[speeder]

It's a little ironic. The internet resurrected the written word for a generations of people, (no one my age or younger ever wrote anyone a letter before the www, we simply picked up the phone), yet it certainly hasn't contributed to the literacy of the average person the way that letter writing did for previous generations.

This board is proof positive that there is a significant population that cannot write in the english language at even the junior HS level. People write and spell as though they only know the language phonetically, i.e. "for all intensive purposes/piece of mind" and other completely non-sensical combinations of words that sound almost exactly like some sensical one.

Same with "then/than", "there/their/they're", "your/you're", etc... All from people who are not morons...people with some type of education in many cases. One member is an author of technical books but is functionally illiterate, (more or less).

There needs to be a literacy campaign in this country. It's gotten to the point where there is no shame in being illiterate, (calling anyone who notices it, "the grammar police", etc.). It can make someone appear way less intelligent than they may actually be and now that everyone is typing away on the web, it can really affect one's income and job prospects.