you don't have to "go outside and get a life" ....

I had a good laugh 'cause I was thinking to myself how it was important to me that someone spell the name of this car correctly. then i get a PM from another long time member that said "Maybe I put too much into it, but I wonder how well someone could, or would take care of a vehicle if they can't get this right, especially after attention is brought to it." Exactly what I was thinking!!! I replied that when i see the mispelling, especially when you're trying to sell a car, that i imagine a beat up, poorly maintained, un-cared for car. i mean, if you can't be bothered to stick an S in there, how could you be bothered with getting the oil changed when it's due?
then i got to wondering how many people shared my point of view and how many thought that i should go outside and get a life well, at least i know i share this sentiment with at least one other boarder here.

--
MY 2000 S, Ocean Blue, Metropol Blue, Savanah Beige.
Bought June 2000 - Sold May 2010

dghii
2000 Boxster S 6speed 112k miles

.... you need to go outside and get a ... 986 or a 987
Happy Boxstering,
Pedro

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

---

Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

Some of the most brilliant mechanics I've known have been horrific spellers.

Beethoven could barely do simple arithmetic. I'll eat at a good restaurant even though the menu is loaded with the misuse of apostrophes. Yes, I've noticed quite a few brilliant people who have a keen intelligence in one or more areas of intellect, mechanics included, and be severely deficient in others. But... I think to misspell the name of the car you own, (and a Porsche, no less) then be apathetic when the error is pointed out speaks to attitude, and raises a red flag in my mind and probably several others'. My gut tells me I'd have to take extraordinary care in deciding whether to purchase this car, and not to rely at all on that it's "cherry." I don't consider anything I've posted on this subject an ad hominem attack for its own sake. I have said we don't know anything about this guy, (other than how he's presented his for sale car.) I hope he sells it at a good price; just not to me.

Now I'll post this and belatedly find errors of syntax and spelling. Heck, to my chagrin I posted something about "grammer" on the old board!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/15/2011 11:16AM by Laz. (view changes)

...those Baxters were classics.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/15/2011 04:41PM by dennisafrompa. (view changes)

loaded with misspellings... Well, the goal is to get a good car at a good price.

I admit though I'm a bit taken back -- but not as much as you I think -- regarding misspellings and grammar in an ad. It does I think give me some mild misgivings about the seller and the car but one can't be too careful and too aware when shopping for a used car, so this may be a good thing.

Now I'm more concerned about misrepresentations in an ad. It is one thing to spell Boxster Boxter but another to get the transmission wrong, the mileage wrong, even the model wrong, the engine size wrong, etc. I might still check on the car if it is convenient and possibly a car I'm otherwise interested in simply to gain some more experience in looking at used cars with an eye to buying one. Still, it puts me off cause it calls into question the honesty of the seller and I do *not* like to do business with someone whom I believe or suspect is not honest.

Side note: I used the spell checker (I think the first time I've ever used it here) and it flags both 'Boxster' and 'Boxter' as spelled wrong and suggests 'Baxter'.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

Must be a trend...........Grundy collector insurance has some strange spellings on my policy..........Porsche / Boxter and Alfa Spyder ? They are collector car insurer's right ........

Quote
Blackboxst
…and Alfa Spyder

Isn't that how spyder is spelled on Italian cars?

--
MY 2000 S, Ocean Blue, Metropol Blue, Savanah Beige.
Bought June 2000 - Sold May 2010

Not on Alfas.............Anyway.............

Look at the second sentence in the review by the Hyundai driver. (It might still be the first one.) It's a bit funny and took me a couple readings to figure out what the person was probably trying to say.

[www.tirerack.com]

Quote
Laz
Look at the second sentence in the review by the Hyundai driver. (It might still be the first one.) It's a bit funny and took me a couple readings to figure out what the person was probably trying to say.

[www.tirerack.com]

I'd think he'd be well advised not to drive by the local constabulary at 80+ mph and risk being charged for profanity.

I hear you because I'm a stickler for good grammar and spelling since I write for a living. However, I think we are a dying breed. Just look at the shorthand now being used for e-mail, texting, etc., and all of the studies showing that high school and college kids don't know how to write. I'd be less concerned about whether the guy could spell and more interested in the condition of the car itself, although I could see how some might come to the conclusion that if he's careful with the spelling, he's careful with the car. But if you applied that rule to all ads, I think you'd severely limit your choices. Most of the ads I've seen are pretty badly written and do a poor job of presenting the merchandise. My only complaint with your earlier post is that I thought it was a little harsh to call him "slow" for a single misspelling.

Unfortunately, some of that shorthand is ending up in dictionaries. So, it's becoming official. I saw a documentary on computer use in education (essentially multi tasking) and college professors at the top universities in the country are also complaining about how kids cannot write. They will write one paragraph or sentence, then answer some e-mails or post on Facebook, then come back to what they were writing and write another paragraph, etc. There's no connection of thoughts or proper transitions from one paragrpaph to the next. It's a series of random thoughts/paragraphs placed on paper/computer screen. Real writers grew up on manual type writers due to the extreme need to be organized and concentrate on what you were doing.

If I may quote Oscar Wilde, "I'm a man of simple tastes. I only want the best." (I think I got that right, and Winston Churchill had a similar expression.) Porsche owners are a discerning bunch, yes? Many of us here are not only that, but having migrated from the former board might find the misspelling of "Boxster" particularly disconcerting. I won't ever buy a car from a dealership with screaming radio ads: what is the customer base they are trying to reach? Why would I want to be a part of that?

I don't care much for emoticons. They can perhaps enhance communication, but let's remember: behind a smile there are teeth, so there's not necessarily a reduction of ambiguity concerning the poster's intent. I had at least one board message unintentionally display with a smiley because of my proper use of punctuation and parentheses.

I can appreciate the evolution of language and media (hmmm... language is a medium, isn't it?) Didn't the adverb form with "...ly" come from, "...like?" I'm not the strongest believer in the devolvement of humankind, even ancient Greeks complained of the youth being lazy and unfocussed. Comparisons even show up in The Iliad. I do worry nonetheless because just as the technical ability to communicate increases, the quality of style and content are also changing, perhaps not always for the best.

As always, I hope not to come back to my post and find errors of style! And yes, "focussed" can be spelled with one "s," although it doesn't look right either way.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/16/2011 01:59PM by Laz. (view changes)

Quote
longislander1
My only complaint with your earlier post is that I thought it was a little harsh to call him "slow" for a single misspelling.

You are 100% right about being harsh. I was being very harsh. But you're wrong about being a single misspelling. He put an ad in the classified section. I jokingly replied pointing out the error and its importance. Then he wrote it again and again, hence my "slow" comment. I was intentionally being provocative. You've been here and on ppbb for a long time. You should know me by now.

--
MY 2000 S, Ocean Blue, Metropol Blue, Savanah Beige.
Bought June 2000 - Sold May 2010

Sometimes it's out of your control. I have had typesetters "correct" my ads and make them wrong, and even though this guy may have typed it himself, it is possible some kind of auto-correct feature in the computer may have changed what he typed. This guy may well be an idiot, but there is insufficient evidence to convict.

It's a stretch that something would correct "Boxster" to "Boxter." Where would that've come from? I'm not totally dismissing the contention, but I think it still has to do with someone.