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

Discussion in 'Linguistics' started by Fraggle Rocker, Jul 12, 2007.

  1. Oli Heute der Enteteich... Registered Senior Member

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    It's difficult to read a word that's spelt and punctuated?
     
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  3. one_raven God is a Chinese Whisper Valued Senior Member

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    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.
     
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  5. Grantywanty Registered Senior Member

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    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.
     
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  7. Grantywanty Registered Senior Member

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    Can one punctuate a word?
     
  8. Oli Heute der Enteteich... Registered Senior Member

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    It's difficult to read a word that's spelt and punctuated?

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  9. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    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."
    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".

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  10. EmptyForceOfChi Banned Banned

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    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.
     
  11. one_raven God is a Chinese Whisper Valued Senior Member

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    Thanks.
    June 30th.

    I like to think I have an assorted set of tools in my belt - each with their own purpose(s).
     
  12. Fugu-dono Scholar Of Shen Zhou Registered Senior Member

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    ^Do you carry kryptonite in your belt in case you wanna kick Superman's ass Batman?
     
  13. one_raven God is a Chinese Whisper Valued Senior Member

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    There should be a comma after your ass.
     
  14. Fugu-dono Scholar Of Shen Zhou Registered Senior Member

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    ^It's the internet ne. Take it easy. What's your answer by the way?
     
  15. one_raven God is a Chinese Whisper Valued Senior Member

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    I don't carry much Kryptonite in there - just a bit.
    Maybe someday I'll get more.
     
  16. Ophiolite Valued Senior Member

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    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
     
  17. Ophiolite Valued Senior Member

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    If you are a follower of Gould and Eldridge you can punctuate equilibrium.

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  18. Grantywanty Registered Senior Member

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    1,888
    Well, duh. (aimed at me)
     
  19. Grantywanty Registered Senior Member

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    Excellent.
     
  20. Grantywanty Registered Senior Member

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    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
     
  21. Hip Hop Skeptic Registered Member

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    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.
     
  22. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    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.
     
  23. Hip Hop Skeptic Registered Member

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    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.
     

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