Grammatical error abound in cyberspace - poor education or just plain laziness?

I also don't know why lead (as in "I lead a troop of Cub Scouts") doesn't rhyme with lead (as in "pump you full of lead"), nor why wind (as in "wind up a clock") doesn't rhyme with wind ("the wind cries Mary"). And then there is stuff to shine your shoes from Poland, or Polish polish.

 

Yeah, and there are some, to the uninitiated, that are confusing... like leads (in the context of wiring) or leading (relates to typography and printing).

Then, there are words that aren't pronounced like they're spelled such as colonel. Why isn't it kernel? Yeah yeah, I guess it's because it comes from French. They don't seem to pronounce a lot of the letters in their language.

There was also the idea that ghoti could be pronounced fish.

Going back to Full Metal Jacket... but totally OT, there was another classic quote "I wanted to meet interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture... and kill them." hyo silver, if you haven't seen Full Metal Jacket, you gotta watch it.

 

"The wind cries Mary"? I thought it was "the breeze whispers Louise" Huh.

Full Metal Jacket? Yeah, I've seen it.

 

Spellcheckers contribute to the problem, I have no doubt.

 

I'm with you on etymology Tony, although not so much for its historical footprint as the view it gives into how we think, and understanding the paradox of which of thought or language came first (the answer obviously being iterative.) Etymology is also a basket of fascinating tales.

 

Obviously, I don't have the education or background to take part in this discussion. I still ponder the meaning of the word "is".

According to Bill:

"It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is. If the--if he--if 'is' means is and never has been, that is not--that is one thing. If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement....Now, if someone had asked me on that day, are you having any kind of sexual relations with Ms. Lewinsky, that is, asked me a question in the present tense, I would have said no. And it would have been completely true.""It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is. If the--if he--if 'is' means is and never has been, that is not--that is one thing. If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement....Now, if someone had asked me on that day, are you having any kind of sexual relations with Ms. Lewinsky, that is, asked me a question in the present tense, I would have said no. And it would have been completely true."

I think this demonstrates how difficult it is to define a word - even a 2 letter word.

 

I think this is the problem right here. why would you (or anyone) try to apply the writing skills for technical reports to an internet car club? there's all sorts of writing styles for various areas, and they don't all have to be the same. for instance, writing for a technical manual is not the same as writing poetry, or writing a love letter, or writing a note to the teacher for your kid. I think we all need to come to grips with the fact that cyberspace is not like anything else, and we don't write in cyberspace the way we do for our job.

if anything, we are often in a hurry here to get a point across, or we are simply writing the way we hear ourselves speak. i think it's a falsehood to think that just because someone doesn't type with good grammar here it means they are incapable of doing it. we're here to relax and get away from the world, not to be policed in grammar.

haha how many of you remember how pissed icarus would get at me for not using capital letters? them there was some good times.

 

Laziness, poor education, never having had to do it correctly started the trend of dumbing down our language, exacerbated by pubic figures who don't/can't speak or write well (Nukeular!).

All of that dwarfed by the rise of finger typing on cell phones. I myself just got an Ipad (whoo-hoo!) and find cleaning up the typing enough of a pain, that I sometimes don't! Shame on me!

It is sad to me that so many don't seem to know many of the basic rules of language. As Strunk and White suggest, write (and speak) any way you wish, but improving on the language is difficult, and I would add, you will be judged (by most educated folks) on more than your writing/posting/texting by the use of alternative language methods/spellings etc.

Icarus

PS. I plead very guilty to poor proofreading skills,,and laziness in doing it,, as my epitaph will state!

 

Practice makes perfect. In either direction. Second, it seems reasonable to me to respect your readers and strive for clarity and reading enjoyment if you want a measure of influence or improved communication. On the other hand, if typing is your comfort and you do not care if the post is read or heeded or you just want to add to the noise then by all means write accordingly.

 

Part of the fun of our vacation was pointing out signage incongruities onboard the ship.

I wish I would have taken photos of the menus each night, for such gems as:
"The chef prepares the entrees with the most interesting sidings". :huh:

 

The modern British accent seemed to be kicking in as America was being colonized and partially accounts for the difference in US/UK accents.

My guess is if America was settled about 100 yrs later we would have sounded a lot more like Aussies.

I'm not so sure it's an accident midway in the video she goes from Aussie to Texan.

 

This is Middle English, but think I'm picking up accents in German, Irish, and Italian.

 

Not all grammar nazis are pedantic. I often find bad grammar confusing and almost painful to read. To me it's like listening to someone sing off key, or looking at a really bad painting. If you enjoy language and communication, bad grammar is just plain uncomfortable.

Tom

 

I'm always confused by the weird rules regarding hyphen. Is it incorrect to place a space before a hyphen - like this, or should there be no space at all-like this?

 

There is a difference between a hyphen and a dash. Even the dash comes in more than one variety. The common dash is the "M" dash, so named because it takes up the same space as a capital M.

Hyphens are used to split words and create compound words. A dash is used to connect related ideas in a sentence -- very much like what you do with a colon. Note that I simulated an M dash by using two hyphens. This is common since the M dash does not have a dedicated key on standard keyboards.

Normally there is a leading and trailing space with a dash, but not with a hyphen.

Tom

 

Ah, no wonder I'm confused! So the M dash sometimes is written with leading and trailing spaces, sometimes not. What does the rule book say?

Is there an M dash key on modern QWERTY keyboards, or is it a relic of the old typewriter past?

 

When was said above about M-dashes was correct. However, assuming you only have one dash on your keyboard, the rule is this:

If you're using it as a comma or parentheses - like this - there's a space on either side.

If you have one word that's made up of two words - a two-word word if you will - there's no space on either side. You can string them along if you have a many-words-in-one-word thing going.

 

M Dash —
On a PC it's "ALT + 0151" on the numeric keypad. Hold the ALT key down while typing 0151