) so you are not alone.
posted by Mitheral at 10:20 PM on December 4, 2010

I would appreciate a simple rule regarding apostrophes. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person in the world who is comfortable with contractions but whose writing "style" and strategy consists mostly of avoiding the apostrophe. Back in the day before computers when we submitted our papers in pen and were uncertain we used to put the apostrophe exactly above the s. It was a bargain we had. You pretend you know the rule and your prof pretends they know it too.
The wiki article is 23 pages and 11,095 words including sixty six references.
posted by vapidave at 10:24 PM on December 4, 2010

Yus.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:40 PM on December 4, 2010

Short version: there's an apostrophe for the contraction "it is": it's. There's no apostrophe for the possessive form "belongs to it": its.

Everything else is almost always wholly unambiguous even if you fuck it up. Even its vs. it's is almost always unambiguous in practice. People will bitch about it anyway. I fuck it up anyway even though I know the rules.

It's just a misplaced apostrophe.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:44 PM on December 4, 2010

cortex: " It's just a misplaced apostrophe."

Those misplaced apostrophes stab some of us right in the grammar lobe.
posted by IndigoRain at 10:51 PM on December 4, 2010 [7 favorites]

As a Canadian, I advise adding a "u" in random places.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 11:14 PM on December 4, 2010

Thank's.
posted by vapidave at 11:28 PM on December 4, 2010

If only there was a preview button or something.....
posted by gomichild at 11:34 PM on December 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

"Have you started a moratorium on the apostrophe?"

-Professor's' comment on a english paper I wrote.
posted by clavdivs at 11:51 PM on December 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

u
posted by flatluigi at 12:23 AM on December 5, 2010

No U
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:30 AM on December 5, 2010

I think you mean't 'apostrouphe'.
posted by trip and a half at 1:13 AM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

Iff your ask ull prolly lose butt iff u teil cortecks "abe" inn eyresee heel huk ewe upp. garan teed.
posted by 31d1 at 1:39 AM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

Thank's ant's. Thant''s.
posted by DU at 3:43 AM on December 5, 2010 [3 favorites]

"But more seriously, if you want to correct a typo that you made a few minutes ago, the protocol is to fly around the Earth at relativistic speeds until the planet's rotation reverses, casting everyone violently off the surface of the world, thus rendering your typo irrelevant."

The Superman ideal solution is not practical for everyone.
posted by klangklangston at 3:51 AM on December 5, 2010

31d1 - I don't know if you were trying for this, but that had extra unparseability for me thanks to the iffs...
posted by russm at 4:03 AM on December 5, 2010

Shots. Mostly whiskey.
posted by The Whelk at 4:06 AM on December 5, 2010

This is as good a place as any to get this cleared up once and for all. Could you please tell me which ones of these are correct:

[ ] Max's boots
[ ] Max' boots
[ ] The girls's boots (there are several girls)
[ ] The girls' boots (again, several girls)
[ ] Marius's boots (Marius being a name that ends with an s already)
[ ] Marius' boots

English is my second language and this particular bit of grammar is hard for me. Thanks.
posted by sveskemus at 4:09 AM on December 5, 2010

Max's boots, The girls' boots, and I believe either of the Marius options are considered acceptable these days...
posted by russm at 4:47 AM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

Seconding russm. You may also be interested to know that you can say either Congress' or Congress's.
posted by nzero at 5:08 AM on December 5, 2010

Cool, thanks.
posted by sveskemus at 5:10 AM on December 5, 2010

I occasionally do it, but only when the error has been so annoying or bizarre I feel driven to remark on it.

As a disclaimer for the future, let it be known that I never make spelling mistakes, and any errors you see are either typos or brainfarts. No, really.
posted by Decani at 5:47 AM on December 5, 2010

Caunaudian?
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:51 AM on December 5, 2010

I though brain faurts was too words?
posted by Dano St at 7:00 AM on December 5, 2010

Eponisterical.
posted by fight or flight at 7:19 AM on December 5, 2010

My name ends with an "s" so I always face the s' vs. s's issue. On the plus side, when I go with s' it makes me feel like I'm using the royal we.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 8:40 AM on December 5, 2010

We's not amused.
posted by Babblesort at 8:56 AM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

Just don't say Congresses unless you're talking about more than one Congress. Also, can someone please remind me not to begin every comment with "for what it's worth"?
posted by wierdo at 9:11 AM on December 5, 2010

s/f/F/ even. ;)
posted by wierdo at 9:12 AM on December 5, 2010

sveskemus, the old rule was that if a name ending in -s was of Greek or Latin origin, you did just the apostrophe; if it was of any other origin, you did apostrophe s.

"Jones's re-interpretation of Linnaeus' taxonomy astounded everyone."

Now, different English-language stylebooks suggest different approaches; some advocate always using 's no matter what ("Jones's re-interpretation of Linnaeus's taxonomy astounded everyone") and others advocate always using 's no matter what ("Jones' re-interpretation of Linnaeus' taxonomy...") and still others hew to the old rule. (This makes life exciting for us freelance editor types.)

So whichever you choose will be fine, as long as you're consistent.

The thing is that it only applies to the letter s, not the s sound ("Jones' re-interpretation of Marx's theories..").
posted by Sidhedevil at 11:44 AM on December 5, 2010 [2 favorites]

Solon and Thanks' use of the royal we amuses me.
posted by russm at 4:22 PM on December 5, 2010

s's looks like a rocketship that made two pretty severe course corrections but is now headed straight to the stars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
posted by SpiffyRob at 7:21 AM on December 6, 2010 [2 favorites]

Protocol is to always blame your spelling mistakes on either lack of coffee or lack of sleep, and never under any circumstances on human error.
posted by pecanpies at 7:25 PM on December 6, 2010

My spelling mistakes are your brain failing to process my genius.
posted by The Whelk at 7:26 PM on December 6, 2010

I don't care if you correct your typos in a followup comment, but don't correct the typo in your followup regexp typo correction with a recursive regexp typo correction.
posted by davejay at 11:35 PM on December 6, 2010