You Say You Love Me, So Why Do You Hurt Me?

[Nate Hunter]

One thing I find a personal peeve as I look at the internet community is how so many "peeps" act as if they love English and it's the only language the world "shud" have, and yet they butcher it by shorthanding words that don't need it, misspelling and showing no regard for the fact that they make these mistakes, let alone graver mistakes, sins against not only the words, but the grammar and language as a whole.

WHat annoys me the most is the people who would claim that English is too complicated and needs to be simplified in some way to be easier! How would we do that? Add new letters, one for every phoneme our language uses? Or shall we simplify spelling by butchering the kistory of our words, as much as we already butcher half of the pronunciations, particularly those coming from foreign languages. Either way we'd be tarnishing the beautiful and eloquent English language which I am proud to call my mother tongue.

So wut do u guyz think? Shud we make it ezer to read n rite english so kidz have less truble in skul?

Sorry about that. I hate that sort of thing and though I'll not deny I have a tendency to make typographical errors, I accept correction when I make one as an error, and not intentionally. Call me elitist if you will, but English is fine as it stands, and I say if anything we should step back to an earlier time of the language, when people spoke it more properly and paid more heed to their peers when their flaws in se of the tongue were pointed out.

For the mother-tongue!
Speak English, and speak well!
That goes for writing and typing as well, you dumbass niggas*!


Notes:

* I do not mean "nigga" in a racist way, but simply as a generic term for any ignorant mother-fucker.**

** I do not mean mother-fucker literally, but as a generic term for generally offensive people.

*** Yes, I enjoy The Boondocks. Wanna make somethin' of it?

[Herr Mullen]

What you are talking about is the inevitable growth and evolution of the language. For example, "book" is the new word for "cool", on the basis that on some mobile phones that's what it comes up with when you type "cool" and people can't be bother to push the two buttons that change it.

The fact is, however, that with the widespread use of standard English in forgien countries, that English is the international language. People will want to employ people with good diction and spelling so that people abroad can understand them. It's best to remain a current English speaker for economy's sake, as well as learning some other languages. With the widespread use of English, some countries are turing to eacvh other and saying "Wait a minute... we don't speak each other's languages, but we can both understand each other. Let's do business: the British have been ripping us off since before WWI, anyway..."

I wouldn't mind the re-introduction of diction into the national curriculum on the basis of these economic devices. However, enforcing diction in such a manner would be just another defining factor in a generating of people in 2020-2029 calling themselves "Neo-Classicalists" who will talk ancient greek just to spite us all, or some such. Thus is the way of youth cultures. I quite like them, when they don't advocate racism, assult, theivery or excessive drinking.

[Shadowknight]

The biggest problem isn't shorthand, but where they use it. On an IM screen shorthand is expected, but on a forum or anywhere where you aren't typing live it's really annoying. Especially when it takes about 5 minutes just to translate the words.

[Nate Hunter]

It's also annoying in e-mails, and I personally find it annoying in IMs too. There's a line between common and acceptable shorthands to me and the ones that drag it too far - "ru busy" and "ur hott" really grind my gears, but I can handle things g2g, brb, lol, and such -- obviously if I'm going afk I may not have the time to type those extra keys to say "away from the keyboard", and if I'm in enough of a hurry to notify people I'll brb or bbl, it's a rush situation.

But in a typical conversation, and this is one thing I really hate, there are some people who not only use those shorthands (and ignore capitalization as well), but who will use those shorthands and send you 5 short messages faster than you can read or reply to one of them. People who will get pissed if you don't immediately reply within like one minute, like you don't care about them -- hell, most of the people I talk with online mean little to me (they're acquaintances, not quite up to the level of friends), but the ones who are important realize that because of who I am, I don't rush responses, even if some are shorter than I like...

[Herr Mullen]

Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. When the younger generation grows up, it'll believe in many of the conventions of the older generation. The twenty/thirty-something goths I know, for example, tell me that they give this appropriate time and place lesson on shorthand at the youth groups they run.

[Wisemon]

I believe that English is the most versatile of all languages, and I believe that using it correctly is important. I could spend my time correcting everyone who uses English incorrectly, but I have better things to do. I just take comfort in knowing that I am superior to those people.

[MISTER BIG T]

It annoys me greatly when the people from US and other places with English as mother language write like this. I mean, English is my third language and I make mistakes here and there but I'm *trying* always my bestest.

There should be a new rules:

- If you write e-mails and use shortenings, you shouldn't be allowed to send e-mails.

- Unless you're in a total hurry, you should always capitalize "I" and the first letter of each sentence.


"chiLLen wif heather be bacc Laytah Love Some girl"

That's an actual quote (of course, I've replaced her IM name with "Some girl" instead) I got from away message of this one, uhh weird girl. For anyone caring for some sista fun makin' of (because a black guy told me this HAD to be a black girl, I'll listen to him) and english language butchering (And me constantly commenting on her stupidness, especially in the third), you can find out the three conversations I had with her bellow.

http://www.givemebeer.caliburgames.com/moron.html
http://www.givemebeer.caliburgames.com/moron2.html
http://www.givemebeer.caliburgames.com/moron3.html

[Nate Hunter]

I don't go out of my way to correct people, but I can't help but mentally correct the most obvious, or offensive, ones... "like" in place of "as", "good" in place of "well" and many other obvious but informally common ways of speaking.

At this point language is often written and read, however in terms of pronunciation I say as long as it's understandable, I don't care how you say a word. However, teaching these young people that they may encounter people from other nations, for whom English is not a primary language, and warning them to present their best in places where such contact is more likely (most messageboards, and even many e-mail groups, have an international viewership, if not subscribership). I don't care if they slack off in IMs with other people who slack off in the same ways, however if you're chatting with a person who has asked you to keep your wording clear, well:

i dont want 2b c'ing $#!t lyk dis.

I always keep my wording clear, no matter how much other parties may slack off. Clarity is crucial to communication, just as vigor is crucial to artistic expression.

[Zephyr of Darkness]

My mother language is Spanish, and as you can see, I keep a, at least, correct English for writing. Truth is, Spanish is infinitely more complicated and richer than English. I guess it's much simpler for a Spanish speaker to learn English than viceversa. But still, if a non-native English speaker like myself can get it right, there's no fucking excuse for a native one. You know, that reminds me of my late doggy. If you told him 'Get out! Shoo!' he wouldn't budge, but if you politely told him 'Excuse me' he would get up and out of the way. So if a dog can learn manners, why kids can't? (when you see kids out there that behave like vandals, and some say 'You can't help it, kids today are like that...').
You know what I think? That they follow an average pattern of behavior; just the way they are with the writing, they are in other aspects of their lives. The kind of people that might not eat if they have to wash the dish afterwards.

[UnknownH]

It's just hard to understand people sometimes already. Bad typing just complecates it.