Is the standard of grammar and diction on Yahoo Answers currently unacceptable?

Oi! wot are ya on abaaht?!

They say that them people in glass houses shouldn't throw no stones so wot I suggest is you look up the correct spelling of 'punishement/punushment' and also 'copius' SIC cos that ain't how they're spelt!!

YOU'RE FIRED!

If we are going to be really pedantic about everything, you would be a level one offender yourself. You would have to undergo a short two (this is preferred to 2 as it is a number below ten) minute flogging with a birch (not "with birch" as birch is a countable noun) as punishment.

The evidence in this case would be the use of "abreviation" for "abbreviation" and "copius" for "copious" and "of which" for "on which" and the omission of full stops at the end of Level 1 and Level 3 descriptions.

No, I don't think we should discipline grammatical errors. Before the 17th century, there was no such thing as correct spelling and grammar. People simply spelt words as they felt. Before the advent of the printing press in the 14th century, there was no standardised form of English and people wrote in the dialect they spoke in. Read Gawain and The Green Knight in its original Cheshire dialect for an example - it is very difficult to comprehend, much harder than contemporaneous literature by Chaucer, for example.

Some rules of grammar which we follow today were made in the 18th century and based on Latin and Greek - they are self-contradictory in many respects and do not follow naturally from the English language.

There should be some flexibility in allowing for different standards of English spelling and grammar - not everyone is an expert! What if someone is dyslexic?

lol, someone called you a grammar nazi. i make typos a bunch cause i type quicker, or slower than my brain, though i'm not certain which it is. i think the annoying stuff should be dealt with, all caps, not understandable, etc., but so long as you can tell what the person is saying, i don't really care all too much. i am a bit OCD sometimes, then vs. than, and stuff like that, that drives me nuts. and i can't spell period, well, i can spell the word period(most of the time) but you get what i mean, i hope. lol

*gives you cookies*

i'll do the billboard thing for fun, but with a different saying

*evil laughter*

I agree with a post up there ^ tis the quality not the style that matters.No o-ne gets a laugh for a colon. Usually.

What heinous corrections were you formulating inside that left side dominant brain of yours? Just curious.

EDIT- So Oms, are you 'The Enforcer' of this manifesto? I fear the woolly liberals may be after you...everyone knows that speak and spell used American English. That's enough to make folk choke on their scones.

I think some of those punishments are a bit..well..pervy tbh. Sorry does pervy have 2 'v's?

I would also like to add a 5th rule if I may?

5.Anyone using the word 'parenthesis' should be branded with the word TWOT across his effing gob. Please excuse my slangy working class scousisms...I shall go and brush my teeth with Wright's Coal Tar Soap immediately.

Never mind that--what do YOU mean, by "unacceptable"? Politicians use that stupid, made up word as a euphemism for "wrong, bad, negative, immoral, unfair", while not implying anything of a personal affection. What do YOU mean by it? Go on, say--you don't LIKE spelling mistakes, or punctuation errors, or grammar atrocities. In fact, I largely gree with you--some of the wordsmithery on here makes me cringe. I don't understand someytimes how someone so ignorant of basic language can actually be interested in the News or Politics (the only categories I frequent)....funny, innit.

By the way, what do you mean by the "harshest possible manner"? If you mean verbal humiliation, abuse and belittlement, then yes--with plenty of exclamation marks to indicate your fury at the ignoramuses. Then maybe they'd bugger off and stop tormenting us with their tortured English.

EDIT--your edit is just a bit of sillliness: the only "punishment" that one Y/A'er can dole out to another is ON HERE. With a LASHING, via the keyboard. Like "You're a BONEHEAD for adding that edit..."

My writing style is a little...er, unorthodox to say the least. I'm a BIG fan of - hyphens - and...ellipses...(I'm trying to wean myself off the old exclamation marks though!!!) and without the spoil cheker my Q & A's wood look sumfink lik dis.

I have no problem with bad grammar, spelling, punctuation etc.( in all honesty how can I?)

I find txt spk a little irritating though...!!!-

What kind punishments are you suggesting?

I reckon I'm one of the only people my age who spells properly, not using the 'text language'. ( Obviously there are exceptions ).

Should they be punished? Nah, just ignore them completely and don't give them best answers...I mean it's not a serious crime, right?

Edit: I've just seen the rude Spanish sentence on your profile, Oms. It ain't that offensive ya know ;)

Edit 2:- how about Level 5? PMSL ;)

No. What matters more are the answers to the questions. People who pose questions are looking for answers, not perfect grammar. Sometimes the best answers come from people whose grammar is lacking. In other words, the cover may be ugly or tattered, but the contents of the book may be outstanding.

Pfff no lyk i fink dat wen peopple spek dey shud b abl to spek ow dey lyk wivout any phear o insultz or poonishmant lyk.

But, seriously, like Hellz~More Angel Than Devil I am probably one of the only people my age who spells correctly with the correct grammer and spelling.

its the blasted spellchecker, gawd darn americanisation. Do I not need a machine telling me how I may phrase my questions, I'll use whatever expletive quotes, commas, hypens and brackets I want to so there.

Support my campaign to give yahoo staff a free dictionary for christmas.