Punctuation

jonthefishguy

Active Member
As it was noted in a previous thread, it seems that punctuation and correct grammar seems to be a thing of the past and it is quite sad. Although this is a forum and not English Class 101, improper grammar says a lot about a person. As we know, slang has always been around and will continue to be. But the argument that was brought up was not about a misspelling here or there. It was about continuous mispellings and lack of respect for the English language to correct it. Yes, they may put more effort in spelling when it comes to employment. But that shouldn'd be the only time. To make excuses about the reason's for your bad grammar shows even more about you. Example: "its a message board and me and alot of other people on here arent authors". Well, while the writer may not be an author, he/she certainly isnt educated either. You dont need to be an author to know how to use correct spelling.
Many of the youth today seem to think it is acceptable as long as the word sound correct, like "WUT" for "WHAT" or "HOLLA" for "HOLLAR" or loose for lose etc. Its a bit like an engineer arguing that it doesn't matter if a calculation is just wrong by a little bit. It does matter. I think it matters more than they care to realize. Maybe this is due to things like texting where you tend to abbreviate. I get very annoyed with emails where the sender hasn't bothered to capitalise properly or use good punctuation. It seems to say that they really aren't bothered by it. It's mostly the result of laziness, poor teaching and as I said before, lack of respect for the language, unless half the population is educationally subnormal or dyslexic. It's not just that people can't spell or write; what's worse is they don't care, and aren't interested in correcting their mistakes.
I understand that not everybody is a good speller or able to punctuate correctly, but anything that is for public to read should be checked by someone who is or can. These days, there's no excuse for bad spelling. You cannot spell? That's what a spellchecker is for. And if you haven't got a spellchecker, that's what a dictionary is for (kids would call that "old school").
Americans tend to be lazy when it comes to spelling and learning. They take less time to do these things and they don't find it important. People from native countries are more dedicated to learning and doing well with what they are learning. They study harder and are usually more proper when speaking in English than most americans. Also, some foreigners have something to prove in order to keep jobs, etc. so they are going to try and do everything better than an American.
Americans as a whole tend to rush everything that we do. That is why Fast Food is so popular in this country. Now from other countries, people are trying there best to fit in. In most countries, you are rewarded for saying stuff correctly, etc. But, in this country people tend to not care about stuff like that unless if you are in a professional environment like Alix2.0 said. Now, that creates a natural environment for people to relax into and then tend to sink into not caring what they are talking about. It is all about the natural tendency to get stuff done quicker to make time for more fun time.
Maybe some of you who read this will feel its a bit petty and that this is a forum and not school. Or maybe others including myself feel a bit peeved about the way our language is torn apart all in the name of simplicity. Take the extra time to add a letter here or there where it belongs. Most of us that are on here that answer your questions are older and may not take you as serious as we should for the simple fact that you cant take your grammar serious. At an employer's standpoint, it shows that if someone can't be bothered with their spelling and grammar at this stage what chance is there that they would be conscientious about the quality of their work or their husbandry habits.
Maybe this is just a way for me to vent about something. Maybe its nothing at all and should be overlooked. Whichever it is, it is my opinion and I am certainly not the only one that feels this way.
 

jennythebugg

Active Member
My punctuation leaves a lot to be desired , but my spelling is usually spot on.
I am not a very good typist and I apologize if that offends anyone . I do notice the complete lack of 'real english' it seems everyone uses anagrams and slang these days
I blame it on text messaging.
 

jonthefishguy

Active Member
Originally Posted by austin
i cant spell or use correct grammar
public schools where i go suck
Then educate yourself on the correct usage of grammar. Blaming someone else is a waste of an excuse and shows your lack of bettering yourself. If they are not teaching you the correct way, find someone who will or read the dictionary, an encylcopedia, a thesarus.
 

ric maniac

Active Member
I agree, but I haven't practiced it until recently. It makes someone appear to be immature when they do things like i instead of I and ur instead of your. I still use lol however, as it conveys a good feeling and there is no excuse for not being happy
 

t316

Active Member
Originally Posted by jonthefishguy
As it was noted in a previous thread, it seems that punctuation and correct grammar seems to be a thing of the past and it is quite sad. Although this is a forum and not English Class 101, improper grammar says a lot about a person. As we know, slang has always been around and will continue to be. But the argument that was brought up was not about a misspelling here or there. It was about continuous mispellings and lack of respect for the English language to correct it. Yes, they may put more effort in spelling when it comes to employment. But that shouldn'd be the only time. To make excuses about the reason's for your bad grammar shows even more about you. Example: "its a message board and me and alot of other people on here arent authors". Well, while the writer may not be an author, he/she certainly isnt educated either. You dont need to be an author to know how to use correct spelling.
Many of the youth today seem to think it is acceptable as long as the word sound correct, like "WUT" for "WHAT" or "HOLLA" for "HOLLAR" or loose for lose etc. Its a bit like an engineer arguing that it doesn't matter if a calculation is just wrong by a little bit. It does matter. I think it matters more than they care to realize. Maybe this is due to things like texting where you tend to abbreviate. I get very annoyed with emails where the sender hasn't bothered to capitalise properly or use good punctuation. It seems to say that they really aren't bothered by it. It's mostly the result of laziness, poor teaching and as I said before, lack of respect for the language, unless half the population is educationally subnormal or dyslexic. It's not just that people can't spell or write; what's worse is they don't care, and aren't interested in correcting their mistakes.
I understand that not everybody is a good speller or able to punctuate correctly, but anything that is for public to read should be checked by someone who is or can. These days, there's no excuse for bad spelling. You cannot spell? That's what a spellchecker is for. And if you haven't got a spellchecker, that's what a dictionary is for (kids would call that "old school").
Americans tend to be lazy when it comes to spelling and learning. They take less time to do these things and they don't find it important. People from native countries are more dedicated to learning and doing well with what they are learning. They study harder and are usually more proper when speaking in English than most americans. Also, some foreigners have something to prove in order to keep jobs, etc. so they are going to try and do everything better than an American.
Americans as a whole tend to rush everything that we do. That is why Fast Food is so popular in this country. Now from other countries, people are trying there best to fit in. In most countries, you are rewarded for saying stuff correctly, etc. But, in this country people tend to not care about stuff like that unless if you are in a professional environment like Alix2.0 said. Now, that creates a natural environment for people to relax into and then tend to sink into not caring what they are talking about. It is all about the natural tendency to get stuff done quicker to make time for more fun time.
Maybe some of you who read this will feel its a bit petty and that this is a forum and not school. Or maybe others including myself feel a bit peeved about the way our language is torn apart all in the name of simplicity. Take the extra time to add a letter here or there where it belongs. Most of us that are on here that answer your questions are older and may not take you as serious as we should for the simple fact that you cant take your grammar serious. At an employer's standpoint, it shows that if someone can't be bothered with their spelling and grammar at this stage what chance is there that they would be conscientious about the quality of their work or their husbandry habits.
Maybe this is just a way for me to vent about something. Maybe its nothing at all and should be overlooked. Whichever it is, it is my opinion and I am certainly not the only one that feels this way.

Agree...and I am guilty myself of short handing some of my posts. But as you preach this, did you notice that you have a minimum of "10" mispelled words/pronunciations in your origional sermon???????????????????????????????????
 

jonthefishguy

Active Member
Originally Posted by T316
Agree...and I am guilty myself of short handing some of my posts. But as you preach this, did you notice that you have a minimum of "10" mispelled words/pronunciations in your origional sermon???????????????????????????????????
As a matter of fact. I was waiting for someone to jump on that. It was done on purpose. Although they are very insignificant, they are there and they show an example of how it sounds the same. I will point one out. SHOULDN'D. Hopefully those that at least saw it, noticed it was wrong and not just read over it without catching it. I would also like to point out that even though I have a few punctuation errors, and a few purposely placed grammer errors, they are not as recognizable like using UR instead of YOU ARE or WUT DU U MEEN.
 

t316

Active Member
jonthefishguy said:
As a matter of fact. I was waiting for someone to jump on that. It was done on purpose. Although they are very insignificant,
You are kidding, right.
Sorry...I mean, u r kidn' rite?
 

lion_crazz

Active Member
I don't think incorrect spelling offends anyone, but I think poor grammar and improper spelling on the internet and on cell phones leads to a lot of bad habits and makes one look a lot younger or less educated than they really are. It's a shame, but it is certainly the truth. You get a totally different image of a person all by the way he or she types and spells words.
I never look for it, but because I, myself, would have it no other way but to spell correctly, I always notice grammatical errors and misspellings.
 

jonthefishguy

Active Member
I will give you a scenario where both grammar and punctuation plays a serious role. This sentence may be a slight bit offensive to some and nothing to others so if it does, my apologies. I am just trying to make my point.
Example 1: "I need help wit my enema. Its tentacles are shribbled and it looks like they are falling off. IZ my enamna died. sumbody has eva no wut im talken bout"
As you can see it is a bit far fetched but not too far fetched. If they would just take the extra time to spell it correctly, then they would seem more educated than we assume. After reading the above sentence, you would assume that not only is this person uneducated, it must be a child as well.
This example shows how punctuation is everything. Again I apologize if this offends anyone.
Example 2: improper punctuation "I helped my uncle jack off a horse."
proper punctuation " I helped my Uncle Jack off a horse."
The use of capitalized letters in the right place makes the statement totally different from each other and has two different meanings.
 

t316

Active Member
I'm not saying that you didn't place these incorrect words/pronunciations in the novel. But this is an Internet message board. If someone posts..."can u help me wit ik prblm cause i liv in geto an mama iz sik frum dizeeez", is one thing, but a few abbreviations to help speed up the typing IMO, is not a signal of low education or disrespect.
....and I don't care who you are, I ain't jacking o.. no horse
 

jonthefishguy

Active Member
Originally Posted by T316
I'm not saying that you didn't place these incorrect words/pronucitations in the novel. But this is an Internet message board. If someone posts..."can u help me wit ik prblm cause i liv in geto an mama iz sik frum dizeeez", is one thing, but a few abbreviations to help speed up the typing IMO, is not a signal of low education or disrespect.
speed up the typing? We are not taught in school to take short cuts in grammar to save time. Nor are we taught that in typing classes. It takes more time to spell a word incorrectly than it does to spell it the way we have all been taught. Hell, thats not even short hand. That is simply destroying the word.
 

jonthefishguy

Active Member
Originally Posted by T316
....and I don't care who you are, I ain't jacking o.. no horse


haha funny...but you get my point on that at least.
 

lion_crazz

Active Member
Originally Posted by T316
I'm not saying that you didn't place these incorrect words/pronucitations in the novel. But this is an Internet message board. If someone posts..."can u help me wit ik prblm cause i liv in geto an mama iz sik frum dizeeez", is one thing, but a few abbreviations to help speed up the typing IMO, is not a signal of low education or disrespect.
....and I don't care who you are, I ain't jacking o.. no horse

I don't really think the OP is referring to just a few abbreviations though. Abbreviations are an acceptable form of short-handed writing.
The problem with most of today's youth (and I am not really far out of the "youth" category) is that they have taken common words like "that" and transformed them into things like "dat". Words like "cool" are spelled "kool" and many people think simple words like "yeah" are spelled "yah". It just makes a person look very immature when words like those are typed (and they are - all the time).
 
J

jrthomas40

Guest
i hate to read emails or messages that EVERY word is "wUt dIs Is" type stuff...its a pain to read...i know i am not the greatest at grammar or spelling and i have my mess ups just like the next but i re-read 98% of my post just to make sure i dont have mistakes...i do however commonly leave out apostrophes like in my "donts"...lol
 

jonthefishguy

Active Member
Originally Posted by lion_crazz
I don't really think the OP is referring to just a few abbreviations though. Abbreviations are an acceptable form of short-handed writing.
The problem with most of today's youth (and I am not really far out of the "youth" category) is that they have taken common words like "that" and transformed them into things like "dat". Words like "cool" are spelled "kool" and many people think simple words like "yeah" are spelled "yah". It just makes a person look very immature when words like those are typed (and they are - all the time).
You are correct. I am not saying rid short hand all together. I am merely saying if you are going to attempt to spell a word, spell it correctly and not chop it up to something that makes you look uneducated. We all know what short hand is. We are all familiar with (sp) standing for spelling. We all know what (SWF & FOWLR) stands for. But to attempt to spell it out and destroy it is totally different.
 
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