Commonly Misspelled WoW Words
Posted by 
Heartbourne on Tuesday, April 21, 2009 - 173 Comments Tags: ogrimmar, rant, spelling, trade chat
Heartbourne on Tuesday, April 21, 2009 - 173 Comments Tags: ogrimmar, rant, spelling, trade chat
UPDATE:
Usually my posts get a dozen or so comments. Lo and behold when I logged in today to see over 30 angry comments on this post.
Project Lore represents a variety of players and backgrounds. Sometimes the difference between preaching to guildmates and writing posts vanishes in my mind and I realize I'm not talking to players who are exactly like me. The comments brought up many good points; some players are casual and haven't had time or care to learn all the jargon, while others are non-native English speakers or have speech disorders like dyslexia.
While I stand by the thesis of my post that communicating clearly with proper spelling and grammar will make you stand out in busy channels like Trade or LFG, the counter-response is well taken. Some players PUG people often and would rather get a group going as fast as possible than nitpick. Some players play on less populated servers and don't have the same type of Trade or LFG channels that are flooded with spam.
This is all true and I should have taken these things into account before publishing that post. I'll leave this post up for posterity, but I want everyone to understand that this is a rant stemming from personally dealing with novice players and wasting hours in instances from PUGing inexperienced players and this does not reflect on all of the writers or staff of Project Lore. I myself make spelling and grammar mistakes, and this post and many of my others are full of them. I leave the ones I found as is and highlight them to show that everyone makes mistakes, even when their message is carefully thought out.
Nothing makes you look more like a novice when desperately trying to PUG a heroic group than misspelling some simple words. Many players opt to leave the spam-ridden trade channel because there is little value in seeing statements like "LF Haels and tnak h occulus pst". If one cannot type simple four letter words, then many players will have doubts about that individual's ability to play effectively.
One of the most commonly misspelled words as of late is "dual". Many players talking about "dual wielding" or "dual specs" as "duel wielding" or "duel specs". A duel in WoW is a simple fight to the death between two players. Dual implies that there are two of something, namely weapons in your hands or specs that you switch between (ending a sentence with a preposition).
Another one that died out pretty early in WoW's lifespan but creeps up occasionally is rogue. If anyone is in trade looking for a "rouge" to open their lockbox, I would sooner ignore them than waste a hearthstone cooldown and my time going from Dalaran to Orgrimmar and back to help someone who doesn't take their time to proofread their sentences.
And while we are on the subject of Orgrimmar, note that there are two R's (three R's n00b!). The city is not "Ogrimmar" nor "Orgimmar". If someone is looking for an enchant in "ogrimmar" I do not know where to meet them, and I don't waste my time trying to speak with such an illiterate individual.
Everyone's least favorite dungeon, Oculus, is one that is difficult to PUG and misspelled more often than not. Note that there is one C. It is not "occulus". Occulus guards the Caverns of Time. Oculus is a dungeon located in Coldarra.
Now I know that everyone makes mistakes and there are some younger players who haven't yet developed their typing skills. However, the road to level 80 is long your first time through and you learn many things while leveling. You should learn common terminology well. People who correct their spelling with an asterisk gain a little bit of respect in my book, even though they further spam up my chatlog so I have to scroll around when looking back at other, more relevant messages. If I am about to spend 1-3 hours in a dungeon with 5 people I don't know, I'm not taking risks on someone who cannot spell simple words correctly. Stay alert!
What are your opinions? Have you found a good guild and left trade/general chat, or do you still revel in that cross-city chat?
Usually my posts get a dozen or so comments. Lo and behold when I logged in today to see over 30 angry comments on this post.
Project Lore represents a variety of players and backgrounds. Sometimes the difference between preaching to guildmates and writing posts vanishes in my mind and I realize I'm not talking to players who are exactly like me. The comments brought up many good points; some players are casual and haven't had time or care to learn all the jargon, while others are non-native English speakers or have speech disorders like dyslexia.
While I stand by the thesis of my post that communicating clearly with proper spelling and grammar will make you stand out in busy channels like Trade or LFG, the counter-response is well taken. Some players PUG people often and would rather get a group going as fast as possible than nitpick. Some players play on less populated servers and don't have the same type of Trade or LFG channels that are flooded with spam.
This is all true and I should have taken these things into account before publishing that post. I'll leave this post up for posterity, but I want everyone to understand that this is a rant stemming from personally dealing with novice players and wasting hours in instances from PUGing inexperienced players and this does not reflect on all of the writers or staff of Project Lore. I myself make spelling and grammar mistakes, and this post and many of my others are full of them. I leave the ones I found as is and highlight them to show that everyone makes mistakes, even when their message is carefully thought out.
Nothing makes you look more like a novice when desperately trying to PUG a heroic group than misspelling some simple words. Many players opt to leave the spam-ridden trade channel because there is little value in seeing statements like "LF Haels and tnak h occulus pst". If one cannot type simple four letter words, then many players will have doubts about that individual's ability to play effectively.
One of the most commonly misspelled words as of late is "dual". Many players talking about "dual wielding" or "dual specs" as "duel wielding" or "duel specs". A duel in WoW is a simple fight to the death between two players. Dual implies that there are two of something, namely weapons in your hands or specs that you switch between (ending a sentence with a preposition).
Another one that died out pretty early in WoW's lifespan but creeps up occasionally is rogue. If anyone is in trade looking for a "rouge" to open their lockbox, I would sooner ignore them than waste a hearthstone cooldown and my time going from Dalaran to Orgrimmar and back to help someone who doesn't take their time to proofread their sentences.
And while we are on the subject of Orgrimmar, note that there are two R's (three R's n00b!). The city is not "Ogrimmar" nor "Orgimmar". If someone is looking for an enchant in "ogrimmar" I do not know where to meet them, and I don't waste my time trying to speak with such an illiterate individual.
Everyone's least favorite dungeon, Oculus, is one that is difficult to PUG and misspelled more often than not. Note that there is one C. It is not "occulus". Occulus guards the Caverns of Time. Oculus is a dungeon located in Coldarra.
Now I know that everyone makes mistakes and there are some younger players who haven't yet developed their typing skills. However, the road to level 80 is long your first time through and you learn many things while leveling. You should learn common terminology well. People who correct their spelling with an asterisk gain a little bit of respect in my book, even though they further spam up my chatlog so I have to scroll around when looking back at other, more relevant messages. If I am about to spend 1-3 hours in a dungeon with 5 people I don't know, I'm not taking risks on someone who cannot spell simple words correctly. Stay alert!
What are your opinions? Have you found a good guild and left trade/general chat, or do you still revel in that cross-city chat?
References (1)
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Response: expansion lists for WoW
Reader Comments (173)
Tarren Mill... Tauren Mill.. that always pisses me off.. does no one pay attention to how things are spelled?
I've misspelled words before in my lifetime of playing WoW too. Sometimes people ignore it, and other times they make jokes.
[LookingForGroup] [Xariah]: LF tnak for Heroic CS (Timed)
[LookingForGroup] [Minimee]: I'm sorry, Xariah. I can't tnak. But I can TANK for you.
[LookingForGroup] [Minimee]: Jesus.. proofread your sentences noob.
I don't understand why people are dicks sometimes. What did they accomplish? Answer? Nothing. They just like being dicks.
So does Project Lore have some sort of quota for writers on the blog? ...because I'd rather see fewer articles than have to see an article complaining about the spelling of Orgrimmar or Oculus just to fill the quota for the week.
Weak.
Yes, it's annoying to see so many people with such poor typing skills, but I can easily forgive someone for not knowing how to spell Oculus correctly. I have other things to complain about before I complain about people spelling it "Occulus". Seriously.
Have you got anyone other than yourself on your friends list?
With Guild chat, I don't worry about it so much.. it's not that I can't spell, but I get busy typing that I misstype. In Trade or General chat, I'm usually pretty sure to check my spelling. I always have a hard time with horde/hoard though. :)
Everyones being very critical to heartborne =/
While I take a pretty relaxed view on this sort of thing (lord knows I'm not a good speller) I found this funny:
"I mean, really ... some people are just not up to your “high” level of English."
Not sure when spelling correctly started being considered a high level?
i'm gonna have to say that to me it's not a big deal, number one reason is that many of my good friends in the guild are from eastern Europe and though they speak great english their writing and spelling can be lacking. Does it mean they aren't good players? Not even, they're some of the best players i know.
Besides everything now a day is abbreviated anyways or shortened in one respect or another, the use of correct spelling is not gonna even be on my list of determining factors generally. (mostly cause i'm not much of a speller myself)
as for trade chat- trade chat is generally filled with annoying bored people on every server even if they learned how to spell it wouldn't change that aspect.
Well, this certainly stirred people up!
Project Lore is meant to be educational, but we do want to emphasize bringing the character of the writers out. Doing factual posts all the time gets boring and we could have a robot or well-trained monkey write them.
While this rant was a little intense, I wanted to deliver my point that when you are competing for attention in a busy channel like LFG or trade, it is a mark of experience and intent to use proper spelling and grammar and will likely increase your chance of getting a better group if you take the time to properly communicate.
I agree with the majority of the posters. To totally dismiss someone because of their spelling is ridiculous. I often misspell words because I am dyslexic. Even when I proofread my posts (which I regularly do especially in trade chat) the words I see look correct.
Just because people can't spell does not mean they are any less capable or intelligent, and judging them based on that reflects more on you than on the person who can't spell rogue.
Honest mistake or typo - forgivable, I often correct the person. (It's not rouge, but rogue)
Spammed macro to LFG - As above, but quickly ignored if they fail to take the time to change it. (Them: LFG Slabs! Me: It's Shadow Labrynth. There's no plurality there. Them: Huh? WTF u say? Me: Ignored.)
Idiot beggars and spammers - Soandso yells, "Can I hav sum gold?" Soandso whispers to you, "Can I hav sum gold plz?" Me: Yes. You can. Once you can ask me properly I might be inclined to give you some. Soandso whispers to you, "wut?" Soandso whispers to you, "u gonna giv me money?" Me: /ignore Soandso.
I always type "waht" when i talk. I almost always correct it though
I noticed something, almost every one of you (except our esteemed English teacher) misspelled a word in their post.. now Heartbourne, I must say... you would be the only person who I would permanently keep on my ignore list... I mean it's such a pain isn't it? To take 2 seconds of your life and realize "oh.. he meant TANK" I see you'd much rather look down at them and scold them for their mediocre spelling abilities. I mean come on, who really wants to spend time (by the way, THIS IS A LEISURE ACTIVITY) to rudely mock someone who has a mishap on their keyboard.. I mean.. if we all spent hours checking grammar and spelling on WoW, then we might as well all come to PL and write blogs for them too... then again... isn't easy to dis someone's spelling skills when you have a spell-check and hours of life to waste? Also And I quote "People who correct their spelling with an asterisk gain a little bit of respect in my book, even though they further spam up my chatlog so I have to scroll around when looking back at other, more relevant messages" Chat log.. it's a two letter word... didn't see that error coming now did you?
lvl 80 rouge lfg occculus (heroik) no nob no nija please pst tell i do god dps's nd kno wut 2 do
BTW Mr.
Well, this certainly stirred people up!
Project Lore is meant to be educational, but we do want to emphasize bringing the character of the writers out. Doing factual posts all the time gets boring and we could have a robot or well-trained monkey write them.
While this rant was a little intense, I wanted to deliver my point that when you are competing for attention in a busy channel like LFG or trade, it is a mark of experience and intent to use proper spelling and grammar and will likely increase your chance of getting a better group if you take the time to properly communicate.
THERE WAS NO HINT OF THAT AT ALL IN YOUR BLOG...
BTW I noticed that you were... guild less? Or was that the OTHER level 80 Blood Elf rogue named Heartbourne?
Nice, PL got a grammar troll.
Grow up
at heartbourne's response:
I don't know anybody that would take somebody over somebody else because of spelling.
If somebody says "haeler lfg heroiks", then right after that, somebody else says "healer lfg heroics", everybody would take the person who spoke up first. Now I am not talking about you, of course, because you would rather see good grammar than get a group together fast
Its one thing to get annoyed at people who's spelling or typing skills are flawed, but its another to post a hate speech.
In fairness i dont think the article itself is a problem, more the way it was written, with no execption, thus giving an elitist viewpoint.
Personally, i could call the write here a n00b, on the basis that his post wasnt written in binary or even leet. face is, not everyone speaks english as their first language, and unless you can speak all their languages flawlessly, you have no right to object to their efforts.
To assist my point, ive translated this thread into true leet:
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As I read this I think to myself is that you are pretty harsh,like when you mentioned that you wouldn`t open a lockbox for someone because they spelt rogue wrong,I mean grow up! Somethimes you make mistakes,or you hit the wrong key(which I often do and don`t realise until its sent) and to dismiss someone over this is just rude on your part and ridiculous. People also have disablilities which can cause them to type or word things badly,but they could still be an awesome player and its no reason to dismiss them. And snobs are the people that find their way to my ignore list.
Well they are my thoughts and I hope you consider of changing your attitudes because as you can see from the comments people are not happy with your post
God i hope your kidding. A persons ability to spell has nothing to do with their ability to play. Yes it would be implied that in order to understand ones role and class and contemplate complex strategies they should know how to spell basic words. However, there could be a simple reason like a new keyboard that they are getting used to or if they are using a laptop . Who the hell cares if they spell oculus correctly?! I'm sure almost no one knew that "occulus" was a dragon. I bet they all assumed you meant the instance. WoW is most certainly not real life. Spelling words incorrectly and mispelling words and abbreviating everything you say will get you nowhere in a career or school, but WoW is a GAME! As long as you get your point across in a way the people you are talking to understand, what doea it matter if they said "orgimar" if you are a level 80 you should know what they mean. WoW is a game. Stop treating it like a term paper.
Quote from Heartbourne
"While this rant was a little intense, I wanted to deliver my point that when you are competing for attention in a busy channel like LFG or trade, it is a mark of experience and intent to use proper spelling and grammar and will likely increase your chance of getting a better group if you take the time to properly communicate."
Thats some damage control if I've ever seen it, and if that had been your blog post, you would not have pissed off so many folks. Might what to have someone else at projectlore read over your post first, if you had I doubt it would have made it without some changes.
Even though i made an error I bet you still understand that I think you suck. See how that works?
want*
i can see why it bugs u but u shouldn't ignore ppl just because they cant spell very well.
i cant spell very well at all but i am a compadant wow player and i have seen ppl who cant really spell at all been masters at wow.
so i think u need to cut ppl some slack