WHYYYYYY cant people write properly anymore?

[Muse]

Originally posted by: EngenZerO
bah - I blame MS Word for the autocorrect spelling feature. This one feature has led to the decline of my spelling,

engen

I rarely use MS Word. My email client has a spell check but I rarely use it. When I do, I find very few spelling errors. Sometimes I am unsure of how to spell a word, but it happens less and less and less. Since you think a spell check is ruining your spelling I'd suggest that when you make the corrections indicated by Word (it IS configured to just have a squiggly line under the misspelled word, right, rather than autocorrect!?), you take a second for each word and compare how you spelled it to the correct spelling so it has a chance to stick in your mind. Thus, learn from your mistakes!

 

[rectifire]

hOw abOUt tHe PeOplE wHO ThINk It'S cOoL tO wRiTe in tHIs FasHiOn.


It gives me a headache whenever I try to read more than a sentence or two consisting of this sort of writing. Granted, this type of writing may not matter very much because it is much more common on the internet than anywhere else. However, I also have noticed it on flyers and signs when I travel into predominately Asian neighborhoods (Monterey Park and Alhambra CA.) It baffles me how these kids have gotten it into their heads that this is cool. Maybe it's related to the whole thing where it's considered cool to be dumb.

If I were an English professor at a university, I would strongly discourage this type of writing. If a person gets into the habit of writing like this, it seems only a matter of time before it filters down into their everyday writing skills.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
I'm pretty sure I don't function in written language like most people do. I had trouble learning ... snip...

Moonbeam,

Wonderful, absolutely wonderful exposition on the whole process of becoming an effective writer. I'm certain I've never seen the like, and you say things I might have said myself, many of them. Clearly, however, what you say isn't entirely true - i.e. you haven't given up writing as a means of self expression. You do it very well indeed. What you are referring to, evidently, was a sudden insight, an awakening in your struggles to express yourself and find your inner voice, where you suddenly changed your focus from writing your thoughts to expressing them vocally.

Yes, it's the process of developing the ability to put your thoughts into words EXACTLY that is at the heart of learning to write. Better even, the ability to express yourself accurately in speech, what is called eloquence. Your sometime reluctance to be too direct, too clear in your utterances brings to mind a William Blake aphorism: "Always be ready to speak your mind and a base man will avoid you." Quotes surrounding the punctuation, folks! Thanks for the tip!

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: Vic
My father, a school teacher, taught me, "Vic, when you use punctuation in quotation, it should going inside the quotation marks."
I said, "Really?"

Then I asked, "Does anyone else think that Vic did a good job of summarizing that succinctly?"

If the quotation contains a question, the question mark goes inside the quotation. If I remember correctly, if the quotation is contained within a sentence that is a question itself, then the question mark goes outside the quotation.

Why did he say "We don't need no education"?

 

[cyclistca]

if you compose emails that read like they were written by some retard fresh off the short bus, people will assume that you are not particularly bright.

Oh god yes. Some of the e-mails that I have to plow through at work. Don't even get me started on some of the documentation that people write here.

I hang around on a truck forum. If I see one more person spell "brakes" as "breaks". Just today some moron was saying that he tried a search on "breaks" and could not find any information. Duh!

I'm sure that the Internet and TV have a great deal to do with it. Oh and the fact that most people don't read a book unless they have to.

 

[dafatha00]

I scored a 700 on my SAT II writing 4 years ago! woohoo!

That being said, I'm not a very good writer.

 

[Moonbeam]

Thanks Muse.

 

[ProviaFan]

As s/he thoughtfully considered the issue at hand, Moonbeam uttered the following monologue:
[snipped]

Though I may not agree with all of your political views, I still think you are quite good as a writer. I might almost be inclined to think that you wrote professionally.

For me personally, I have never really considered myself very good at expressing what I'm thinking, even in speech; thus, it is hard for me to write well, even when I try to "speak my mind on paper." Some say that good writing skill comes with much practice; I'm not sure that's true, but maybe after having much forced writing practice throughout the rest of my high school and (subsequently) college years, I will find out whether or not it will have helped any.