Why we are so critical of people who can't spell and punctuate

cato said:
well rocker, if you try to spell AND punctuate a word, it would be very difficult for people to understand what you are saying! =]

Later,
Click to expand...

It's difficult to read a word that's spelt and punctuated?
 
You can use a wrench to beat a nail into a piece of wood, you can use a rock or you can use a hammer.
Which you decide to use, says something about the person you are.
 
one_raven said:
You can use a wrench to beat a nail into a piece of wood, you can use a rock or you can use a hammer.
Which you decide to use, says something about the person you are.
Click to expand...

Or the values of the culture you are in. A hammer as far as I can tell simply works better. But communication can have varied intents and goals.

Two teenagers standing on a corner may use the most grammatically horrifying English (even to American listeners). Their pronounciation may also vary widely from what is considered the norm. Nevertheless they can be communicating extremely well given their intentions and culture. the language used to SMS in cellphones or in chatrooms would horrify most people here (at least if it were used here). On the other hand it works.
 
Grantywanty said:
The language used to SMS in cellphones or in chatrooms would horrify most people here (at least if it were used here). On the other hand it works.
Click to expand...
To repeat a quote from a TV show that I've probably already posted on this thread:

"Nothing worth reading was ever written by a man who was trying to type with his thumbs."
Can one punctuate a word?
Click to expand...
Some SciForums members need to learn to punctuate the word "I." It's very easy to spell, but its one letter is capitalized. My spell checker always chides me for not punctuating "cliché" with the accent ague. And I don't really know whether I'm supposed to punctuate "accent ague" by putting it in italics. Is this still a French word or has it been assimilated? Like "cliche". :)
 
one_raven said:
You can use a wrench to beat a nail into a piece of wood, you can use a rock or you can use a hammer.
Which you decide to use, says something about the person you are.
Click to expand...

:) i love the comparison, you got married right? if i remember right it was in july?

and my weapon of choice has alway been the rock. crude but it gets the job done .


peace.
 
^Do you carry kryptonite in your belt in case you wanna kick Superman's ass Batman?
 
Fraggle Rocker said:
I have apologized privately to Ophi for my bizarre application of the rules and I now repeat the apology in public. I grossly misunderstood Ophi's post and simply saw something that wasn't there--and even then I overreacted to it.

I hope Ophi--one of our most thoughtful and articulate members whose posts invariably add substance to the discussion--gives me another chance and doesn't really ignore any discussion in which I participate. On one of my more meddlesome days that would amount to a boycott of this entire subforum, and I would end up having deprived the other members of access to a lot of good ideas.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your magnanimous and gentlemanly apology, both public and private. For my own part I shall attempt to make my use of rhetorical devices somewhat more unambiguous.
Regards
Ophiolite
 
Fraggle Rocker said:
"Nothing worth reading was ever written by a man who was trying to type with his thumbs."
Click to expand...

I enjoy that quote, each time. However, I doubt it´s true. Sooner or later a book of great SMSes will be published and some of them will be as good as that quote and in context, perhaps better. (I recently had a collection of great blog texts shoved in my hands and I was really rather impressed. Here´s the thing: the sometimes very good writing in these blogs tended to have a different aesthetic from book texts. They had a more spontaneous feel, were more conversational and probably would have been sent back to the author, especially by British publishing houses.)

I think there is a constant battle between those who think language must be perfect as an object and those more tribally oriented (in whatever sense) who view language much more as expressive and/or part of an ephemeral process.

I read EmptyForceOfChi´s posts without a problem. I don´t stutter my way through them. I certainly don´t think he is saying something about me or society (that upsets me, in any case) with the form of his posts.

This does not mean you should like them or even read them, moderator role set to the side for a moment.

The posts I do skip are often fairly well written. They just make my head hurt. They simply don´t know how to communicate, but the issues are at higher levels of complexity than spelling and grammar.

But I feel like I am repeating myself, so I´ll
 
It's just another way for people to show off how much smarter they are then someone else. They think they are clever when they do it. And sometimes it's funny.
 
Hip Hop Skeptic said:
It's just another way for people to show off how much smarter they are then someone else.
Click to expand...
Not smarter. More educated. That's a really big difference. People don't have much control over their intelligence. But your level of education is almost entirely the result of your own choices, at least in the western world and at least up to a two-year college degree.
 
Fraggle Rocker said:
Not smarter. More educated. That's a really big difference. People don't have much control over their intelligence. But your level of education is almost entirely the result of your own choices, at least in the western world and at least up to a two-year college degree.
Click to expand...

Yea but it is just casual online talk. Just because some1 does not spell things right or use proper punctuation does not mean they are not capable of it.

Maybe they just don't feel it is important or are too lazy to use it.

You can have an mba, master or whatever and still not spell well on here.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top