fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too
Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.
i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it


Got that in an e-mail the other day. Grammar has been deteriorating for decades. The Internet has more people writing than ever before, perhaps there will be some benefit from that. Texting is another ballgame. I dread text messages, responding is tedious and I haven't done it enough to learn the shorthand.

Bravo!

I deal with text messages by totally ignoring them.

Some people (esp the young ones) think what they're saying or writing is cute (kewl rather than cool), but most of the time it's just ignorance. I know that there are phrases or sentences that simply sound more natural ending in a preposition, but some people just drive me crazy with their version of passed-along ghetto jivespeak...

"Where you goin' to?"
"Where you at?"
"Where you fixin' to do that at?"

But when I hear a schoolteacher say it, I simply shudder.

And there really is a difference between "axeing a question" and "asking a question", even if you are from Jersey and surrounds.

Really?
It seems like things have been a little bit slow around the ETS Forum lately... but, can't you find something better to do?... this 'aint the "Equipped to be an English Major" forum!

There have been other forums I enjoyed in the past, that I left when their tone became too arrogant. I really hope that doesn't happen here.

I also do a lot of writing as part of my work. Others where I work ask me to edit their writing (even my son, the self described hillbilly, asks me for such advice when his friends aren't around to hear him). I am amazed at the inability of most people to spell, avoid sentence fragments, use proper grammar, and on and on and on. Surely texting is a major culprit but I know it goes beyond that because it was bad twenty years ago when I insulted a coworker who had written a sentence that simply made no sense. I'm still making up for that.

I have since stumbled across a joke that bears repeating here.

A cowboy went into the city to get some much needed information. He stopped a well dressed man and asked "Excuse me, do you know what street the library is on?" The man, a professor at the city's University, replied "Sir, I do not answer questions that end in a preposition." The cowboy smiled and said "Do you know what street the library is on, @$$hole?"

Anyhow, I have long since gotten over it all. If someone asks, I edit/correct/suggest. If they don't, I look for their message and usually find it. It still drives me up the wall ... I simply ignore it and move along. If I can't tolerate someone's mangling of the language - I pretend I didn't hear/read it. Not easy but worth the effort.

My $.02.

There is a rumor that Winston Churchill got annoyed when someone corrected his sentence so as not to end it with a preposition, and Churchill said, “This is the sort of bloody nonsense up with which I will not put.”

On these boards, I usually do a 'Quick Reply', which doesn't have the option of the italics, and I'm too lazy to highlight and copy everything, then go back to a reply to the particular person, paste the original in, and then italicize certain parts.

I'm fair at grammar, but I don't mind if someone corrects me. Well, if they're right, anyway. Sometimes it's just a typo, sometimes I don't proofread. And, sometimes I'm just wrong.

That ignorance is bearing some fruit already. Some time ago I saw an interview with a company spokesperson. This person said that the company want some trainees for an office job really badly but none of the applicants could master basic math, basic spelling and basic grammar. So none of of about 300 applicants was fit to even start the training let alone complete it successfully.
Ironically the common availability of spellcheckers seems to promote errors in grammar and spelling.
The bad spelling and grammar also affects the efficiency of communication. Sometimes it changes the meaning of a sentence. If you are lucky the new meaning does not make sense and you have figure out the real meaning. If you are less lucky someone will suffer from the consequences of a misunderstanding.

Disclaimer:
I am not a native English speaker, so please bear with me if you find some errors and feel free to point them out.

I was doing some work a little while ago for a local school system and had to work in several different local schools. The total use of Ebonics and poor English by the TEACHERS was what got me. Ebonics may be fine for out on the street, but in a classroom setting where you the one who's supposed to be setting the standard and teaching the kids?

No wonder the kids talk like that.

I cannot help myself. I believe you intended to type quotation marks, not quotation mark. Smells like abuse.

Notice also I did not use a contraction or the word that after notice. I am a that/which wacko myself.

Oh, overuse of emoticons drives me up the wall.

My $.02

If you want to have some fun, ask a teenager to have a conversation with you without using the word "like". Drives them batty. My daughter just can't do it.

Cheers,
LW