Genealogy Chat

I wonder if other people have difficulty reading messages when everything is written in lower case letters? If names start with a capital letter, as I scan down the list I find it easier to pick out any that might interest me because they stand out against other words.

THEY DO HURT MY EYES. Marion

Hi Capital letters dont really bother me, but I do know that some assume that you are shouting when you are using them?? However if you are talking about pages on the internet then you can increase the font size on your page..if your using internet explorer then if you go to view and the top of your page then text size then choose larger or larger.

I assume that you mean people who use incorrect punctuation and don't capitalise names, or first letters in a sentence? If so, I totally agree with you. It makes the whole email look like one big run-on sentence. Judi

It's these kiddy-winks. They are all so into text messages on their mobiles (where you can't capitalise) they forget how to write properly. One granddaughter, shortly to be a full blown junior school teacher, had to have remedial English when she started at university. Not surprising when you read her own school report as her teachers needed the same course. Not like that ... stumps his walking stick on the ground before stamping off muttering, CB

It's all down to poor teaching and bad manners, plus the wretched 'mobile' texting. Things aren't helped by TV companies who run credits using all lower case for the names of people involved in their 'productions'. Reg

You can use capitals on a mobile!!! I do it all the time - can't stand proper nouns without a capital letter. Anne

I did not mean writing in all capital letters, just the first letter of a name. By using a capital the name stands out and is more likely to attract the attention of a possible relative. All capitals is as bad as all lower case. Judi has expressed it right, it does look like one long sentence. Gill

Something that bugs me more than people who write all in lower case is when they capitalise the first letter of ever word of what they write. It Really Drives Me Nuts! lol. I've not seen anyone do it on here, but on another forum I'm on there are several people who have such terrible grammar it makes me cringe. At university there were some of the second years writing their applications for work placements and the like and I couldn't believe the poor state of grammar and spelling. I think so much effort is put into testing and silly things at school and not enough on teaching proper English. That said, I've had to teach myself since leaving school as the teachers were too busy getting us to read books of no interest.

There are some compensations for being old....I went to school at a time when education was dull, boring and unimaginative in the extreme. But I can read, write and spell correctly. OC

OK, I'm 24 and a primary school teacher. I text ALL the time, (capitals used here for emphasis) but hate text speak and refuse to use it. I find posts all in capitals extremely irritating, as well as those all in lower case letters. Please don't say it's just young people though, as I know plenty of people older than me that do the same thing. As for the education system, I work in it but don't get me started..... Laura

I do that, Laura. I write text messages in full sentences, I use punctuation, I absolutely hate all the abbreviations, won't use them and I'm nearly 23. Having a look round my degree show tonight, it is astonishing how many people had final, finished work on display with glaringly obvious spelling mistakes. Whether they're not good with spelling or whether they're not good at proof-reading I don't know, but it is frightening that it is possible to get a place at university, study for three years and still not be able to spell everyday words. The sad thing is, I don't think it will reflect well on students if prospective employers come round to our show, because if they see misspelt work, they'll be thinking, 'Great designer, but they obviously don't pay attention to detail because there are spelling errors'. Also, on a formatting note, it's amazing what a difference paragraphs make when used in a longer piece of writing.

Hi I agree with all the reasons noted above but I do write the names I am looking for in messages on this board with first name starting with a capital and surname all capitals At my Family history class this was the way we were told to write names on our pedigree files. Using the surname in all capitals helps it to stand out. For example Diana DOUGLAS

I do think writing surnames in capitals might be a good idea. The threads on here with 'Who are we looking for in....' - I always find it difficult to search through if the names aren't in capitals, it helps make them stand out! Laura

Do you mean in the message title? I think thats fine, I usually do something like that - but using all caps in a message immediately makes me flick to another one as it hurts my eyes to read them. But yes, its a good idea to have the name you are interested in in caps.

OC said I went to school at a time when education was dull, boring and unimaginative in the extreme. My words are I went to school at a time when education was dull, boring and unimaginative in the extreme. but whereas OC says she learnt to write properly in my case they tried to teach me copperplate (yes, with copy books to copy from). I still can't write properly but I'm not too bad at reading census forms!!! Clive

Clive I just missed copperplate! I learned to write the 'Marion Richardson' way (I think that is the name), which is a simplified 'roundhand' copperplate. I moved schools when I was ten, to an area which taught Italic handwriting - I never got the hang of that, and they left me alone eventually. OC

Capitals for surnames seems a good idea, Diana, it does make them stand out well. I will remember that in future.

I'm an English tutor at an FE college. I'm fortunate enough to teach a wide range of students at very different levels. A large part of my weekly timetable is spent teaching Literacy to adults. The students range from those with mild learning difficulties who are trying to master the basic skills of reading and writing through those who have discovered, on applying to join HE or degree courses, that they need GCSE English or its equivalent and have joined us to 'brush up' and get a nationally recognised qualification (you might have seen the 'Get On' campaign with the ugly gremlin character on TV) and even post graduates who want to do PGCEs but have been told they will not be accepted onto a course until they improve their spellings and punctuation. I'm also involved in embedding Literacy 'Key Skills' into vocational courses. At the same time I teach English Language at GCSE and A level. Part of the issue is the conflict between content and form. For many years the trend in schools (and in traditional A level English) had been to focus more on ideas and their expression rather than the underpinning knowledge of grammar, punctuation and spelling. In other words, what is written is more important than how it is written. Even in exams, points might not be lost if an imaginative and creative text is misspelt and poorly punctuated. the cervashious ebbonny colored feeline sat on the pershian rug might be viewed as superior to The fat cat sat on the mat. Fortunately, this (in my opinion) damaging trend is being reversed and children are, once again, being taught the grammatical frameworks of English at primary school. It will probably take another ten years for this to become noticeable. It's very frustrating to spend half of my working week trying to remedy the results of past educational trends that have gone badly wrong. Please, don't think it's just down to poor teaching.

Well OC & Clive, when I started school it was very exciting. We chiselled our letters onto stones and the teachers had to shoo the pteradactyls off the playing fields.!! It is so nice to see that some younger people value construction and spelling above 'content'. In fact, I'll propose a toast. To yerze and yaws. And to them as think there children their are more important than wot yours are than your'se. See a post about 'Pedants' Too much tongue in my cheek I'm sorry Bernie