Forums > Social Chat > Saddening Grammar Trend

Posted: 5th Mar 2003
LEET

NYC - wasn't being nasty to you. Just plain sillyness tis all.


PK - did you forget the rest of the rules? Check your PMs.

Meh

Posted: 5th Mar 2003
There are rules? Are you guys playing the blame-game ?

I live in hope that the variety of different forms of expression available to people today mean that we can expand and enrich the way we communicate. We can exchange text messages quickly and get what info we need, or we can write long arguments and debates. We can use bullet points in a business report, or write a full essay in English.

NYC is right, a person replying in sms txt form to an essay question doesn't indicate that the internet and use of text is eroding our language. Rather it indicates that not only are we not teaching people the other forms of communication successfully, we are also not teaching them when it is appropriate to use the different forms.

Language will always be purposeful. Anyone who has written or studied poetry will understand about the importance of using particular words that evoke a wider meaning. So yes, Bovril's example of 'Thinking of robbing a mobile?' is really atrocious use of English. However it is also a very purposeful and targetted way of getting across a message to a particular audience. To be honest, it sounds pretty lame anyhow, almost as lame as your grandmother "hangin' with her crew". But it is language constructed for a purpose. The trick is to recognise this.

It was a day for screaming at inanimate objects.

What this calls for is a special mix of psychology and extreme violence...

Posted: 6th Mar 2003
I just learned about leet, I think it's cool. Utterly confusing at first, but once you get the hang of it you don't even realize you are tranzlating it.

we eat and we drink and we smoke and we try!

Posted: 6th Mar 2003
Was watching the peacekeeper last night with George Clooney. Anyway the computer was open and next thing the thing started bleeping on as it does "you got mail" , "you got mail".

I turned to my friend and said, that's terrible grammer, should it not be "you have mail" or something. I think bad grammer is so accepted these days it's only gunna get worse.

I live in a world of infinite possibilities.

Posted: 31st Mar 2003
Figured rather than start a new thread I'd revive this oldie through the miracle of bumping.

Anyway, what's pissing me off... lately in current events I hear the term "nuclear" tossed around pretty often. Only, none of these people can pronounce the word correctly! It's Noo-klee-ur, dammit! Not "Nuke-you-lur!" I can barely afford to pay for college and these "Harvard graduates" are speaking at a level I can only recall from elementary school.

My other gripe is people repeatedly using grammar that drastically alters the meaning of a written sentence. Like people who can't tell the difference between "your" and "you're" (and the neanderthals who like to write "youre" as if it were the missing link in their half-formed caveperson vocabulary skills). Other notable examples include "to" and "too," and the horrendous use of "..." to end a sentence (primarily found in IM chat sessions). I mean... if you're gonna stall, at least follow it up with something... so I know when it's my turn to respond... or answer a question...

I don't mind internet text abbreviations, or even LEET speak (in moderation), probably because I can still fantasize that there's a person behind the .txt/1337 who knows how to type properly, but for some reason it really gets under my skin when people make these simple yet glaring mistakes.

There, rant over. Does anyone else share my pet peeve here?

What hits the fan is not evenly distributed.

Posted: 31st Mar 2003
Dio, I used to share your pet peeve. I would find myself becoming annoyed at people's inability to use the english language properly. However, over time, as I have become older and wiser, I have learned to let go of the negative feelings I used to develop upon hearing or reading severe grammatical errors. After all no one is really harmed by poor grammar or by the fact that our vocabulary appears to be shrinking. In truth the only people who are harmed by bad grammar are the people who let it irk them.

My daughter is 14 speaks a language which is far removed from the descriptive English language I know and love. But I remember in my youth my peer group and I also had our own slang language which adults had little understanding of. The evolution of txt language and 1337 etc. is demonstrative of the young utilising new mediums of communication and making them their own. An alternative way of writing and speech is also used as a tool by adolescents to distance themselves from childhood and the world of adulthood. As they mature they return to speaking and writing normally and will be replaced by a new generation who think they invented it. It is the natural order of things. I think it shows great imagination to invent a form of language for yourself and your peers.

Are we nearly there yet?

Posted: 31st Mar 2003
Thistle has a point. But wut happenz when kidz don't get the difference between talking 2 each-other and talking to the world at large? Using txt-talk 2 talk 2 each-other jus for shitz n giggles is all well and good, but the problem is that some kids R starting 2 use txt-talk in places where English is more appropriate.

U might speak a dialect @ home, but when U go in2 a business mtg, U R expected 2 speak English, not slang. Knowing when 2 use a universally intelligible dialect as opposed 2 a sub-dialect is where the problem stRts.

L8R.

-Mike

Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella



A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura