Text Messaging Harms Written Language

Axiomatic said:
It's kids being lazy who are screwing this up. If their laziness is seeping in to their homework, then I say its poor parenting.

Sorry but I'm just sick of parents looking for scapegoats for their kids failings.
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I'm sorry too, but when do we stop blaming the parents and start blaming the lazy kids 'who are screwing this up'? I don't care how much they limit access to texting and stress the importance of correct grammar and syntax, at some point parents should cease to be held accountable if a student can't be bothered to proof-read. Let the kids make their choices and suffer the consequences: bad grades.

Ockie said:
With religion you have to have responsibility if you want to live an eternal life.
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Maybe they can txt for 4giveness.
 
GJSNeptune said:
Should I correct that for you or do you wanna just admit that you TXT a lot? :)
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Whatcha got?

Subordinate clauses function as subjects, objects and modifiers. In the case of a pronoun, the subordinate clause depends on its function whether the clause itself functions as a subject, modifier or object. In my sentence, "whom" is the object of "addressing".
 
ICOM said:
To whom are you addressing?...
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Preposition is unnecessary. You can't have a question mark and an ellipsis. If you had a direct object, the object being addressed, it would make more sense.

To whom is that addressed?
To whom is that being addressed?
To whom are you professing?
Who are you addressing?

ICOM said:
Subordinate clauses function as subjects, objects and modifiers. In the case of a pronoun, the subordinate clause depends on its function whether the clause itself functions as a subject, modifier or object. In my sentence, "whom" is the object of "addressing".
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You don't even know what a subordinate clause is.
 
ICOM said:
Whatcha got?

Subordinate clauses function as subjects, objects and modifiers. In the case of a pronoun, the subordinate clause depends on its function whether the clause itself functions as a subject, modifier or object. In my sentence, "whom" is the object of "addressing".
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While I agree, why didn't you just ask 'Who are you addressing?"

On the subject of simplifying English:

Martyr said:
its about time it became more phonetic. and we an just get rid of q and k, along with a couple other useless letters.
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Yes, English is widely recognized as a difficult language to master. A large part of that is probably due to how English evolved by accumulating letters, words, and terms from many other languages. I'm no expert, but I once took a glance at an Indo-European language family tree for my sins... I would expect that simplifying English would lead to translation difficulty and might actually harm new learners who already know, say, French or German.

You could always try to resurrect Esperanto.
 
English is difficult because of its idioms and the confusion due to multiple meanings for single words and words with similar spellings that sound the same but mean different things.

Every language has its difficulties though.
 
lol wtf r u kidding i cant beleve u sed dat.



^ That makes me want to punch babies. I don't mind bad grammar, as long as they put effort into their post on a forum or such as I can understand a cell phone needing short hand. The second I get a message like that through any kind of instant message client I will call them a dumb ass.
 
GJSNeptune said:
Preposition is unnecessary. You can't have a question mark and an ellipsis. If you had a direct object, the object being addressed, it would make more sense.

To whom is that addressed?
To whom is that being addressed?
To whom are you professing?
Who are you addressing?



You don't even know what a subordinate clause is.
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wow...
 
srangara said:
I'm sorry too, but when do we stop blaming the parents and start blaming the lazy kids 'who are screwing this up'? I don't care how much they limit access to texting and stress the importance of correct grammar and syntax, at some point parents should cease to be held accountable if a student can't be bothered to proof-read. Let the kids make their choices and suffer the consequences: bad grades.



Maybe they can txt for 4giveness.
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One thing I know about GJSNeptune, is to never argue about english, grammar, or spelling with him..... but for everything else... it's fair game! :D
 
What's that saying?

A comma is the pause at the end of a clause and cats have claws at the end of their paws?
 
Martyr said:
its about time it became more phonetic. and we an just get rid of q and k, along with a couple other useless letters.
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Blasphemy! Remove "c", which either tries to be hard like "k" or soft like "s". The only time c is used is in "ch" words, which could easily become "tsh" words (Tshina, Tshoice, et cetera).
 
Yeah, we've got a couple guys in my 4x4 club that are "always correct no matter what". We just snicker and play along. They're harmless...
 
All I know, is that from day one of any online messaging and posting, I have always used (at least close to) proper grammar and spelling. I used to get people making fun of that fact, especially in the early days of AOL. But I never come across as an idiot simply because I misspelled something, shortened wording, or just completely screwed up the English language.

Admit it, someone could be saying the most enlightening thing in the world online, yet if it is riddled with spelling mistakes and poor grammar, you'd automatically dismiss that person as being a moron.

Either way, it really amazes me at how bad the grammar and spelling is among people today, ESPECIALLY my fellow college students'. For example, the fact that so many of them STILL don't know the difference between "there" "their" and "they're" REALLY grinds my gears...
 
Ha. And your and you're. I understand it's a phonetic thing, but jesus christ, it takes two brain cells to understand and remember the difference, one for the apostrophe and one for the e. :p
 
rbanzai said:
What's that saying?

A comma is the pause at the end of a clause and cats have claws at the end of their paws?
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I think it has to do with a prepositional phrase, which has a pause at the end of its clause.

That being said, eventually I'll have to learn English sentence structure--again. I plan on writing for a living someday.
 
A language is there to serve the people that speak it. Not the other way around. Granted, much of the shortcuts and general errors in electronic communication severely impede understanding. But it is my personal opinion that most people who seek to use a language for the sake of language are have some messed up priorities. That said, I almost never abbreviate things in online communication, at least not in the usual ways. Honestly, typing "you" is like 1 ms slower than typing "u" (for me it is actually faster since I have to think about it to use "u") and numbers as letters (gratuitous leet speak excepted) is simply silly.
 
shadowwyvern said:
But it is my personal opinion that most people who seek to use a language for the sake of language are have some messed up priorities.
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That makes absolutely no sense.

It's not okay to speak because one has the ability? Don't focus on spoken language so much. Written is just as important, if not more. What's your top priority for using language?
 
GJSNeptune said:
That makes absolutely no sense.

It's not okay to speak because one has the ability? Don't focus on spoken language so much. Written is just as important, if not more. What's your top priority for using language?
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I believe he is trying to say that communication is more important than language. Basically, if we all understand each other, it doesn't matter how we say it.

I don't agree, though. Languages evolve over centuries, not over a few years. Let's not confuse the evolution of the English language with mutilation of the English Language.
 
wow, i can't believe so many people had issues with the decline of the english langauge due to the presence of the internet. I feel... at home.
 
chew63 said:
I don't agree, though. Languages evolve over centuries, not over a few years. Let's not confuse the evolution of the English language with mutilation of the English Language.
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During my population genetics studies, it became clear that a dialect could become distinct from its 'parent' language within a generation (25 years).

This was before the interweb, of course, and assumed a certain amount of tribal isolation.

Still, there are places in Quebec that French speakers cannot go and be understood. England, as well, I am sure.
 
I try my best to never, ever use internet shortcuts when I am typing.. Because when I catch myself doing so, I force myself to rewrite the entire line. That can be a bitch on IRC when I am typing half a paragraph before hitting Enter. :D

Seriously though, I stopped using the shortcuts when I went to write something and my brain kept trying to use net-speak. Same goes with those damn smilies too!! :eek: :p :D
 
UrielDagda said:
I try my best to never, ever use internet shortcuts when I am typing.. Because when I catch myself doing so, I force myself to rewrite the entire line. That can be a bitch on IRC when I am typing half a paragraph before hitting Enter. :D

Seriously though, I stopped using the shortcuts when I went to write something and my brain kept trying to use net-speak. Same goes with those damn smilies too!! :eek: :p :D
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Yea, I have to catch myself as well, although I still use shorthand when text messaging as it's painfully slow.
 
This is exactly why I type with T9 and force myself to spell each word out.

Try visiting myspace. YoU gOt PeOpLe WhO tyPe lIke ThIs. sum type lik diz fo sho, whil3 oth3rs typ3 lik3 this or a 3v3RyThInG cOmBiN3d!

There should be an age requirement for cellphones. Ive seen 8 year olds with them.
 
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