No, but IMO thinking less of people who do not use your interpretation of "proper English" is elitism.

 

If English is not your first language, I have nothing but admiration for your trying to communicate in a non-native language.

 

If your first language is English, horsemanure.

 

There is absolutely no excuse for a native English speaker under the age of eight to not use basics of spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Furthermore, it's not difficult to tell the difference in writing between someone who is young (and therefore not au courant with, for instance, the nuances of the semicolon or the Oxford comma) and somebody who just doesn't care.

 

That's not "elitism," that's "basic functional literacy."

There is absolutely no excuse for a native English speaker under the age of eight to not use basics of spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

Under the age of eight? You guys must be fast learners

You wrote that gigantic OP, purportedly to *cover all of the bases,* and perhaps just to foster a longer discussion, but there really is only one reason behind this problem:

 

Laziness.

 

If u type like this, u r lazy. Period.

 

If I knew what you meant, that should be enough, right? Wrong. You should expect more out of yourself.

 

It's just a game, and supposed to be fun and relaxing, so what does it matter? Play Hard. If you do not play hard (at something you reputedly enjoy), then you certainly do not Work Hard either. Not working hard equals what, again?

 

Work Hard.

Play Hard.

Don't be lazy.

 

P.S., to the OP - you are a senior in college, and you are somehow not aware that sentences are not supposed to start with the word *and?*

 

Riôt

Dear OP, I took the trouble to read your post and I was actually going to quote it with the grammatical and spelling corrections that it required and a mark at the bottom 8/10 could do better. I decided against doing this, because then I would have just come across as some Grammar Nazi.

 

My point is, if I were going to make a post such as you have on an internet forum I would have proof read it quite a few times before I would have dared to press the send button.

 

As I read your post I struggled to follow it as all I was seeing were the grammatical and spelling mistakes that were in it.. 'There' instead of 'their' for gods sake are you a bloody masochist?

Under the age of eight? You guys must be fast learners

 

Actually the age is ten. Haven't you seen show "Are you smarter than a fifth grader"?

 

So "using proper English" is now "elitism."

 

* cries *

I have read this a few times and figured that today I would reply.

 

I have been called an elitist a few times already on these forums and I do not consider myself as such. I really do think it is funny though.

 

I am not a Perfectionist, because I make mistakes and know that I do, but I will try to do the best that I can in most everything that I try to do.

 

I try to retain my perspective of my morals I was taught, my lousy spelling and grammar, my incompetent typing skills, my game play, and my fun-o-meter while doing it.

 

I enjoy reading, a lot, and a variety of subjects as well. I say this because I have friends that do not read, did not do well in school with the subject, and do have a horrid time with writing in all of it's context. These people are no less my fiends because of our differences, it is a life style of choice, opportunity, and desire (fun factor ).

 

I do try to understand what is written in chat, but I am not l33t or, definitely, up on the texting acronyms. I do know L2P and a few others from time and asking. My aunt sent me an e-mail that leads to texting acronyms and even that took me a while, as it was not listed in open format, to figure out what tl/dr (or tl:dr or some other variant ) actually meant.

 

So if I do not understand, and if it's neither relevant nor important, I just ignore it.

 

Sorry for the long reading.

 

tl/dr (or whatever) Whatever!

people often use language to feel superior to others.

Like spelling/grammar has anything to do with intelligence *sight*

If you can't understand what the other person is trying to communicate then by all means ask him/her to clarify.

Language is mostly about repetition and mindless gaping (no offense intended), I could ask you if p=np in return.

 

Do you understand this? "I has problem wit this bos can u help me"

I'm guessing most of u do, so whats the freaking problem?

 

CONTEXT!

 

The problem with this argument is that it's used more and more often to cover up laziness. In addition, you're only doing yourself harm by not bothering to spell or punctuate properly. No, improper grammar or spelling doesn't mean you're stupid. Everyone makes mistakes, particularly in a place such as an internet forum where you're aiming to get your thought across as fast as possible. However, it can make you APPEAR stupid. And I can promise you, as a manager, that if one of my employees wrote something like " has problem wit this bos can u help me" he'd either shape up fast or be gone. Weather I understood his meaning or not, that phrase tells me one of two things: He is too lazy to form a coherent sentence, in which case he's probably too lazy to be doing a good job; or he's not smart enough to be doing anything more complicated than flipping a hamburger. Weather it's right or wrong, weather we like it or not, you are going to be judged by how you communicate. You can champion the cause of "grammar and spelling don't matter' all you want, but you're only going to hurt yourself by refusing to learn basic spelling and grammar.

Actually the age is ten. Haven't you seen show "Are you smarter than a fifth grader"?

 

They haven't shown that gem on Dutch telly yet

 

Actually, I was trying to point out that the poster must have meant "above" instead of "under", lol.

They haven't shown that gem on Dutch telly yet

 

Actually, I was trying to point out that the poster must have meant "above" instead of "under", lol.

 

LOL, I was just teasing. Dutch.. do you all have a Tulip channel?

If you are telling people that not learning basic spelling and grammar is going to hurt them, then it might be advisable to spell the word "whether" correctly..........

 

Weather it's right or wrong, weather we like it or not, you are going to be judged by how you communicate. You can champion the cause of "grammar and spelling don't matter' all you want, but you're only going to hurt yourself by refusing to learn basic spelling and grammar.

Under the age of eight? You guys must be fast learners

 

D'oh!

The last generation to really get spelling and grammar in a major way are the kids born in the 70s.

 

Every generation since then has been worse than the one before it.

 

That doesn't mean kids in today's generation can't spell or use grammar -- that's totally not what I'm saying although some will choose to interpret my words that way -- I'm simply saying the overall number of literate children is falling... and that's even with falling standards in the way it's measured these days!!!

Edited June 2, 2012 by blur

LOL, I was just teasing. Dutch.. do you all have a Tulip channel?

We have to make do with our local Cheese channel

Contractions?

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 u tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! Edited June 2, 2012 by Algaram

What they need to do is bring School House Rock back..

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 u tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

 

that post made me queasy. seriously it gave me a headache

Yes and No.

 

I usually try my best to use proper punctuation, spelling and word usage (think you're and your.) It is rare that I use short cuts, don't capitalize or not use punctuation. It does bug me but, I have slight OCD tendencies. My wife thinks it funny that I go around the house lining up light switches for example. When I write something outside of the game, like this for example, I usually comb over it a few times to ensure wording, spelling and punctuation. When I was still in the U.S. Air Force, I worked in a career field that had to deal with performance reports and decorations. Ensuring that they had proper formatting and such. I was usually the one they went to when they had a bullet or sentence that they needed better wording for and, wanted to make it have more of an "impact" statement. Despite the fact that I cross trained on the job and, primarily managed the squadron's computer account.

 

As for my background, I completed high school and did a few semesters of college online towards a degree in computer science. I didn't finish before I had to move, due to orders. I can't really do school now due to memory issues. It would also be a waste of time because I can't work currently (and most likely never again.)

 

I'm not really a grammar nazi, though it does bug me when I see it online. This is especially true in professional writing, such as news websites. To me, proper grammar usage and, all aspects tied to that have slipped dramatically over the years. With the worst offenders being news agencies. I would expect an editor to make sure that their best foot is being put forward online. For me, improper grammar makes that agency look bad.