"Trendy" illiteracy, where will it all end, and what are its consequences ?

[biotechpete]

Oh, and btw, though I am not normally a grammar pedant, just FYI. It's, that is to say electronic mail is, E-mail or Email or I suppose even E. mail (given that the accepted convention for shortening in acronyms is the use of the "." but never E mail.

[Justin Smith]

Oh, and btw, though I am not normally a grammar pedant, just FYI. It's, that is to say electronic mail is, E-mail or Email or I suppose even E. mail (given that the accepted convention for shortening in acronyms is the use of the "." but never E mail.

 

I hate E Mail anyway, people can just ignore it, which annoys me like you`ve never known. Speaking to someone on the phone is far better, in many instances. Make sure you get their name though.....

"e mail" doesn`t look right to me, and, since the general trend is not to use capitals, even when they should be used, particularly if it`s anyone who has anything to do with "IT", then, the chances are,, "e mail", is probably wrong.....

[erb666]

My grip of the language is not fantastic but that aside, i have to ask, is the problem that the language is addapting to modern living?

 

In my home conversation died when broadband got installed, in fact things seem so fast that sometimes i dont even have to ask........the answer is already in the inbox.

[buck]

When did people stop knowing how to spell correctly? Probably when people stopped reading books. When I was young, anyone who couldn't spell was often thought less intelligent, probably unfairly. Anyway it would be a barrier in a competition for a worthwhile job. The spell checker has been a big help, but is no use where homophonic words are concerned. I see 'there' many times where 'their' would be correct. My youngest son was a terrible speller, but managed to snag a BA in college, followed by an MA later. He began reading as a freshman, mostly Stephen King, and progressed a lot. Still needs a spell check or Webster's now and then. Now if I can only get him to unscrew a right hand thread, by turning anticlockwise I'll have it made. He should have gone for a BSC.

[denlin]

I was in Ponds Forge today and saw a "banner display" for a forthcoming swimming gala, which, to be disarmingly frank, I found shocking, absolutely shocking.

Why ?

Well, on an "official" publication there wasn`t a single capital letter.

Everything was lower case including the word 'derbyshire' (sic).

I find the whole thing very sad, not just because any organisation, or person, trying to be trendy or cool looks absolutely pathetic, but also that illiteracy is actually being encouraged.

I tell you many of the E mails we get sent via our website are almost impossible to understand. Some have no capital letters, no apostrophes, no commas, and some even miss out most of the full stops ! I actually have to go through the worst of them adding all the missing punctuation just to decipher what the person is asking.

Where will it all end ? And surely organisations, and people generally, who do actually know how to write correctly, should do so......

 

 

I have to say I agree but do have to point out that you should never start a sentence with the word 'and' as it is a conjunction.

[rubydazzler]

My Bold.

 

Don't you mean should have, not should of? It's a bit rich posting your own pedantry and then making a grammar error yourself!

Should I be laughing quite as much as I am ... ??

 

I am a bad person.

[rubydazzler]

That's deliberate, I've always felt question marks should be spaced ...

How can you carp about someone designing a poster in one way and then try to be your own arbiter of correct punctuation?

 

It's WRONG to space a full stop, brackets or exclamation mark. That's it!

 

Applying your own logic, anyone writing anything that you deem incorrect could be demonstrating their own feelings about the way language is written. I feel that when communicating in this medium, upper case is superflous and lower case looks better, but who am I unilaterally to decide that it shall be so?

[Karis]

I have to say I agree but do have to point out that you should never start a sentence with the word 'and' as it is a conjunction.

 

That's really old thinking and isn't entirely true. Use of "and" in its adverb form is quite acceptable at the start of a sentence.

 

And (had to be done): just because this is a thread about grammar doesn't mean people aren't going to make mistakes. Do they really need pulling up on it?

[barleycorn]

That's really old thinking and isn't entirely true. Use of "and" in its adverb form is quite acceptable at the start of a sentence.

 

And (had to be done): just because this is a thread about grammar doesn't mean people aren't going to make mistakes. Do they really need pulling up on it?

 

I have a gripe about the improper usage of an ellipsis ... that's three dots, not four of five ... sheesh is it really so hard.

 

Now back to the OP ... it's a banner where design takes precedence over punctuation. Get over it.

 

jb

[Karis]

I have a gripe about the improper usage of an ellipsis ... that's three dots, not four of five ... sheesh is it really so hard.

 

Now back to the OP ... it's a banner where design takes precedence over punctuation. Get over it.

 

jb

 

Hehehe. At least you know they're called ellipsis. Most people have no idea, just like the poor ampersand.

 

And even in Star Wars they got the ellipsis wrong. But there's lots of confusion about it (whether to add a final full stop and where the spacing goes).