The English language on the Internet
 

It is quite a culture shock sometimes when you post on other boards. Someone on the RSX forum I occasionally read posted this:

hey guys like it says i have this rear bumper comes with the lip still panited camp white sellin for 350 i think thats a good price since icb sells the bumper with lip for 400+. should have pics up 2marro. let me know ooo and thats 350 P/U. i will ship if i can find a box big enough for it so 350 + shipping or 350 P/U

:rolleyes:

What is the Internet doing to our language? I proof my text at least once for errors. I can't be the only one! PParts readers seem to know that prolly (probably) is not a word!

Arrrggghhh!

Sorry, rant over.

I don't think it's the internet. It looks like this one had a rough time getting out of 2nd grade english class.

I'm still somewhat active on a paintball BBS. I saw posts like this all the time. I frequently had to reply "I have no idea what you are trying to say."

Funny story. We had an external project planner here a few years ago who wrote like that. No one could understand her e-mails. I was instrumental in showing her the door. If she was an internal, I would have at least given her a chance to improve. I expect externals to show up ready to hit the ground running. That is what they are paid for. I made a very angry phone call to her employer (as I saw it as their responsibility to supply qualified people).

I have been on the internet since 95 some time, and have been on, and still get on, many internet forums such as this one.

Poor writing skills are rampant among the younger generation. I'm talking atrocious spelling, horrific grammar, wrong tenses, wrong use of punctuation...

And it's hard not to treat them as dumbasses, because they sound like dumbasses...

I get emails like that all the time via my VW bus web site. OTOH, the emails I get from Porsche people are generally grammatically correct, with proper spelling, punctuation, and not much in the way of 'texting' shortcuts.

u make funna me 4 my typing i think i type fine jus coz u cant read wut i write doest make u stupid u azzhol3 jus coz english mebbee not my firs langaj u think it funny to maake fun n who cares if my aposterphy is in the rong place n-e-way effer!!1 so wot if my grammers nott prefect u no wat im tryg to say n-e-way rite n if u dont well who cares bout yer cocky azz neway.

I've noticed this a lot too, huge pet peeve of mine. I can't even write a text message on my phone in shorthand, I try, it looks wrong, and I just correct it and put in punctuation. It's really not *that* hard.

About people you work with; we had someone here at the office, one of the owners actually, that wrote all of their e-mails in shorthand.

There was definately thoughts going through their head, but it was all taken down as notes and then sent off to someone as if they'd have a clue.

It's hard to describe, and I can't find a good one as an example right now, but I'm sure some of you have experienced the same thing. Basically notes, just half sentences, incomplete thoughts, etc. sent in an e-mail.

Another thing is the English as a 2nd language excuse. I don't know if I completely buy that.

Most people that I know that have English as a 2nd language can read and write it better than the majority of Americans. At the very least you can tell that they attempted to create a good sentence even if it's not quite right, and aren't just being lazy.

I do the same as Llama... I send text messages a lot from my phone with several friends, and it's really not difficult to spell out a whole word.

I'm 26. I'm repeatedly offended by the lack of grammar skills exhibited by friends that I grew up with and went to school with. Some of them I had the very same English classes with!

On the other hand, I think that when I took Spanish in high school that my grammar improved markedly. I still speak very poor Spanish, but the classes did teach me how to deconstruct English.

Sounds like that post deserves a rabbit with a pancake on its head.

Man, I hate quotes. I can never get them figured out. I have a grammar book sitting on my shelf right here, but I still can't tame the quotes. Sometimes I'll be writing something that needs a "quote" of some kind, but I never know for sure where to stick the comma or punctuation, so I just randomly throw it in there wherever looks good.

Teh innernet 0wnz u, d00dz....

Well, with quotes, especially when you do air quotes, don't use it to say I'm "sorry", that's not using it right. ;)

The English language has changed significantly. I think that when typing quickly and on a BBS, their has to be a level of understanding which is really all that counts. If on the other hand you are sending an email for business, it should not only be grammatically correct but your spelling should be right as well. This should not be hard especially with spell check and other tools available. I know if I don't reread what I type, I am bound to miss a word or spell something incorrectly.

These are quotes I read, or tried to read, on another forum I belong to. I honestly couldn't translate them for myself. I might run the through Babel fish, and see what it comes up with.

Enjoy:

Those are both totally unedited, copied and pasted in their entirety(sp?) I'd spell check that one word, but it would take too long to get to it. :p


P.S. This isn't someone who just learned English as their second or third language, as those people generally have a better grasp of it than this guy from North Carolina has.

Well I tried out Babel fish, and unfortunately, there isn't a 'Moron to English' translation. So, I translated the 2nd quote into Dutch, then translated the Dutch response back into English.


I still can't figure it out :D

you don't say?

I have to ask, when did making a word plural entail an apostrophe?

I have several coffee mug's.

WTF?!?

my personal pet peeve. the rule seems to be that if the word ends with an "s" then it is mandatory to cram a f%$*#ng apostrophe in there. don't get me started

there was a thread about this whole language bastardization thing not too long ago...

screw english, we need to just go to a system of clicks and whistles.

Slang and this style of "writing" are usually hallmarks of teenagers. Some adults simply never grew up, apparently.

English is not my first language either.

LeRoux

BTW, wtf does WTF mean? ;)

Ronin, great link... remember our Shakespearian debate of turbo Vs N/A?

My theory, (which is mine, developed by me, that I came about BY myself)*
Our new generations just don't read anymore, what with every spare moment spent playing video games or being force fed materialistic garbage via TV. When was the last time you saw a teenager flipping through a magazine or a newspaper?

*Monty Python reference

Great Python reference! I thought I was the only one who ever saw that skit! Nobody remembers it when I mention my theory (which is mine, etc)!

Excellent point about reading. That said, I did very little reading when I was young. (Too much Led Zeppelin to listen to back then.)

Another thought I had is the impatience of today's society. Everything has to be RIGHT NOW!!! That translates into writing. My messages need to be instant. I can't be bothered to think about stupid things like spelling and punctuation.

That is where responsible parenting comes in. My son reads all the time. I read to him every night from a book of his choice. (sometimes I choose, while his school feels the need to skip some classics I think its important for him to read them) He reads his own books too as well as magazines.

He is limited to 1 hour of video games a day. Except right now, he has not been keeping his room clean so he has lost his video game privilege's. He is only allowed to play on weekends now and even then its limited to 1 hour per day.

Part of me says this phenomenon is related to the whole text messaging being popular along with Internet forums. Express the message with as little keystrokes as possible. I agree it makes them look as stupid as dirt.

I read a lot growing up. I mean, I read A LOT growing up. I mean, my first pass through Tolkein's trilogy happened when I was 6. I suppose it helped to have well-educated parents - my dad was always reading scholarly references on theology and what-not. I had rules about video game time, and my parents would always take me to the library if I wanted more books.

These days, I collect books faster than I can read them. I still read heavily. And childish grammar still annoys me!

I guess I expect it on the internet, where children loiter about talking about their most recent trip to the mall, or what size coffee can makes their Honda go faster. I don't expect it at work. I have a fine collection of professional sailors working for me, but relatively few of them have anything like writing capability. Worse, my boss doesn't even care -- which is embarrassing. "It's 'courts-martial,' not 'court-martials,' I say. When two nouns are joined as one word, then made plural, the 's' goes after the first word -- think 'passers-by.'" He just glares at me and insists that it be done incorrectly, because that's how he says it. Aargh.

My left side of my brain is a slacker, the right side is dominant. What this means is I have to work at writing, spelling and math to some extent.

What I'm saying is I can feel handicapped using the internet (typing) as my only means of communication - hence I like to post pictures with my comments. It’s great to have this as an option for the spatial or graphically oriented brain.

I feel the Internet writing styles are more expressive than other type mediums because of the so-called rules and to a lesser extent the lack of rules.

For example if you type in all large case capital letters, then you are shouting. The italics and bold letters are not so abused or typically used in business and pleasure reading materials. This in a nutshell why the Internet medium is so creative and naturally freeform............................love the dot dot dot thing too.

Yes, it's changing (changed) the way we write, time for a smiley face.:)

Parents do have a lot to do with how we communicate and the level of education that we aspire TO (don't end a sentence with a preposition).

Anyway, I remember I had just finished an Agatha Christie novel. I handed the book to my dad and said, "dad, this is a really good book." He sat down and read the book cover-to-cover, handed it back and said, "that is a good book."

Point is, in my family, we consider reading as we do breathing, eating, or cutting the grass. It is second nature to us.

lol, brb, btw, l8tr

Correct use of the English language is under siege. I see deteriorating spelling and grammar even in Wall Street reports which are supposedly written by highly-educated people and supposedly go out to highly-valued clients. The most common problem is hononyms, for example when companies need to "reign in their spending" because "the upturn in revenues is not eminent".

If it makes us feel better, correct use of the French language also appears to be under seige. A young French girl (14 y/o) I know writes all her emails in the most atrocious shorthand, what they call "SMS French".

I suppose there's nothing to do but retreat to a remote cabin in Montana, shotgun in hand, and wait for the end. But let it be an engraved over-under fowling piece.

Not really related, but I thought it was funny, here is a list my daughter wrote when she was 6 or so and learning to write stories at school:

Rools you shood know

1. Whrit your name first
2. Live spas
3. Chece it ugen
4. Thingoe ubout the story
5. Cut it into littole chucs you know
6. Pay utinshin

That's never a rule I've really made sense of. Or ... I've always had a hard time making sense of that rule. I mean, come on, what's wrong with the occasional preposition-terminator? Or a dangling participle? What's the harm?! Where's the outrage!?



So there's this young student, right, and he's just arrived for Freshman year at Oxford. He's lost, so he stops and asks a professor for direcions: "Hey, do you know where the cafeteria is at?"

The professor glares at the new Freshman and announces proudly and with perfect diction, "Young man, at Oxford we do not end our sentences with prepositions."

The student responds, "Ok ... do you know where the cafeteria is at, *********?"

I never understood that rule either. That's why I abuse it whenever I need TO.

BTW, what is a dangling participle?

Here are some good rules to follow when writing or speaking.

(thanks to William Saffire)

* Remember to never split an infinitive.
* The passive voice should never be used.
* Do not put statements in the negative form.
* Verbs have to agree with their subjects.
* Proofread carefully to see if you words out.
* If you reread your work, you can find on rereading a great deal of repetition can be by rereading and editing.
* A writer must not shift your point of view.
* And don't start a sentence with a conjunction. (Remember, too, a preposition is a terrible word to end a sentence with.)
* Don't overuse exclamation marks!!
* Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more words, to their antecedents.
* Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided.
* If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
* Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors.
* Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
* Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing.
* Always pick on the correct idiom.
* The adverb always follows the verb.
* Last but not least, avoid cliches like the plague; seek viable alternatives.

Jus a buncho peeps keepnit on da downlow wit da net tawlk.... atsall

The most popular one on a tech board I frequented for a while was:

OMGHI2UWTFBBQ

I guess they added BBQ because it rhymed with 2U?

Now they just say the word spider somewhere in every thread, hrm.

That's far more inteligent than most of the 'net-speak' on the internet.

I was never good in English classes, and have been guilty of the apostrophe before the s in some case's :p

I know alot of the issues are with speed, trying to type quickly, and hit the reply button to get your message posted. But I'd never lower my self to the unintelligible 'net-speak' standards.

wat?