What's with all the bad writing?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusguy04 @ Oct 10 2006, 09:01 AM) [snapback]330629[/snapback]</div>

Achtung!

Spelling doesn't matter if you make your posts look like comic books full of boring, overused emoticons. The "Dumbing Down of America" clique is hard at work!

Next we can get rid of "thinking." Oops. I see it's already started.

"misspell your wrods"

I rest my case.

Himmler

 

Ebonics.

PG04 brought this up. I wonder why....

I studied a lot of linguistics in college and Black English (BE), as it was called back then, came under discussion.

It is a non-standard English, (like Cajun French is a non-standard French) but it follows rules every bit as clear as those followed by the British or Parisians.

I've heard people who themselves ignore virtually every rule taught in English for Dummies (Advanced Edition) make fun of those who say, for example, "I be coming soon."

In BE grammar, the verb "to be" is treated as a regular verb and works like most others.

For example:
to run:
I run
You run
He runs

to be:
I be
you be
He bes

(Funny. My spell checker didn't mark "bes.")

When somebody "axes a question" in BE, he/she is following similar rules of pronunciation concerning words containing "k" and "s." It's not ignorant, just the opposite. It is following the rules, unlike many here who think any rules don't apply to them. (Funny attitude for a cop....)

This grammar was formulated around 300 years ago by people desperate to learn a new language imposed upon them rather suddenly. They didn't learn it at their leisure in the University of Virginia. And the gentle folks they worked for didn't take the time to correct their little linguistic shortcomings. They just laughed at them as "quaint," feeling quite superior with their excellent English. "Y'all gidit?"

The recent arrivals then taught what they knew to their kids and, over time, it became an established language. Many people speak both languages, BE and Standard English, switching from one to the other when convenient. Or not switching when they want to pull our chain sometimes.

I've been in Louisiana and seen "real" French folks make fun of the Cajuns. It made them feel so upper class. It's always been the same. People who are lacking in something will try to hide it by pointing out a difference in others.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jared2 @ Oct 10 2006, 09:57 AM) [snapback]330664[/snapback]</div>

Yes they do. If I'm going to write in Latin, I have to spell it properly. "When in Rome...."

My excuse is that I wrote it late at night and my Latin dictionary wasn't available. And I made the mistake of buying the cheap English-only spell checker. That'll teach me.

So this morning I checked and it was "audax" not "audex." I corrected it but not before I was caught.

Good find! I like to be "got" like this.

See: even a Nazi can err. Who'd have thunk it?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jared2 @ Oct 10 2006, 10:20 AM) [snapback]330684[/snapback]</div>

That's funny....

You don't look Italian!

(Don't even start to flame that. I'm Italian and I know what we all look like.)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BrianTheDog @ Oct 10 2006, 10:32 AM) [snapback]330703[/snapback]</div>

I feel a headache coming on.....

What's with all the bad writing?, Your shift key broken?

The spelling is OK. The form is colloquial. "What's with all the bad writing?" I copied from a previous hot thread, "What's with all the tattoos?"

It should, more properly be "What is it with all the bad writing?" But I deliberately chose this for continuity. "What is it" has a history of accepted use. " Ex: "What is it with you?"

"Your shift key broken?" lacks the auxiliary verb "is."

Am I getting close?

If it's the colloquial you are pointing to, I stand by it. Language may be bent for effect. Think Shakespeare for a start. I'm not quite the Nazi I appear to be.

Either of those two "sentences" could be found in a book or article and an editor would let them stand. I think they might draw the line at:

whatz with all teh baad writin you're shift key brokn

If you are going to break the rules, there should be a reason other than laziness, I think. It should be for effect and done sparingly to make a point.

Now hit me with what I missed and I'll try to take it like a man.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Proco @ Oct 10 2006, 10:31 AM) [snapback]330704[/snapback]</div>

Now that is funny! The emoticons are creative and new and not just the same tired ones found to the left of the writing window. I'm going to steal them! Even comic books can be fun if you work at them just a little.

Well done!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Proco @ Oct 10 2006, 11:03 AM) [snapback]330726[/snapback]</div>

OK, that is right if you read it at the top of the page where they are merged together.

But if you read the title/subtitle in the FHOP index, they come out as just that: Title, on one line, and Subtitle on the next. I entered them on two separate lines in the PriusChat writer and started each line with a capital letter. It's a built in thing I can't work around.