Vell Now ! You see , Vit da zenze of Hummer the volrd is the ting to not be vorrying about . No really , I enjoy a good sense of humor . I have a rather deep one at times and my Landlady or her daughter don’t get it . Shame on them .
By the way is that your cat ? ? She’s as they say , the Cat’s " Meow " . T.B.
I have been ridiculed for using full words and punctuation when texting. I have co-workers who have not figured out the difference between your and you’re. Makes me crazy. I used to pride myself on having a well developed vocabulary, but with age, I am finding that I am much less erudite due to having difficulty recalling words. Having a well developed vocabulary and a good sense of humor go hand in hand. Without the vocabulary, you miss too much of the word play, and well thought out word play is a reason to live! A pun! A pun! My horse for a pun!
Well I still write in cursive…sort of. Over the years I’ve invented ways of making my own cursive letters. And my chicken scratch of a signature will prove it.
No need, brother. We all have opinions about Common CORE and I respect yours wholeheartedly. By no means I want to turn this into a political flamewar.
Great thread, well said, all! This leads me to another topic that I am passionate about- the lack of spelling skills prevalent today. You can see atrocious examples here every day.
Thank you. [:)] I appreciate your discretion and agree with you. [Y][B]
I have a “dumb phone”; a Samsung flip-phone. Takes me ten minutes to type anything at all on the very rare occasions when I text anyone, usually in reply. I ALWAYS spell my words fully, and will (annoyingly, I’m sure) ask peopel for clairification when they hit me with all of those dumb abbreviated non-words. Pisses 'em off I’m sure, but maybe it’ll get them to think about it. 
Let not your heart be troubled dear Doog, for you are among friends. Yes our written language has taken a HUGE hit since the advent of the telephone and hence the upgrade in technology it brought with it. I for one am guilty as charged of run along sentences, improper punctuation, and my mild pet peev…spelling. It is one thing to speak the word incorrectly while someone is listening, however to type it and think that everyone will know what your trying to say. Again I to am guilty. Perhaps the saying “better to be thought of a fool than open your mouth and prove it” should be applied in this strange new world. In conclusion I agree with everybody who commented in this thread, a simpler time has been religated to the annals of history and we must set forth on a new path to continue to succeed. P.S. I gots grandma roasting on the spit, what kinda BBQ sauce shoulds I put on her?[*-)]
I notice too the deterioration of spoken english. Contractions like wouldn’t, couldn’t, etc. used to have consonents sounded before the part left out. It was could-ent, would-ent, etc.
Now, that d is omitted- people say cou-ent, wou-ent! Shocks my ears! That is contracting too much.
Using the word the before a word starting with a consonent used to be pronounced th-ah. If the second word started with a vowel, it was sounded like thee. Now it is pronounced the same for either kind of word.
[:$]
These days, the only time I use cursive is when I write checks (yes, I still use checks!). Otherwise, I have somehow developed the habit of printing in all capital letters. I have no idea where that came from! When I first joined up here, I got “yelled at” for “YELLING” everything I said. I typed in caps, because I wrote in caps (online communication was new to me!). Having seen others do the same, since then…I can see the irritation!
To the subject at hand. I find myself somewhere in the middle, between the obnoxious short hand/ghetto speak BS and the eloquent, articulate, well versed writing of a wordsmith. The later can be equally obnoxious though. There seems to be a fine line between well spoken and pretentious (look how smart I am, with my big words). I like things basic, but not too basic…to, two, too…you, your, you’re…etc, those are basics that everyone should have a grasp on…as well as punctuation!
Only if yauntoo, sorry Don, Fermis, couldn’t resist.
S’matterchew?!!! [proplr]
Okay Cadet Chuck ;
Are you trying to say some of us have no skelling spills ? That’s ridiculous think I . persecution of da langwich is no mean feet . Wattevir is writtin heer it’s godda be right . Dern . T.B.
Friends, modelers, countrymen: lend me your ears;
I’ve come to bury the question mark, not to praise it.
The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.
So let it be with the question mark.
The noble 20-something hath told you that the question mark was ambitious;
If it were so, 'twas a grievous fault,
And grievously hath the question mark answer’d it.
Here, under leave of the 20-something and the rest-
For the 20-something is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men-
Come I to speak in question mark’s funeral.
It was my friend, faithful and just to me;
But the 20-something says it was ambitious,
And the 20-something is an honourable man.
It hath brought many inquiries home to the page
Whose answers did the general curiosities fill.
Did this in the question mark seem ambitious?
When that the unlearned have inquired, the question mark hath been their punctuation.
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.
Yet the 20-something says it was ambitious,
And the 20-something is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the message post,
I thrice presented it with boldface type,
Which it did thrice refuse; was this ambition?
Yet the 20-something says it was ambitious,
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what the 20-something spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love it once, not without cause;
What cause withholds you then, to mourn for it?
O judgement! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with question mark,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
Dave (liberally paraphrasing Shakespeare)
Oh, I agree–the spelling is atrocious! I see “definately” alot----NO “A” in “definiitely”! But you have to realize too, with the whole spelling thing, that very often a spelling “mistake” is the fault of that damned “auto-fill” feature. Sometimes when I’m posting on my iPad, the stupidest things get put in that sometimes don’t even make sense. I’m always having to proofread my posts to make sure I don’t sound like a…millenial.
I prefer a hickory smoke on the BBQ. [:P]
Really? I honestly never knew that! Very interesting!
My pet peeve is when people put an “R” on the ends of words like “China” when the next word starts with a vowel. Must be some silly grammar rule I never heard of. You’ll hear things like “Delegates from 'Chiner” are meeting today…". Drives me NUTS!
LOL Doog, yea my wife and brother in law,( brother-in-law?), finally shut my auto correct function off, I prefer to spell my curse words and mean them. Being from up northern way the local vernacular does take some…getting used to…[:#]. Got a fresh bottle of hickory in the fridge. What time should I expect ya?
T.B. never doubt that what ya type is for sure what you mean. Always a pleasure to share a laugh witchya.
The “R” seems to be a geographical issue. Being from Boston, people accuse me of not using R’s (as in car is cah!) yet we seem to put R’s at the end of words that end in a vowel (as pizza is pronounced pizzer). Yet when I lived in Washington State, Washington was pronounced WaRshington by many natives.
Awesome observation Pontiac, true. Doog just to rib ya a bit definitely, I observed a third “i” tucked in there…just saying LOL.
You know, I get that charge ALL THE TIME, and I don’t understand it. I admit; I have a very advanced vocabulary (apparently?!) and I like to use it. It’s not being pretentious; it’s choosing exactly-specific words to accurately convey what I mean or want to say. I look at it like an art; it’s like weathering your sentences with exactly the effect that you want to make your sentence look like and make the reader/observer feel. But if I had a dime for every commentator on some of the political blogs that I go on who say “You think you’re smart with your big words…”, I’d be a rich man. It has nothing to do with that—it’s all about the art and skill of concise communication.