Smart People?

We all make small mistakes, but sloppy posting slows reading, and distracts the reader from the meaning of the post. It's anti-social to stick an incoherent post in the middle of a thread, and the site would be greatly improved if persistent offenders were suspended, IMO. There's rarely anything much worth deciphering in their posts, anyway.If patience is a virtue, as you claim, we should all show how virtuous we are by having the patience to check our posts before submitting them! Is that last sentence there to illustrate that spelling is not your only problem?Can't children learn to read and write on children's discussion boards, and then graduate to sites like this?For example, if it takes someone more than five minutes to figure out that capitalizing at the beginning of sentences makes it much easier for the reader to distinguish one sentence from another, then who wants to hear their thoughts on complex evolution/creation issues anyway?The question for such people is not really whether or not they descended from apes, but whether or not they might soon be overtaken by them.

Everything there is either on the topic or closely related enough to it for other forums, let alone "Coffee House".Which means that your post must be off-topic (and so is this one).

Yes. I was suggesting that they might soon overtake some human beings in their general abilities to express themselves in language.Search | The Ohio State University BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Chimp display is Biennale 'hit' Yes. Wrong. That Cambridge research makes the point that we read in whole words, and that we can still recognise the words if the letters are jumbled up as long as the first and last letters are in their correct place.The rcreerash clniatrey deos not ilpmy taht tlbirree snillepg is eulalqy esay to raed as pcfreet slilnpeg.It's old research, and there's an old EvC thread on it somewhere.You then ask in the O.P. why people complain about your spelling, and when some of us point out that posts can be easier to read if spelling and grammar are at a good standard, you seem to show chimp-like speed in understanding the point.Here you are, expressing yourself again. Spelling and grammar, great, but English comprehension, apparently not so good. It is cd oy wh sg ad ms te pt tt sg....etc.You see? The mind reads more than the first and last letter. Message 31, and you haven't yet understood the contents of your own O.P.

Ah, so it's now compulsory to be American, is it? Sorry, simply couldn't resist.

My phrase obeys the same rules as the piece you quoted in the O.P.The point I was making is that the Cambridge research does not mean that bad spelling isn't a hindrance to communication. It merely shows that we can decipher misspellings quite easily if the first and last letters of the words are correctly placed.In the O.P. you say: If you hadn't used the word "good" there, then I wouldn't have disagreed. Correct spelling certainly isn't paramount to communication, but standardized spellings certainly help with the speed of understanding, and make basic communication into "good" communication.I don't think anyone here is objecting to the occasional typo or misspelling, as we all make them. But sometimes we get posters who almost seem to make an effort to slow the readers' understanding down. You don't seem to be one of them, judging by this thread.Incidentally, your judgement on the word "judgement" is correct, as it's the normal spelling just about everywhere except for the U.S., as I hinted to Taz, above. Be a proud Aussie and use Aussie spelling! Don't let our ethnocentric American friends colour your judgement (or color your judgment).