Is there a term/name/diagnosis for this?

Semi-literate possibly. It depends on how poor their written communication is. Can they read well or is that a problem too? Probably a term like “functional illiterate” would suit better. That is someone who can read and write but not well.

It could be a reflection of a learning disability.

@DarkScribe You know, I’m not completely sure. Good question though.

@dpworkin: possibly, but statistically, probably not. read this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functionally_illiterate#Prevalence

quote: “Literacy is broken down into three parameters: prose, document, and quantitative literacy. [...] Only 13% of the population [of the u.s.] is proficient in these three areas [...]”

according to this, then u.s. semi-literate people outnumber fully literate people nearly nine to one.

Poor spelling may simply be a form of dyslexia. It’s not uncommon among otherwise literate & educated people. One of my best friends was a brilliant ophthalmologist and electronics guru—widely read & knowledgeable in many subjects—who couldn’t spell worth a damn. One of my daughters was a poor speller—to the point that we had her evaluated by an educational psychologist, whose advice was that she would probably never learn to spell well & not to stress over it.

Fwiw, English is a notoriously tricky language for spelling anyway.

It should be noted that this is a relatively modern phenomenon, as English orthography was not standardized until about 150–200 years ago. Thank god for spell-checkers.

@gasman: this level of poor communication transcends just poor spelling, though. if you can’t tell whether or not a seven year old typed it, you have a problem.

I had a roommate who had this issue. She’s well read and smart, but she has a learning disability that has to to with sequencing. She can’t spell to save her life.

So my guess is: learning disability.

@funnynerd: like I said, above, though, if you take statistics into account, it probably doesn’t have to do with a learning disability.

I understand that there has been a movement among educators lately to let grammar and punctuation slide as long as the student can make himself understood. Apparently they feel that there are more important things to teach, and spell-checkers will help them just like calculators replace teaching math.

Perhaps these people were just never properly educated? Or would the term for this simply be “lazy”?

@Ria777 The roommate was actually diagnosed with a learning disability.

@funnynerd The “sequencing” thing sounds pretty accurate based on what I’ve seen written from the people I know.

@laureth Letting grammar slide entirely?! That’s terrible.

@funnynerd: I did not mean your roommate. I meant the “how is babby formed?” person and other people who communicate on that level online. not that some of them don’t have learning disabilities. just not most of them.

@Ria777 Yes, I would be inclined to think that it is most often laziness or a lack of education, too. I misunderstood you.

@laureth: I see it as part of a larger trend. in one of my first posts to Fluther, ISTR, I asked about where this idea originated (which I saw actually written down in a book for teachers) that instructors should not make any comments on the work based on its quality. so that you should not say something like “good job!” or make suggestions.

apart from that, I think of putting a brave face on a perceived losing battle. you know, accept the inevitable.

@Ria777 I see your point—the question shows more than poor spelling, i.e., missing the indefinite article, failing to capitalize beginning of sentence, excessive question marks & overall vagueness. Not to mention a rather clueless question to begin with (if you have to go to an internet Q&A forum to find out…)! I guess I was only addressing the “babby” part of it.

It could be a form of dyslexia.

It could be dysgraphia. My oldest son is very well spoken and reads very well, but he is not a strong speller or in grammar. He is a talented storyteller (just try to get him to stop sharing his fantastic tales), but his strength is in sharing them verbally, somehow when he tries to write it down something gets lost in the translation. His work requires tons and tons of editing in order to be readable.

If we are referring to errors including letter/word or omissions or letter doubling, that happens when the mind is working faster than the hands and there is a failure to proof read.

f wr ar referrring two eerors inclding lettter or omissions or dubling, hapens wen he mind is wrkng faster tha the hnds nd theiros failur too prof

@SuperMouse That sounds exactly like what I’ve seen with the two people I referred to in my question.

@galileogirl And your explanation makes sense too. But I wonder, why wouldn’t they proofread? Or if they do, is part of the problem not being able to recognize the errors?

ignorant

Two alternative theories:
1) They know it’s spelled wrong and they are just too lazy to correct it
2) They are purposefully and deliberately using poor spelling and grammar as part of their trolling.

My bet is number 2 is the most likely. People who post this sort of thing are doing it to get a rise out of everyone else – posting something badly spelled and extremely ignorant, because they know it causes offense and drama.

I do this occassionally and I am dyslexic.

@essieness, my boy could proofread until the cows come home but for some reason just does not see his errors. It is the strangest thing, it is like his eyes just don’t pick up on the mistakes. If he goes back to read it aloud he catches some of them, but still not all. It is really quite interesting, I have been working with his teachers on this for years and even though his reading and spelling grades are good, it continues to be an issue.

@SuperMouse THAT is what my roommate had!! I couldn’t remember the name.

That’s a normal brain function, it supplies the information that you expect to be there. I don;t know what causes the errors in the first place though. Reading the words backwards will allow for the mistakes to be spotted. That’s how I learned to proof read.