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2004-04-19 Home Front: Culture Wars

Forces of âBarbaric Illiteracyâ too Strong

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Posted by Zenster 2004-04-19 4:30:07 PM|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Language evolves. Move along...

Posted by Yosemite Sam 2004-04-19 5:52:35 PM|| 2004-04-19 5:52:35 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 IIRC, punctuation was introduced during the Middle Ages. Before that, you guessed where the sentence began and ended. Questions were defined by syntax, not punctuation. English uses more punctuation than most languages -- maybe too much. The pendulum swings back and forth. Now it's swinging towards less punctuation. I guess this means muck4do is actually in the vanguard. Frightening.

Posted by 11A5S 2004-04-19 6:16:09 PM|| 2004-04-19 6:16:09 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 Truss has a point.

Over the years I've hired a lot of people and interviewd a lot more. Inevitably, the programmers, analysts and engineers who were sloppy or ignorant of grammar and punctuation were also inaccurate and sloppy in technical work.

I don't have a problem with 133t speak, but if that's the best someone can do, the chances are they will lose out on that technical job to someone from Taiwan or Japan or Korea or Mexico whose English may not be native, but who are much more disciplined in their thought and communications.

Posted by rkb 2004-04-19 7:18:27 PM|| 2004-04-19 7:18:27 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 Don't even have a problem with 1337 speak, either.

Posted by rkb 2004-04-19 7:19:12 PM|| 2004-04-19 7:19:12 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 Punctuation (and capitalization) do more to improve readability than any amount of graphic design or word-smithing. Dismiss it at your peril.

Posted by Robert Crawford 2004-04-19 7:19:55 PM|| [http://www.kloognome.com/] 2004-04-19 7:19:55 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 "Eats, Shoots & Leaves,"

The original joke was funnier.

"Australia wants to make the Wombat it's national animal."

"Why?"

"Because it Eats, roots, and leaves!"

Posted by Phil B 2004-04-19 8:28:35 PM|| 2004-04-19 8:28:35 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 "Australia wants to make the Wombat it's national animal."

"...its national animal," you illiterate barbarian.

Posted by Angie Schultz 2004-04-19 10:11:56 PM|| [http://darkblogules.blogspot.com] 2004-04-19 10:11:56 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 Angie, thanks for the correction, although 'illiterate barbarian' is a little harsh.

On a serious note, there have always been different versions of English used in different contexts. For example many people speak informal English (and different variants of informal English), but write formal English. I see no problem with the Internet having a casual style of English.

Posted by Phil B 2004-04-19 10:21:25 PM|| 2004-04-19 10:21:25 PM|| Front Page Top

14:50 Gentle
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