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Web slang

Is it me, or can most people on social networking sites not spell? I get acronyms, but actual misspelling, really? I'm not that old, either-not even thirty.

Does this make anyone else crazy or is it just me?

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on February 28, 2013 at 11:25am

For about a week, highlighting and Ctrl-C copying picks up a few lines of address-like stuff and it fails to Ctrl-V paste in another A/N dialogue box.

To get around this, I paste it into a Notepad doc, I highlight it there and Ctrl-C copy only the lines I want to paste into the A/N box.

Is anyone else having this problem?

Permalink Reply by Patricia on February 28, 2013 at 1:13pm

I don't use keyboard shortcuts, & highlight with the right mouse button, copy with left mouse button, delete from comments with left button, then click right button in the typing pane, paste, & re-post.

Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on February 28, 2013 at 1:29pm

I think I now know another, and perhaps easier, way to copy and paste.

I will of course check it out.

Thanks, Patricia.

Permalink Reply by Ruth Anthony-Gardner on March 2, 2013 at 5:16pm

Is anyone else having this problem?

Yes! I complained a couple of days ago about the HTML, which is now being attached, preventing paste from working in a reply. I'd do a copy and paste, and the reply window would look blank.

I resorted to manually stripping out the HTML crap in the HTML tab, but this is far more tedious than it needs to be. Now I'm learning to use Notepad++ to strip it off.

Permalink Reply by Grinning Cat on February 28, 2013 at 5:15pm

Maybe the "nuerologist" was a failed numerologist?
(Pseudoscience strikes again! :-)

Anyway, I wouldn't go to a "nuerologist" any more than I'd buy "V!agra" or "Cia1is" or other drugs from a pharmacy that deliberately misspelled them! (Not that I'd buy anything from spammers anyway.)

Permalink Reply by Alan Perlman on February 28, 2013 at 4:07pm

Hi,

I have 3 linguistics degrees, so I had to comment. I love to watch language change. Who knew that in my lifetime there would be such a rich variety of verbs that report narration-- "he goes," she's like," "I'm all" -- none of which I'll ever say. How how about new conversation-monitors like "Duh!"? I would never have predicted that "google" would be a verb.

Language change does drive language-conservative folks nuts. So look at the big picture. Fast communication plus an atmosphere of "out of school, no rules" means more idiosyncratic spellings and weirrrrrddd language fads (like the repetition of letters to symbolize tone of voice) in electronic communication and social media.

But the requirements for minimum achievement in this world demand a certain level of writing competence. Those that don't acquire it will suffer the consequences (unfortunately, the bar has gotten lower). They don't need you (or me) to be mad at them. ;)

Other commentators are right -- you are judged by your speech (Prof. Higgins thought that's ALL there was to it).

Quotation marks on home-made signs are fun to watch. My favorite: "Live" Girls (are they zombies?).

The quality of writing on A/N is high, reflecting the thoughtfulness and educational level of the contributors.

Best regards,

Alan

Permalink Reply by SteveInCO on March 7, 2013 at 9:42pm

I was *furious* with my realtor once; when the appraisal on the house I was trying to sell came in low, he wrote a long letter talking about the "new" roof and the "fresh" paint job, etc., etc. and at the time I had never really noticed that some idiots use quotes for emphasis! So I thought he was telling them my roof was allegedly new, the paint was allegedly fresh, etc.

The light dawned, and I had to settle for hoping the recipient of the letter was as stupid as he was... or at least, understood what was meant.

Permalink Reply by Ruth Anthony-Gardner on March 11, 2013 at 2:12pm

I would have been furious with the realtor.

Permalink Reply by Grinning Cat on March 11, 2013 at 2:56pm

Me too! I'd have been tempted to write about him as a “realtor” (with quotes) for writing a letter that would undermine a fair appraisal.

Permalink Reply by SteveInCO on March 11, 2013 at 7:50pm

I would have been furious with the realtor.

I was left hoping that the recipient of the letter would be just as much of an unlettered dufus as he was.

Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on March 11, 2013 at 3:28pm

Realtors here in California have to speak to buyers carefully.

A San Francisco realtor about thirty years ago sold a house to a Chinese family without full disclosure.

Some Chinese-Americans will not buy a house in which someone committed suicide. The realtor concealed this information and the case went to the state supreme court. That court refused to set the contract aside but there are enough Chinese here that the law changed.

I'm sure some realtors just hate all the regulation.

Permalink Reply by Joan Denoo on February 28, 2013 at 4:42pm

Alan, I very much like your comment and appreciate your posts. I find myself trying to live up to your good example and others who use English "properly". I spent my professional life working with trouble kids and adults, many of them with terrible grammer. For me, verb tense errors, subject and verb errors, fragmented sentences and run on sentences sound correct. Since writing for AN, I am working on it and hope to perform at a higher level. I do appreciate being corrected. I don't put the responsibility on you or others, but when I make an error, it is because I didn't see it.