Though I cannot agree with the pile of misbegotten abbreviations that passed as a posting in the example, I have to say one thing about the management of a language: who's going to decide?
If I am not mistaken, doesn't France have an entire ministry devoted to controlling the French language? And though they can control it in France, there are still variations like the Quebec, Hatian, African and others that they have no control over. Who is willing to allow the government, or any other entity, to control the language?
Who's English would be right; ours, Australia's, or Great Britain's? We already speak 'Murican most of the time, don't we? The upper crust among the British surely frown upon our own degradation of the language.
Yeah I cringe thinking of my children typing like that, but I also let them know what is acceptable to turn in as a piece of "scholarly" work (well, as scholalrly as 11 and 7 year olds can turn in). Languages don't degrade, they evolve. Sometimes we don't like that evolution....
I feel that the dumbing down of our language has grown in the last few years. While I can understand the use of technological shorthand in situations where only limited input is available, usage in other situations now borders on the ridiculous. I have seen and tried to puzzle through many posts such as the one shown; I now skip on, preferring instead to answer someone with a problem serious enough that they will spend the necessary time to clearly and concisely define it. And while I do shorten some words when using SMS ('thru' instead of 'through', for example) I still place them in a reasonable order. I also capitalize when using SMS.
DF7
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"Who Dares Wins"
"Chance Favors the Prepared Mind"
I made a similar post on Howardforums a few weeks ago. I couldn't believe how many people posted support in the thread but was even more surprised by the number of people I offended (and I didn't write anything offensive).
I don't think these forums require perfect English. I certainly have posted an ugly one...or two, ok a few now let is go! I NEVER have written like that though. I don't understand it and I don't want to.
Language differentiates people. Those who care lavish more care on it; those who don't, don't. Then writers are judged as to education and social status, etc., and treated accordingly. Fair? Maybe not. But children eventually have to learn that life isn't fair, and get on with it.
You don't learn to care about language by being lectured about it. It doesn't help to tell kids to master clear and sophisticated communication because it's the right way to do it, and that what they're doing is wrong. Tell them they'll make more money and get better jobs.
For glamorizing and placing the highest degree of comparison on those that are famous for all the wrong reasons. Why would a young person in today’s society want to conform when the role models they look up to have no respect for anything else? "Respect" is now spelled "cred", which translates too how others view you by what you have done with yourself and I don’t mean in a positive and enriching manner.
You were doing so well. Now you are just sounding like your mother. And grandmother, and her grandmother ... Heck even the Greeks liked to complain about how the world was going to ruin because of the youth and their lack of respect for everything.
Every generation likes to put its stamp on the world, and chooses numerous ways to do so - be it language, music (oh the devil Elvis Presley!) or hideous architecture. But somehow the world muddles on, and pot-smoking students become bank managers, lawyers and politicians (but only if they don't inhale!).
Looking back on all the past generations who have wanted to put their stamp on society and comparing it to the current generation, I would have to say this has been those most damaging in this sense. While at a Home Depot recently a customers asks a Home Depot employee for assistance in picking up something out of the cart so that the cashier can ring it up, the Home Depots response, "why are you buying something you cant pick up, you should have brought a man, do you have a man, I am not hurting my back sorry" and walks off. I see that played out more and more each day. Or when you pull up to a register at the grocery store and the cashier is chewing gum and talking on a cell phone with a wired headset hidden beneath her clothes and when you ask her why she charged you twice for the Cheese Doodles she gives you a look like, Hey I am busy here why are you interrupting me.
It’s that type of behavior that is constantly rewarded and our ever accelerated and over exposed youth pick up on and mimic or worse yet actually believe in.
I am all for technology, hell I get in discussions with my girlfriend over who my girlfriend actually is, her or my XV6700. But to allow a society to be driven by a reduction in intelligence just because it’s cool is worth sounding like my parents and their parents before them.
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Fear need not be the enemy of Risk!
maybe in a year or two, ms word will start automatically replacing be4 with before, sum1 with someone, 2nite with tonight... :lol:
... and in 20 years, people will just type a varient of shorthand into Word and be amazed when it spits out perfect English. Most likely they'll be writing a rant on how they've become dependent on spell checking...
__________________ Jon Westfall
Contributing Editor, MS MVP, MCSE, Ph.D., and More.
I'm an English teacher with a passion for linguistics and phonetics. However, I would not condemn the abbreviation of the language that we see in mobile phones and internet posts. Not so harshly, at least.
The first reason is that in history there has never been such a high number of literate English speakers as now. Many of those who write as badly as in the example in 2006 probably wouldn't have been able to write at all in 1906 or 1856.
Secondly, this new system of dropping letters and playing with sounds will not lead to the fall of the English language. We're experiencing a time of transition. We'll see conflict and chaos at first, before "web abbreviated" or "mobile" English evolves into a mode of communication in its own right, with its rules and standards.
Anyone showing difficulty distinguishing "real English" from "mobile English" and their corresponding contexts and usage probably would never have had much of a grasp of the former anyway.
My son can barely put two words together (he's 21 months old), but I plan to teach him that nothing is more important than proper communication, and the proper form of communication at the proper time. As previous posters have noted, SMS shorthand is perfectly OK when it takes 4 taps of each button on a numeric keypad to produce a single letter. On the other hand, when you have the luxury of a full keyboard and time to really think about what you want to say, you can make your point more effectively and with more credibility if you put some thought into it. I detested English class in school, but some if it did manage to stick with me. I never send an e-mail or post a forum message without proofreading it first. I like to take the time to completely spell out what I'm trying to say. I've been criticized sometimes for being excessively verbose (and yes, this post is typical for me), but I believe that the way you communicate in writing with someone is the other person's first impression of you. It's obvious when someone has taken the time to carefully craft a written communication. It's equally obvious when someone is so lazy they wont even press the Shift key before referring to themselves (in my view, referring to oneself with a lowercase i indicates a lack of regard for oneself, as if they don't consider themselves important enough to merit a capital).
Enough of this. Now you all know why I don't use text messaging. I'd develop carpal tunnel after about 3 messages with my level of verbosity. Keep in mind that I don't actually speak this way; I was just brought up to believe that written communication is important.
I consider these people as uneducated rubes that got their hands on a keyboard via a credit card.
While I'm far from perfect, it is beneath me to use the language in such a maner and when it is addressed towards me I do not respond to it.
Language differentiates
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