Quote:
Originally Posted by bhartman36
All of which, while vaguely interesting, has nothing to do with what I was saying (unless you're going to make the bizarre claim that S.O.S. is a "word" now).
Texting spelling started out as a way to type on small keyboards of cell phones. It's now expanded beyond that, simply by virtue of the fact that people who do a lot of texting can have access to QWERTY keyboards on their phones. It continues on phones now partially because people are lazy, and partially because there are certain elements of the culture that have encouraged the belief that it is a language unto itself (which has the unfortunate side effect of letting lazy and/or illiterate people believe they are intelligent). And it has leaked on to undergraduate level papers because people that age are becoming less and less literate.
By "literate", as I said before, I don't mean lacking the actual ability to read. At an undergrad level, that kind of illiteracy would be extremely rare. Rather, I'm talking about the inability to write coherently. Writing coherently involves both being able to communicate your ideas and the ability to understand your audience and adjust your writing accordingly. The inability to do that is why texting spelling ends up on undergraduate papers.
And while we're on the subject, my girlfriend teaches graduate-level courses, so illiteracy (i.e., not being able to string words together coherently) at that level is more than a little alarming. And no, it's not just a matter of dangling participles (although those annoy her in formal writing, as well).
I apologize if actually being able to read and write properly offends you, of course.
1) I think you meant "Thru wasn't always" rather than "didn't used to be".
2) While the use of "thru" as a spelling goes back to at least the Chicago Tribune, spelling reform has nothing to do with why it's still in the language. It's in the language for more informal reasons (laziness and illiteracy). If it was simply a matter of spelling reform, "thru" would be acceptable in formal writing. It is not. That's why the Chicago Tribune no longer uses the "reformed" spellings.
I obviously understand a lot more about the English language, and language in general, than you do. Apparently you weren't able to absorb your mother's knowledge by osmosis.
Texting isn't a case of a language evolving. It's the language devolving -- making one's ideas less clear, rather than more clear. The only saving grace is that it's almost certain that texting spellings will die out, even in electronic communication, as technology evolves to the point where it's no longer much harder to spell actual words rather than texting spellings.
|
Oh, and "qwerty" is now a word?? Wonder when that happened?
I seriously doubt that you understand more about the English language and language in general than I do. Considering that I make my living (and a very good living it is too) finding and making use of sloppy use of the English language by people like you.
No, I didn't absorb my knowledge by osmosis. I actually went to university and 8 years of three graduate schools, for each of which I graduated in the top 2% of my class.
Oh, and "thru" is acceptable use in government documents and several other forms of "formal writing."
Apparently you haven't learned anything much from your girlfriend, by osmosis or otherwise.
As for illiteracy, it's still only a situational construct, and whether the English language is evolving or de-evolving is only your opinion, to which I will be more likely to give some credence when I know exactly where all your advanced degrees lie. You must have scores of those, correct?? All summa cum laude?? Or at least cum laude??
No, let me guess .... C student?? How were your SATs?? You probably have them framed on your wall right?? No??
And, just out of curiosity ... at which university does your girlfriend teach? Must be a great place if the graduate students are illiterate.
Ah, but then, I only attended UCLA (undergraduate and graduate), USC (graduate), Loyola University (graduate) and Trinity College at Cambridge (graduate). Much less prestigious than your girlfriend's university, I'm sure.
SOS .... not a word, and seldom spelled "S.O.S." anymore. Then, neither is C U L8R. And, then there's IOU which has been in use for a long time. Not an initialism, not a word ... just a shorthand expression that people use all the time, even in formal writing, and without being termed illiterate by the likes of you.
No, I don't find your ability to read or write "properly" offensive. I just find you offensive.