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Literacy Limps Into the Kill Zone
Ant writes to tell us that Wired has an interesting look at the current standards of writing and the general decline of spelling and grammar in today's "comic book generation." The author blames many of the problems on instant or near-instant communications stating that the slang developed is essentially eroding our ability to formulate coherent thoughts in writing when called upon to do so.
wur r they talkin abt? lol g2g cya
YWARS AOG, EH NIGHYT NEWS 3DITRO 4TT H NEEWSPAPER WHEe I WROKED GOT UPSET WHEN HS FDR1VOLOUYZ STROY JUDGMENt WASQ U3STIO|\|3D BY NAOTEHR EDITOR!!!!11~~~~~~ hax0 the plznnet!!!11~~~~~~ "e ca iEtheR put uot a histroy booi kro a Comic book, he saifd, t4k1ng a dEfensive sw2ipE at a reblelioys strand of ahir.. lolooolololol "i Know which one i"m purtt1ng out. he wa clearly a mAn 4head o his time... LOLOLOLOLOLO!!11~~~~~ oloololo welcome to teh coMic-book genarati0n,, teh post--lITerate soceity!!!1~~~ the sToeris th4tt ecited my news editors imagiunation then -- teh 0nez ppa0XRed wtihl urid seXr, vspid cxelebrity shenaniganz, fallem idols -- r marekty teh plat du jour of jOUtnalsm these days!!111~~ (hmm had to edit as lameness filter triggered so thing about *10 exlacamation marks)
You didn't really have to go and proove them right, did you?
IMAGE VERIFICATION IS EVIL!
Also, a roman once said the same thing or a greek. That the young people of today are a generation that look down on the world and are showing no moral principels or showing problems with language and spelling and all the hoo haa he could drag up. And this was BC.
Yeah, and what happened after that? look up Europe's history starting about the time when the Western Roman Empire collapsed. Feel free to go all the way up to the Middle Ages if you like.
Methinks you need to work up a better argument, sonny.
Goerge was wrong.
So instead of double speek in 1984, we get half speek in 2006.
Of course, this very article - with hardly a coherent paragraph, shows the trend clealy.
Shakespeare is just as understandable now as it was then.
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$|-|4LL 1 (0/\/\P4R3 7|-|33 70 4 5U/\/\/\/\3R'5 d4'/? 7|-|0U 4R7
All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
Not to flame you or anything like that, but you should have used a semicolon instead of a comma after the word "grammar" in the fifth paragraph. ;-)
"What I need is an exact list of specific unknown problems we might encounter."
this thought is nothing new: morals, the language, etc.: it's all going to pot, the end of the world is nigh, etc.
bullshit
what is going on is that some people are almost autistic in their attachment to certain signifiers of what "good language" is or what "moral behavior" is
human beings need morality, and they need to communicate. these needs are nver going away, nor are our ability to satisfy those needs ever going away
it is just that, from one century to the next, what signifies these things changes
but so you have some people becoming hysterical ninnies because what signifies these things to them changes, and they can't deal with it
they're just brittle people
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
So you're saying that English is like Perl?
The much-quoted Latin examples are:
Ibis redibis numquam in bello perribis.
and
Reginam occidere nolite timere bonum est.
And I agree with you, although I myself belong to the younger generations (well, maybe not... I'm 23, but I have already started saying things like 'in my day...' ;) ). However, as a linguist, I am very interested in whatever is going to come out of it.
For instance, there was the 1337 phase in Internet communication; from where I stand, it certainly seems to be in decline. However, many people predicted the inevitable catastrophical decline in literacy that just didn't happen; the Internet started using common English instead.
Of course, certain sub-cultural elements were developed; a form of slang naturally exists - but that doesn't change the fact that we do not, in fact, communicate in 1337 crypto-code, but in normal English sentences. We do understand the code, which is evident in so many would-be jokes in the frosty piss area (mostly modded down, I'm sad to note), but do note - we joke about it. We don't use it regularly.
These youngsters of yours will learn to appreciate the art of more precise use of language in time... if no sooner, than at the point they get a slap in a face from a girl they wanted to kiss, just because of a carelessly worded pick-up line.
Ignore this signature. By order.
Ah, yes... the #1 pick-up line of all times:
Say, does this rag smell like clorophorm to you?
Ignore this signature. By order.
>Well look at what we have here, a...
Failure to communicate?
space is pretty cool.
i can see i communicated an idea across to you, as you encapsulated it in your response
of course, you won't ever admit that
you're to busy getting off on the vile evil i've committed of not capitalizing
whatever, yawn
the point is to communicate
everything else, EVERYTHING ELSE, is superfluous
if you can understand the idea i was trying to communicate, the language did it's job
everything else, ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING ELSE, is superfluous, wasteful, unnecessary semantic structure
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Our literacy is eroding? WTF? OMG! ROFL!
BRB
A thread where spelling and grammar nazis won't be modded off-topic! Yes!
Telltale Games: Bone, Sam and Max
What they don't realise is that language changes, and every generation understands this. When language changes in a radical way, someone will whine and cry out in defence of the older understanding of what constitutes literacy and proper grammar. In 1940, George Orwell said people were writing English poorly, and soon they wouldn't be able to communicate at all. He was wrong, as we clearly have a functioning world with millions of English speakers some 70 years later. I'm not certain, but I believe the ancient Romans or Greeks also complained of the same debasement of their language. They bemoaned and bleated that the young people of their time were a generation that looked down on the world, showing no moral principles and a feeble understanding of grammar and spelling.
I think the people who complain about the language skills of the young have old minds stuck in a new world where communication practices have changed radically and rapidly. The elderly often have difficulty communicating with youth, but the young are the future, and as long as they can communicate effectively, that is sufficient.
Now that was just a quick edit of the stinking tourde you squeezed out for us here on Slashdot. If you are going to write about how narrow-minded prigs are holding back the Voice of Yoot', then kindly do so in a way that demonstrates a fundamental and careful grasp of the language. Otherwise, all you are doing is proving the point of the article - that young people are borderline illiterate dopes incapable of formulating complex thoughts or elucidating anything of insight or value.
Now, kindly go back to school and learn how to write.
Fucktard.
RS
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
Accuracy of the quotes aside, you'd have made a much more interesting and relevant point had the progression gone more like this.
"Students today can't prepare bark to calculate their problems.
They depend upon their slates which are more expensive. What will they do
when their slate is dropped and it breaks? They will be unable to write!"
-Teacher's Conference, 1790
"Students today use too much paper too much. They don't know how
to write on slate without getting all dusty. They can't clean a slate.
What will they do when they all run all out of paper?"
-Principal's Association, 1815
"Students are loosing their mind. They don't know how to do the things
that get them ink. When they run out of ink they will be unable to write
all those curly letters and cute numbers until they're next trip to the
place with shops and stores. I am crying."
-The Rural Amercan Teecher, 1929
"Students 2day use spensive pens. They like, what the heck is a strait
pin and nib(?) (dont' get me started on quills). They need to stop riting
and facus on sports and singing so they can be rich."
-PTA Paper,1941
"Pens ruin teachy-smarts in US. Kids use pens. Throw pens away.
Good US goodness, not waste, gone. Shop-shop and save-save all gone.
Me eat pens. Pens good food, not write-write."
-a cave, 1950
The quotes above are real, btw, I got them using my time machine (thanks John T.), a Britney Spears album which I dropped off in the early 1800's, and Google Talk, so please no comments to the effect that I made these up. That kind of thing hurts. Seriously. Ouch.
In russian we have. "Kill him, not show mercy" or "Kill him not, show mercy". :)
Bash.org quote #367896
<Fashykekes> Capitalization is the difference between "I had to help my uncle Jack off a horse.." and "I had to help my uncle jack off a horse.."
:)
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo!
there are people who are brittle, almost autistic about their signifiers
if i write:
the dog ate the bone, the dog was happy
or i write:
The dog ate the bone. The dog was happy.
i've said the same thing, communicated the same idea, made the same point
again: communication is what is important. if i can recreate the idea in your head with the minimum of effort required, i've done my job. everything else, ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING ELSE, is superfluous and unnecessary
the first sentence is no different than the last, but for someone with a brittle mind, the lack of capitals or periods screams at them, proves difficult for them to digest. these people need the periods and the caps, because their minds are stuck on them
so i have an idea: rather than make the world easier for the people with brittle unyeiding minds, why don't we fucking let the people with brittle minds off at the next bus stop, and proceed on without them?
what are they adding besides a loud insistence upon obeying superfluous rules, because of their own mental difficulties? WHAT ELSE ARE THEY ADDING
why is it my job to exert more effort because you have a brittle, unyeilding mind?
my lack of capitals and periods is not the noise that has to be pushed through to get at the root of what is being communicated. YOUR MENTAL DIFFICULTY IS THE NOISE THAT NEEDS TO BE PUSHED THROUGH
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
"Dark" doesn't mean dumb, it means unknown.
Gosh! I wonder why the Dark Ages are so unknown? Could it be that people stopped writing things down?
"City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
Maybe the Romans meant to "let loose" their army, not "lose"?
What part of "a well regulated militia" do you not understand?
It's OK, I knew what you meant anyway :)
Here's a perfect example of why proper punctuation is important (not mine, I stole it from someone else, can't remember who though):
I helped my uncle jack off a horse
I'm either a very helpful, or a very sick person. Which one is anyone's guess.
Sadly, that's an actual job description at some ranches (how else do you think they get that frozen stud sperm?).
Of course, I'll test for other things as well. Unfortunately, this may be a humbling experience for some applicants.
;)
Unfortunatley, after 5 years of this hiring practice, you'll end up with 25 English PHD's working on the 50th rough draft of a technical manual of a product that has yet to see a line of code written for.
Although, it will be a very well written technical manual.
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)