To Stet Or Not To Stet, That Is the Question

theodp writes "The NY Times' Virginia Heffernan confesses to being stumped by how to excerpt the language on message boards and blogs. For example, Heffernan notes she could quote kavya on Yahoo Answers word for word ('How is babby formed? How girl get pragnent?'), but worries that doing so makes kavya look like an idiot rather that the sweetly earnest 7-year-old that he or she might be. Is it better to paraphrase or revise the question into 'How is a baby formed?' For now, Heffernan is going to let things stand (stet) and treat message boards like novels, preserving idiosyncrasies of language as far as possible and taking them as intentional — a 'wuz' on the Internet remains 'wuz' in the paper."

Maybe

[strelitsa]

I have a sic feeling I know the answer.

Well?

[Bieeanda]

How is babby formed? [somethingawful.com]

Can't Wait For Virginia Heffernan's Edit Of ...

[strelitsa]

The Gettysburg Address:

F0ur 5c0r3 4nd 53v3n y34r5 460 0ur f47h3r5 br0u6h7 f0r7h 0n 7h15 c0n71n3n7, 4 n3w n4710n, c0nc31v3d 1n |1b3r7y, 4nd d3d1c473d 70 7h3 pr0p051710n 7h47 4|| m3n 4r3 cr3473d 3qu4|.

N0w w3 4r3 3n6463d 1n 4 6r347 c1v1| w4r, 73571n6 wh37h3r 7h47 n4710n, 0r 4ny n4710n 50 c0nc31v3d 4nd 50 d3d1c473d, c4n |0n6 3ndur3. W3 4r3 m37 0n 4 6r347 b477|3-f13|d 0f 7h47 w4r. W3 h4v3 c0m3 70 d3d1c473 4 p0r710n 0f 7h47 f13|d, 45 4 f1n4| r3571n6 p|4c3 f0r 7h053 wh0 h3r3 64v3 7h31r |1v35 7h47 7h47 n4710n m16h7 |1v3. 17 15 4|70637h3r f1771n6 4nd pr0p3r 7h47 w3 5h0u|d d0 7h15.

Bu7, 1n 4 |4r63r 53n53, w3 c4n n07 d3d1c473 -- w3 c4n n07 c0n53cr473 -- w3 c4n n07 h4||0w -- 7h15 6r0und. 7h3 br4v3 m3n, |1v1n6 4nd d34d, wh0 57ru66|3d h3r3, h4v3 c0n53cr473d 17, f4r 4b0v3 0ur p00r p0w3r 70 4dd 0r d37r4c7. 7h3 w0r|d w1|| |177|3 n073, n0r |0n6 r3m3mb3r wh47 w3 54y h3r3, bu7 17 c4n n3v3r f0r637 wh47 7h3y d1d h3r3. 17 15 f0r u5 7h3 |1v1n6, r47h3r, 70 b3 d3d1c473d h3r3 70 7h3 unf1n15h3d w0rk wh1ch 7h3y wh0 f0u6h7 h3r3 h4v3 7hu5 f4r 50 n0b|y 4dv4nc3d. 17 15 r47h3r f0r u5 70 b3 h3r3 d3d1c473d 70 7h3 6r347 745k r3m41n1n6 b3f0r3 u5 -- 7h47 fr0m 7h353 h0n0r3d d34d w3 74k3 1ncr3453d d3v0710n 70 7h47 c4u53 f0r wh1ch 7h3y 64v3 7h3 |457 fu|| m345ur3 0f d3v0710n -- 7h47 w3 h3r3 h16h|y r350|v3 7h47 7h353 d34d 5h4|| n07 h4v3 d13d 1n v41n -- 7h47 7h15 n4710n, und3r 60d, 5h4|| h4v3 4 n3w b1r7h 0f fr33d0m -- 4nd 7h47 60v3rnm3n7 0f 7h3 p30p|3, by 7h3 p30p|3, f0r 7h3 p30p|3, 5h4|| n07 p3r15h fr0m 7h3 34r7h.

Re:Well?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh now that is too priceless. They should do that for people who type "loose" instead of "lose".
 

Re:[sic]

[exp(pi*sqrt(163))]

Shouldn't that second sic be after 'He', the location of the elision?

In which case when quoting you I need to write

* 'John be [sic] tripping. He always [sic] [[sic]] doin' shit like that.'

Re:Can't Wait For Virginia Heffernan's Edit Of ...

[gEvil (beta)]

Hmmm, with a little rot13'ing of that whole thing you just gave me a great big new batch of passwords to use.

Re:Well?

[Forge]

Hey. Stop picking on me.
It's not like dyslexia is contagious.

Re:Well?

[NFN_NLN]

Oh now that is too priceless. They should do that for people who type "loose" instead of "lose".

I hate those kinds of loosers, get an education morans.

Re:Stet it in print, but perhaps not on T.V.

[gEvil (beta)]

Even if it's incremental, getting people to learn better grammar is good for everyone.

It's well for everyone. Sheesh, get it right...

Re:Well?

[maglor_83]

Oh now that is too priceless. They should do that for people who type "lose" instead of "loose".

Fixed that for ya!

Re:My view

[amRadioHed]

I do not think egalitarian [tfd.com] means what you think it means.

Re:It Makes Me Queasy...

[maglor_83]

The underclasses had and have their own dialects

I'm certainly not going to fix up every instance of Aluminum [sic] and -ize [sic] that all these underclass Americans insist on using!

Re:Can't Wait For Virginia Heffernan's Edit Of ...

[mattwarden]

Most people use passwords. Some people use passphrases. Bruce Schneier uses an epic passpoem, detailing the life and works of seven mythical Norse heroes.

Re:Can't Wait For Virginia Heffernan's Edit Of ...

[Breakfast Pants]

Who gave you access to my ssh key passphrase!??

Re:Well?

[The Grim Reefer2]

I've a feeling that grammer nazies will patrol the comments to this story in full force.

I've a feeling the grammar Nazis will be too. ;-)

Re:one viewpoint

[Gman14msu]

Traduttori traditori; "translators are traitors".

And I`m supposed to believe you?!

Probably some kind of pasta.

Re:who's the idiot?

[Anonymous Coward]

quit making sense, twitter, it hurts my head.

Re:Well?

[Eli Gottlieb]

Usually by calling Babby::Babby(Father dad,Mother mom).

Re:one viewpoint

[dsanfte]

I was gonna berate you for mixing up your Latin declensions, but I just realized that's Italian. It comes pre-fubared by about 2,000 years. :)

Re:Easy answer: use current verbal quote practice

[korean.ian]

Just how does a verbal quote have a spelling error in the first place (assuming the person wasn't spelling words out)?

"nukular"

Re:Well?

[GigaplexNZ]

No time for the old in-out, love, I've just come to read the meter.

Re:My view

[Anonymous Coward]

I can understand not proofreading in real-time communication. Doing it when there's plenty of time and space to type properly just makes people look like idiots.

Re:It Makes Me Queasy...

[mrogers]

I suppose that it irritates you when British authors reproduce cockney or Scottish accents in their writing, too?

Ah wuz gunae say thur's a beg deffrunce butween writen dialoag fer feckshunal characturs an quoten a spokespairsun fer the Scoatesh Consairvatuv Partay. But the joak wuz just too easay.

Re:A wake up call

[Anonymous Coward]

Like my dear mother used to say: "Als iedereen in de sloot springt hoef jij het nog niet te doen." which loosely translates to "If everyone jumps into the ditch, you don't have to."

But if everyone jumps into a ditch, there might be a tornado coming.