Grammar and spelling breaking down on Wright Chat.
Grammar and spelling breaking down on Wright Chat.
It really takes away from some of he posts when the grammar and spelling are poor. My hope is that it is merely a function of typing too fast. My own skills are fair to poor but I do reread my posts before I hit the submit button.
Re: Grammar and spelling breaking down on Wright Chat.
some of "he" posts?RA wrote:It really takes away from some of he posts when the grammar and spelling are poor.
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outside in
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Palli Davis Holubar
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As a frequent poor typist...I wonder if others know to use the edit button? It is a great tool for people with fast yet inaccurate typing, poor eyesight, or those who are visually oriented and can more easily spot errors when the thoughts are re-posted and formatted to share. Also most computers have a place to enlarge text. But we should all have patience with each other and chuckle together where approriate!
I believe that careful written presentation is a sign of respect for one's readers. A mark of civilization is that we recognize and demonstrate the
shared rules of our culture, such as dress and personal hygiene.
That said, no one likes a scold -- or a snob ? I'm the first to cop to that charge, and I apologize for past and future transgressions.
I certainly sympathize with the dyslexic, and with victims of a generation or more of faulty educational standards. And now we have spell-check --
which allows such errors as "incite" used for "insight" (for example) because both are found in the dictionary, and spell-check can't know
which of them the writer intends. So, we are still at the mercy of our own devices.
On a related note, I do wonder what is the motivation behind the choice to drop capital letters and write in lower-case. Is it an aesthetic decision --
a visual style ? A bit of willful typographic anarchy ? An homage to e e cummings, or to the Swiss modernists ? I wonder if its adherents notice
that they make it impossible for the reader to readily distinguish between, for instance, the words baker, cook, grant, may or legacy, and
their proper-name counterparts -- examples of a more general decreased legibility with which the practice burdens its readers.
Paradoxically, lower-case makes more sense for display (headlines) than for text, where the legibility issue is most severe. Capital letters join
punctuation in allowing the writer to more fully express the intended rhythms and emphases of speech -- which writing, especially in the context of a
chat site, is intended to represent, it seems to me.
SDR
shared rules of our culture, such as dress and personal hygiene.
That said, no one likes a scold -- or a snob ? I'm the first to cop to that charge, and I apologize for past and future transgressions.
I certainly sympathize with the dyslexic, and with victims of a generation or more of faulty educational standards. And now we have spell-check --
which allows such errors as "incite" used for "insight" (for example) because both are found in the dictionary, and spell-check can't know
which of them the writer intends. So, we are still at the mercy of our own devices.
On a related note, I do wonder what is the motivation behind the choice to drop capital letters and write in lower-case. Is it an aesthetic decision --
a visual style ? A bit of willful typographic anarchy ? An homage to e e cummings, or to the Swiss modernists ? I wonder if its adherents notice
that they make it impossible for the reader to readily distinguish between, for instance, the words baker, cook, grant, may or legacy, and
their proper-name counterparts -- examples of a more general decreased legibility with which the practice burdens its readers.
Paradoxically, lower-case makes more sense for display (headlines) than for text, where the legibility issue is most severe. Capital letters join
punctuation in allowing the writer to more fully express the intended rhythms and emphases of speech -- which writing, especially in the context of a
chat site, is intended to represent, it seems to me.
SDR
everything which you mention plus a fair amount of laziness.SDR wrote: On a related note, I do wonder what is the motivation behind the choice to drop capital letters and write in lower-case. Is it an aesthetic decision --
a visual style ? A bit of willful typographic anarchy ? An homage to e e cummings, or to the Swiss modernists ? I wonder if its adherents notice
that they make it impossible for the reader to readily distinguish between, for instance, the words baker, cook, grant, may or legacy, and
their proper-name counterparts -- examples of a more general decreased legibility with which the practice burdens its readers.
SDR
but since you put it so nicely:
My homage to e e cummings, (I refuse to capitalize that handle), the Swiss Dadaists, anarchists, and modernists, shall hereby cease to exist.
If I slip into my old ways, don't hesitate to provide me with a good wrist slapping.
It was fun while it lasted.
As for why other offenders engage in this deviant practice, I can not say.
Last edited by peterm on Thu Mar 12, 2009 11:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I look forward to hearing from them, too.
Of course we should not capitalize cummings' name. As the French (at least) apparently emphasize, a person has the inviolable right to have his name
spelled, and pronounced, as he wishes.
Perhaps I am wrong; maybe language is not a mandatory discipline but an optional aesthetic medium, a pursuit more important to some than to others.
Certainly the members of this chat site should weigh in on the matter, if they so choose.
SDR
Of course we should not capitalize cummings' name. As the French (at least) apparently emphasize, a person has the inviolable right to have his name
spelled, and pronounced, as he wishes.
Perhaps I am wrong; maybe language is not a mandatory discipline but an optional aesthetic medium, a pursuit more important to some than to others.
Certainly the members of this chat site should weigh in on the matter, if they so choose.
SDR
My past choice to use no capitalization was always an aesthetic one (misguided or not). I simply thought that the non-hierarchical look of the script was more satisfying. I ignored the fact that it might be inconsiderate, and sometimes difficult to read, as in the examples which you cited.
My wife is from Vienna, Austria, where German is the language. Every noun in German is capitalized, so perhaps English is already a bit relaxed when it comes to this grammatical rule.
Many more nouns were capitalized in English at the time of Shakespeare than are capitalized now.
My wife is from Vienna, Austria, where German is the language. Every noun in German is capitalized, so perhaps English is already a bit relaxed when it comes to this grammatical rule.
Many more nouns were capitalized in English at the time of Shakespeare than are capitalized now.
Yeah, they threw capitals around like loose change, didn't they ? When every noun is capitalized, the same degradation of meaning is achieved as when none are. . .
English spelling is devilish, in great part because of the variety of sources of its ingredients. But at least it doesn't have the gender issues that French and German do.
SDR
English spelling is devilish, in great part because of the variety of sources of its ingredients. But at least it doesn't have the gender issues that French and German do.
SDR
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Palli Davis Holubar
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Conversation is so clever here...too bad we are not all sitting around a grand fireplace... no one would need to capitalize or spell correctly... or would the sin be maliprops (spelling? spell check has not read Dickens)
peterm- perhaps you could use italics for proper nouns...I thought the lower case was very moderne...already miss the visual distinction of your posts. It is welcome relief from the anonymity of the web...would that we all could choose the type face of our voice.
peterm- perhaps you could use italics for proper nouns...I thought the lower case was very moderne...already miss the visual distinction of your posts. It is welcome relief from the anonymity of the web...would that we all could choose the type face of our voice.
Very interesting.
I will be frank and say that what brought this topic on was that I was reading some posts this morning and they were replete with spelling errors, no capitals at the beginning of sentences, etc...
As a result, I realized that I was focusing on the errors rather than the topic. No big deal. And I admit that I am a horrible speller for the record.
I did not mean to scold. It was just an observation.
Aside from the artistic underpinnigs of artistic license expressed here, I believe that the advent of chatting and texting is changing the way we write to each other at an alarming rate. I guess it is just the evolution of our written language. For lack of a better expression, it is what it is.
By the way, or should I write BTW, I see the toll texting and chatting is having on my school age kids.
As my uncle Milt used to say "there is no stopping progress".
Sincerely,
RA
PS Wish this site had a spel check.
I will be frank and say that what brought this topic on was that I was reading some posts this morning and they were replete with spelling errors, no capitals at the beginning of sentences, etc...
As a result, I realized that I was focusing on the errors rather than the topic. No big deal. And I admit that I am a horrible speller for the record.
I did not mean to scold. It was just an observation.
Aside from the artistic underpinnigs of artistic license expressed here, I believe that the advent of chatting and texting is changing the way we write to each other at an alarming rate. I guess it is just the evolution of our written language. For lack of a better expression, it is what it is.
By the way, or should I write BTW, I see the toll texting and chatting is having on my school age kids.
As my uncle Milt used to say "there is no stopping progress".
Sincerely,
RA
PS Wish this site had a spel check.
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Jeff Myers
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I have spell check although you say there isn't one. Who here on the chat group has a Mac (Apple Computer). I do and it is wonderful. Anyway I think RA is right to say texting is affecting school kids I am 18 but don't text and sometimes I usually will do that but never even notice it. So lets take from all this and and say "This has been a post about grammar and spelling mistakes and take it and learn from this. I am a horrible speller but that is why they invented a dictionary so you can spell check.
Jeff
Thank you RA for posting this educational post.
Jeff
Thank you RA for posting this educational post.