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c34r34lk1ll3r wrote:I spent more than enough time on imageboards. Grammar means jack gak now. Plus, the cellphone text speech is the new wave of English. It may take some time but eventually, some of the spellings will be accepted.

Traditional grammar may mean very little in certain on-line communities, like imageboards, but there's still a wider world out there where poor grammar will mean you are not taken seriously. To some extent that includes places like Dakka, which appears to have some tolerance for

I agree that abbreviations and new words will filter from the internet into wider English, but this will be a gradual process. By the time words have been accepted into greater language they’ll have become passé among the denizens of the internet, as the fun in using that language is in marking oneself as part of that community. Using that language in general and being surprised when most people can’t be bothered decoding you seems a bit silly to me.

So that's why I would say that 'tard-speak like 'lol' or 'rofl' isn't bad grammar, but bad style. Do you really want to live in a world populated by cliches? Because that's what meme-humour is. But I digress...

Not sure about that Nurgles, because 'lol' or 'rofl' are more convention than cliche. They are used to denote humourous intent rather than being the source of the witticism itself.

I certainly hope that the txtspk does not become the norm. A life of constonants and numbers would be the literary equivalent of constipation.
Keep yer vowels open I say!

Nurglitch wrote:
On a slightly related note: Personally I'm finding that I'm developing odd habits like repeating words, omitting words, or randomly using other words in the place of what I meant to write. It seems to grow worse as I grow older. Anyone else having this issue?

I do this constantly when posting, sometimes as often as once or twice every sentence. However, it only seems to be something that happens in the context of a forum. When writing something for academic or professional reasons it may only happen once or twice a page. I think its simply a measure of the degree to which I focus on either task. It may even be something so simple as an environmental difference; when posting I'm fairly ambivalent with respect to what happens to be going on around me, but when writing with serious intent I generally go out of my way to select a proper workplace.

dogma wrote:

Nurglitch wrote:
On a slightly related note: Personally I'm finding that I'm developing odd habits like repeating words, omitting words, or randomly using other words in the place of what I meant to write. It seems to grow worse as I grow older. Anyone else having this issue?

I do this constantly when posting, sometimes as often as once or twice every sentence. However, it only seems to be something that happens in the context of a forum. When writing something for academic or professional reasons it may only happen once or twice a page. I think its simply a measure of the degree to which I focus on either task. It may even be something so simple as an environmental difference; when posting I'm fairly ambivalent with respect to what happens to be going on around me, but when writing with serious intent I generally go out of my way to select a proper workplace.

I do this too, but only when I speak/hand write something. I'll start writing the word "Comprehend" while thinking faster than my hand writes, so my word will end up like "Comprebate" when I was trying to write "You're not comprehending the debate", or something like that.

When I speak, I'll say something like "Did you guys see did you guys see that thing over there?"

I normally don't care how well a person punctuates or spells. As long as I can get the point of what they are trying to say I'm perfectly fine

It is mildly annoying to me when it's obvious no effort whatsoever has been made- surely everyone proof-reads their messages before posting? I do make the occasional mistake but at least i do check.

what DOES irritate me to no end is the excessive use of 'words' like "lol, rofl, and the dreaded LMAO", it's perfectly understandable on MSN or any other instant-messaging system, where you want to be typing as quickly as possible, or in a text message, where you can only type a limited number of words, but on a forum? Really? Even worse than that is the fact that it has crept into our everyday language as well. See, when your average person finds something amusing, they laugh. They do not say "lulz, that's funny". And yet i hear this every day

I have to say though, dakka is infinitely better than most other websites- i believe youtube and the online games have the worst of it.

Slarg232 wrote:I do this too, but only when I speak/hand write something. I'll start writing the word "Comprehend" while thinking faster than my hand writes, so my word will end up like "Comprebate" when I was trying to write "You're not comprehending the debate", or something like that.

When I speak, I'll say something like "Did you guys see did you guys see that thing over there?"

I notice I do the same thing when I try to multi-task watching TV or something and typing at the same time. Sometimes I'll just focus on the TV for a while, look at my work, and notice that I've typed out a partial transcript of whatever I was watching.

As a former English teacher, I recognise that language is a method of communication. As long as communication is either improved or left unharmed, I object to very few grammar or spelling errors, especially on message boards. So, for example, I do not object to double negatives as long as they do not hinder understanding.

I do get mildly irritated at very poor grammar in newspapers, magazines, the BBC website etc, but only when it is clearly poor grammar, not just a typo - even newspapers are entitled to the odd typo.

There is one thing that drives me into uncontrollable blind rages wherever I see it, however...

Rouge Trader.

malfred wrote:http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1891#comic

Both panels are incorrect. English sentences should not finish with a preposition.

The question should be phrased, "Tell me with whom you are cheating on me!"

Though to be fair this rule is not usually followed in colloquial speech.

Surely the question in the passion of the moment is more likely to have been, "Who's the ing bitch you've been jumping behing my my back you cheating er!!!!"

"No Darling, with whom have I been ing?

For me, just using punctuation and making your post readable is enough. Spelling needn't be perfect, though with all the fancy built in doodads on our Computrons nowadays it's a little less forgivable.

I'm a really clumsy when I type. I do make an occasional mistake here and there, but I always go back and fix my error.

Chat speak gotten worse, I had a friend completely pass the grammar part of her English exam. But failed horribly in the writing section for using chat speak in her essay. This happened to a lot of my friends lately and saw a news report about chat speak at school.

Punctuation, use it.

That is all I care about, as it determines how I will read a sentence in my head. Nothing makes it harder to understand a post, than poor punctuation.

If someone sent me a text message full of L33t, I would promptly call them back and ask for an explanation. Over the course of a few weeks, several calls asking for explanation, should easily stop people from sending me incoherent nonsense. I really don't care about it on a message board, unless people are directly addressing me... leading me to question their meaning, on reflex alone.

Working with many artists over the years, has left me with a bit of a chip on my shoulder. I like things to make sense, and if you aren't making any sense, you simply aren't saying anything at all... and I will likely ignore you.

99.999% of posts on Dakka make sense; compared to the 2/3 majority of nonsense, that clutters up many sites. I really don't run into much misunderstanding on Dakka, hence my intention to stay an active Dakkite.

It bothers me and not just on the interwebs.

If you can't be bothered to make sense in your post, I'm not going to bother wasting my time attempting to read and/or comprehend it.

Concessions can be made in the case of non-native speakers and dyslexics (although it should be noted that I'm frequently not surprised that non-native speakers will show a better grasp of English than the native speakers on various boards. I've given up hope that an Englishman or Britisher would know the proper usage of the King's English.)