Written English - Evolving or Corrupting?

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andybysea

Full Member
Oct 15, 2008
2,609
0
South east Scotland.
My grammar isnt the greatest,so cant really criticize to much( i try my best) but text speak and when i hear kids saying things like ''innit'' and ''bro'' now that really gets my goat.
 

Stew

Bushcrafter through and through
Nov 29, 2003
6,454
1,293
Aylesbury
stewartjlight-knives.com
I must admit one of the things I find amusing is when, in the midst of an argument, someone decides to pick fault in the other's spelling.

"Your argument is null and void - you spelt "Tulip" incorrectly."
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,979
4,625
S. Lanarkshire
I think that the written word, in all it's assorted guises, is evolving. I think there is a greater emphasis in trying to write as though one were in conversation rather than in 'script' mode. It's very casual this electronic writing; it's ephemeral, it's not written (usually, mostly) as something to be retained in perpetuity.

My personal dislikes are the confusions that the wrong spelling causes. To, two, too.....it's not rocket science, just clarity. I can't hear what someone has written, so there is no intonation and no inflection on the words, other than the spelling.

"It's not too difficult to use them, once you take the time to learn what they mean - and do some practicing, too. Two has the same beginning as other numerical words, such as twice and twenty. "

Today's bon mot was dying. .....as in dying green......peculiarly corpse like I thought, then realised it was really dyeing to be green.
Easy spelling mistake to make, but confusing none the less.

Drew's speech was exactly as he wrote :D Only once I had actually met the lad though did I finally make sense of what he was writing thereafter :D He was ausomely unique was Drew :)......and there's a case in point; we use his spelling as a fond reminder of him, of his general joyousness in life.

American spellings are just a little different, much like writing of the pre Reformation, and thus the universal advent of literacy in this country. Standardisation (standardization?) is really not universal; it's more of an accepted norm.

I do use the acronyms...afaik, fak, iimmc, etc., but those change and are relevant to particular forums. On a sewing one they are entirely different to the bushcrafting one.

I am guilty (why? it's common speech here) of using Scottish vocabulary, but on the whole I aim to be clear in what I write, hoping that others will give a similar courtesy.

We live and learn though :) so it's interesting :D

atb,
Mary
 
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IanM

Nomad
Oct 11, 2004
380
0
UK
Language is communication, if the language changes to make communication worse it is a retrograde change.

Accurate spelling and grammar is necessary to accurate communication.
 

carabao

Forager
Oct 16, 2011
226
0
hove
Could we compare say Quebec French or Cajun French to modern day French. I have heard that many French speakers find it difficult to understand Quebec spoken French as it is old fashioned and outdated.
 

Mesquite

It is what it is.
Mar 5, 2008
27,872
2,930
62
~Hemel Hempstead~
i wonder how people from 200 years ago would view speech and written text from 10 years ago.

That's something I've wondered as well.

Just how far back in time could an english speaking person from this time go and still be understood and understand the langauge being spoken.
 

Salaud

Nomad
Aug 24, 2011
439
0
isle of man
An illustration of the importance of punctuation that I remember from my school days..

The school inspector was visiting and had spent his time berating the young teacher on the importance of punctuation. The teacher incorrectly assuming the inspector had left, wrote upon the blackboard for the merryment of his class.
"The teacher said the inspector was an idiot" at that moment the inspector swept back in, viewed the writing and with the addition of two commas proved his point. The blackboard now proclaimed
"The teacher, said the inspector, was an idiot"

It always stuck with me that one.
Another one was the most consecutive uses of a word in the English language...Ready ? this one takes some figuring out but it does make sense, firstly without punctuation

"In an exam, Tom where as Ted had had had had had had had had had had had the examiners approval"
And with punctuation.
In an exam, Tom whereas Ted had had had, had had had had, had had had had the examiners approval..
Strange sounding but does make perfect sense when you get your head around it.

Sent from my GT-P5110 using Tapatalk 4
 

Harvestman

Bushcrafter through and through
May 11, 2007
8,656
26
55
Pontypool, Wales, Uk
"If the English language made sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur"

I spot spelling mistakes at half a mile in other people's work, but they do get through in my own sometimes. Usually due to poor typing skills rather than to inability to spell.
 

santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
16,909
1,114
67
Florida
There's something I've noticed over the time I've been using internet forums and websites and that's the poor English spelling skills of a lot of the people using it has got worse.

They're either incorrectly spelling or people just not knowing the difference.....

Or poor grammar like saying "has got" instead of "has gotten?"
 

quietone

Full Member
May 29, 2011
821
93
Wales
I find that, as of late, nitpickers are somewhat prevalent around these parts.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
 

santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
16,909
1,114
67
Florida
:lmao:... not at all mate, that was a genuine typo on my part and I found your comment about it very amusing .....

That's really another problem on this medium. We may or may not actually know the correct spelling but many of us have poor typing skills.
 

santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
16,909
1,114
67
Florida
My grammar isnt the greatest,so cant really criticize to much( i try my best) but text speak and when i hear kids saying things like ''innit'' and ''bro'' now that really gets my goat.

"Bro" isn't really text speak; it's ethnic peak that's been all but mainlined.
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,979
4,625
S. Lanarkshire
Got, gotten and get are totally unneccesary words. They can all be replaced with something else that generally has a clearer meaning......so I was told by a very u Lady in something of a snit.
You note I did not use get; that has an entirely unedifying meaning in reality.

Aye, funny old world isn't it ? :D

cheers,
M
 

santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
16,909
1,114
67
Florida
Got, gotten and get are totally unneccesary words. They can all be replaced with something else that generally has a clearer meaning......so I was told by a very u Lady in something of a snit.
You note I did not use get; that has an entirely unedifying meaning in reality.

Aye, funny old world isn't it ? :D

cheers,
M

Absolutely. You can struggle to find the proper way to use a word or simply use a different word (or combination of words) with a clearer meaning.
 

boatman

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Feb 20, 2007
2,444
4
78
Cornwall
What is wrong with good words such as got and get? I know school English teachers did not like them but then they did not like the word nice either.
 

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