SERIOUSLY- do not correct people's spelling while they are talking about health issues

[Anonymous]

A person asked about a colposcopy and got an earful of critiques of her spelling, even was called on her "ignorance" about her health.

If ever there was a place where there could be some default slack, decency, and respect, I would hope it would be on a forum regarding matters of health.

Clearly this woman was a bit scared, too. Trying not to be. Please, lets treat each other better when we are dealing with these sensitive matters.

[Anonymous]

I disagree.
- someone who gets routine colposcopys

Spelling it right 1. raises awareness 2. helps you be a better advocate for yourself and for the condition and 3. allows you to communicate clearly.

Not spelling it right is dismissive and doesn't help either the patient or person they're speaking to. When people say to me "colonoscopy or whatever" it makes me feel ignored and not understood.

[Anonymous]

So this is about YOUR feelings?

I see, that is really important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I disagree.
- someone who gets routine colposcopys

Spelling it right 1. raises awareness 2. helps you be a better advocate for yourself and for the condition and 3. allows you to communicate clearly.

Not spelling it right is dismissive and doesn't help either the patient or person they're speaking to. When people say to me "colonoscopy or whatever" it makes me feel ignored and not understood.

I agree with this. It wasn't a spelling error, she used the wrong term. I think that is kind of critical to point out that she wanted advice on the procedure.

[Anonymous]

And you think its important to insult the person who uses the oh so offensive (to you) misspelling?

[Anonymous]

OP's query was about HER health, not how she can better advocate for herself or anyone else with proper spelling.

Correcting spelling in the context of someone expressing concern is fundamentally turning the priorities into a direction of NEW priorities., namely those of the superior speller. Good grief.

[Anonymous]

I agree with OP and did not even read the thread.

Its one thing to eduacte the other OP nicely and tell her the proper spelling, etc. But I am sure some bitches on DCUM decided to tear the poster apart and thats uneccessary.

I had multiple colposopies and messed up the name initially because its easy to.

All the holier than thou bitches need to step off.

[Anonymous]

No one should be insulting someone seeking medical advice. I don't think polite (as opposed to rude) corrections about the spelling of a term or the correct term to use are insulting - they don't need to be repeated again and again, but I do think it helps the OP to have better awareness of her condition and to be a better advocate for herself.

[Anonymous]

It WAS insutling and it WAS repeated SEVERAL times in a RUDE way.

There was NO simple correction given kindly.

[Anonymous]

OP's query was about HER health, not how she can better advocate for herself or anyone else with proper spelling.

Which relate to her health. Certainly it can be expected that on a public internet message board, people may post information relevant to the inquiry even if not in direct response to the question. But no one should be rude, and there's no reason to correct OP multiple times.

[Anonymous]

the first person who mentioned it wasnt rude. subsequent ones were. However, i dont see the problem with her pointing out the proper procedure

[Anonymous]

You ladies are truly unbelievable. You just dont want to understand the real priority, which ought to include having some heart.

[Anonymous]

Not having read the thread (I couldn't find anything, was it recent?) if the spelling was so incorrect that it distorted the meaning, then I can see a polite correction (i.e. did you mean "colposcopy"? if so...) If it is obvious what the person meant, then I don't really think it is necessary, it is certainly not necessary for multiple people to do, and there is no need to be rude about it. I totally agree with OP. I think it's important for myself to know about the conditions I have and procedures I might undergo, but when I'm scared about something about to happen, I really wouldn't need someone else getting on me about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not having read the thread (I couldn't find anything, was it recent?) if the spelling was so incorrect that it distorted the meaning, then I can see a polite correction (i.e. did you mean "colposcopy"? if so...) If it is obvious what the person meant, then I don't really think it is necessary, it is certainly not necessary for multiple people to do, and there is no need to be rude about it. I totally agree with OP. I think it's important for myself to know about the conditions I have and procedures I might undergo, but when I'm scared about something about to happen, I really wouldn't need someone else getting on me about it.

The OP of that thread used the term colonoscopy when she meant the one this OP said. (I can't spell it for my life.) They are two very different procedures. One poster in that thread pointed it out but wasn't particularly rude about. I think she said something along the lines of...it's called a colpsocopy!! The rest were pretty rude. I don't see anything wrong with pointing out that the OP was using the wrong procedure. I'll admit that when I first read the thread I wondered why she was getting a colonpscopy and if perhaps she hadn't understood her Dr. correctly about what was going on. I didn't know the correct term of the other procedure, so hadn't realized that is what OP meant.

[Anonymous]

I was one who you may think was rude. I think the Internet confuses tone sometimes. This was not a spelling error; it was akin to meaning "strep" and saying "staph." The inaccurate was confusing and makes it less likely OP will be helped. I think the word ignorant was used and that is accurate; ignorant isn't insulting. It means you don't know something. The OP didn't know what her procedure was called. Or perhaps she forgot. Or perhaps she was screwed by autocorrect. I don't think this is a big deal.