If the title of this post irritates you, then welcome to my world. I am often bewildered and saddened by the slow and untimely demise of the English language. What happened to the days of proper punctuation, knowledge of spelling and practical use of writing? When did it become acceptable to shorthand everything and use numbers for words? IDK! (Evidently that means I don't know.) And does anyone really laugh out loud when they LOL gallantly and gloriously within a text message or e-mail? I know I don't usually laugh out loud so much as just chuckle within.
I admit to tossing an occasional LOL into my text but I'm probably part of the rare breed of text messager who uses capitalization and punctuation in their notes. I just can't help myself. It's almost like I have a nagging English professor within myself who will correct me or feel ashamed if I don't use proper protocol. Perhaps that's why I can't clearly explain myself - I'm trying too hard to sound intelligent. Is that wrong? Listening to the kids of today, and even some adults, I feel I have try doubly hard to make up for their ignorance and lack of appreciation for their native tongue just so the older generation has some small hope for the future.
Maybe I'm just an old soul but learning the language and using it properly is important to me. People don't know how to communicate anymore. The zombie look on people is getting all too common and no one seems to know how to make eye contact anymore; largely in part that the computer screen (or phone screen) does not have a set of eyes and does not respond to you like a person. Although by the looks of some, it would appear they had a serious relationship going with their electronic device.
It truly amazes me how some individuals do not know how to interact one another and carry their online persona into their actual lives where they feel free to act and speak in any manner. In the virtual world, no one has any fear. We post our thoughts publicly and even the most introverted person in real life is a tireless extrovert online. So, it's only natural to carry our virtual selves into the real world. Right?
Anyway, I will step down slowly from my soapbox now. While I continue my venture forward in trying to salvage the teachings of English 101, I hope you all have a pleasant evening. Let me know if you see a sentence or a semicolon out there. ;) Oh, there it is...
I am a victim of this. At first, when I would text, I was the same way. I would use proper grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. Then I started using twitter and because of limited character space, I HAD to use different things like 2 for to/too, c for see, etc. Once it started, I couldn't stop. I got lazy and now I can't spell
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Wendi, I just signed up for Twitter and I noticed it was the most difficult thing for me to read. I think because of all the Shaq stuff, we decided to sign up for it because he posted some funny things. Either way, I can barely read it!! I think the shorthand is a matter of being busy and feeling like we don't have time - my thought anyway. I haven't figured out if today's society has that much more going on than our forefathers or we just try to do too much. At any rate, you can add me to twitter. ;-) GarrettGirls10. I can c u there. haha...
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