Curse

Rubch One · Jun 03, 2005, 07:42 PM // 19:42

“With that said, why did you decide to post that thread HERE? Have you even read the other threads in this category and taken witness to the quality of people that frequent here?”

You are absolutely right about the quality of people that frequent this particular category of the board. I posted this thread here because the subject is indeed off-topic, not because I think the issue applies more to the people who frequent this category of the board. Isn’t that the purpose of having categories in the first place?

“WHAT? Are you kidding me? Then why are you complaining, why are you making a point against something that you yourself may be guilty of?”

The fact that I don’t usually express myself this formally does not suggest that I ever express myself using poor English and/or grammar. Granted you said that I “may” be guilty of that which I am complaining about, I assure you I am not. There is such thing as a middle ground.

“I don't believe I've ever heard of "light-hearted" flames, I think you knew exactely what some were going do after reading your post. Your last post however was flame and not thoughtful and of course this is all just my opinion.”

Maybe I am naïve and maybe I don’t know the exact definition of a flame (in this particular, case I meant it to include any contradicting arguments), but I honestly did not expect to offend anyone, nor did I expect anyone to intentionally insult me or anyone else for that matter. Rather, I envisioned a conversation in which I would state that I am concerned about a particular issue because of A, B and C reasons. Someone else would respond with X, Y and Z reasons why there is no cause for concern, and so on and so forth. My previous post was meant to lighten the mood and shift the focus of this thread from insult-to-insult to a thoughtful dialogue.

Harlas Kije · Jun 03, 2005, 08:04 PM // 20:04

In my position at work-I often deal with blue collar workers/truck drivers/customers/pres./vp's/ salesmen etc... Basically my communication on a daily basis will be with different people with a wide range of educational backgrounds. I have learned that I need to change how I communicate with each person in order to be effective/understood/ and accepted.

If I talked to a VP or CEO the way I talk to a truck driver--I would soon be unemployed And vice versa--I would lose a great deal of credibility if I "talked down" to a driver.

With that being said--when posting to a gaming message board--I will definitely not be so concerned with my grammar or spelling. If I were posting to a literary or writer's guild message board--then I would bring my "a-game" when it comes to my posts.

Think about your audience...ebonics or street slang would definitely not get you into many companies--but if you were applying to some hip hop club or street cred was a factor in whether or not you were hired--then slang and ebonics would go farther than proper english.

Think about this--would Jeff Foxworthy be as popular or accepted doing his you might be a redneck routine if he did not use "redneck" slang or accent when performing it?

IMHO this forum in general is alot more mature and intelligent sounding than quite a few other gaming forums out there. I have been entertained by quite a few different posters with intelligent and articulate posts that have in fact increased my knowledge. I think that if we collectively continue to post in such a manner--the general level overall will stay the same.

chalt2 · Jun 03, 2005, 08:05 PM // 20:05

Ok, you seem to be a reasonable person and maybe your posts didn't come off as you expected, no problem, it happens sometimes. I would suggest that if a thoughtful dialogue is what you were after then maybe a better way to start your thread would have been:

I was interested in what everyones opinions are regarding grammar and its misuse in the forums.

Here are some of my thoughts on the subject......

Again just a suggestion and my opinion.

Rubch One · Jun 03, 2005, 08:15 PM // 20:15

Harlas, your point is well taken. The question is how many people possess your ability to switch between their "a-game" and "blue collar" talk? I'd take comfort if the answer is most people. What do you think?

Chalt, no harm no foul, and your point is well taken as well. That being said and based on your first post, I take it that you have the same concern as I do regarding this supposed trend?

chalt2 · Jun 03, 2005, 08:35 PM // 20:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rubch One

I take it that you have the same concern as I do regarding this supposed trend?

Yes, yes I do.

CatLady · Jun 03, 2005, 08:59 PM // 20:59

Quote:

...and someone else comes along later and says everything I said, just as well, in only three sentences.

That happens to me a lot as well...

Quote:

and I blame the primary educational system, too. Nonetheless, I just feel that language skills have deteriorated alarmingly in recent years.

My husband took an English class at a community college (one of the better ones in our area) hoping to improve his essay and grammatical skills for business writing purposes. No offense to my husband, but the teacher gave most of his papers A's on technical aspects, when I would not have. I was quite flabbergasted by it really.
Probably just one bad teacher - but the teaching industry + schools in general are underpaid etc. and there are not enough new, qualified & motivated teachers to fill the growing need. That's not the only factor, but it's certainly a large one, IMO.

On a more light-sided or historical note - I believe that there have been groups of people in every generation for a very very long time who have pretty much said similar things - ie, that language skills of their time are deteriorating. Sometimes I wonder if it's really that they are seriously deteriorating or if they're just changing/evolving. Some of us - including me - often laugh at the old flowery, extra-formal and windy-verbage of writings of yesteryore even as we respect what was conveyed in those writings...perhaps those in the far future will do the same with our current writings.

Edit: I may not mind casual writings of others but I do hate self-typo's...

Inde · Jun 03, 2005, 09:05 PM // 21:05

We have english rules. If someone is pulling out the leet speak excessively, report it.

JudasDeceit · Jun 03, 2005, 09:08 PM // 21:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rubch One

Honestly, I feel like it’s making me stupider by reading it.

"Stupider"? Maybe you should reread your own post when you're knocking someone elses grammar, champ.

Syno · Jun 03, 2005, 09:25 PM // 21:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrandonIT

What bothers me though is the English language continues to degrade even outside of online forums.

Coming from a college educated engineer who has been in the corporate world for 7 years, it continues to amaze me that many college graduates assume the way they communicate with their "buddies" online is how we communicate in business.

Believe me, learning proper English usage will prevent making yourself a complete fool in front of your boss, or worse, customers. Depending on Word to correct your grammar or spelling is akin to trusting a dog to pick your groceries. Yeah, what you'll get is edible, but it's just as likely to be poop as peaches. I've lost count of the number of times employees use contractions instead of possessives (like their and they're). Both may work when you read it aloud, but only one is correct.

What I'm trying to say is, practice makes perfect. If all your communications are jumbles of letters that you hope someone will understand, when it comes time to do it right, will you really know what 'right' is?

Personally, I blame society at large for just being lax in enforcing proper etiquette.

But, then again, that's just my opinion.

THAT has to be the funniest defense of proper spelling, grammar, and use of the English language I have ever seen. Bravo!

airbox · Jun 04, 2005, 03:10 AM // 03:10

/Agrees with Syno

All incomprehensible chaotic nonsense aside, as mentioned by previous posters, you CAN NOT judge the standard of the English language based on the internet or this forum, especially in a gaming community. Many things have been compromised for the people's greater convenience, such was writing Lol, LMAO, or STFU (Which I myself grew acustomed to saying STEHFOO in real life). I admit that my writing is nowhere near perfect, English is my third fluent language and I am only 16 years old. I just wanted to point out the fact that even if the business world and the likes require the essence of proper sentence structure and grammar, the Internet is more of a leisure zone, especially in a forum where the users discuss Anet's monsters and pixalized RPG destruction. This might sound gauche, but I personally consider the internet a place where people can talk as if they were with friends and not in a marketing meeting room at downtown New York, unless your on ETrade.com or something similar. Do not expect perfection from leisure, I've seen many choleric people that just grow ebullient over simple grammatical errors, sometimes sounding insolent and derrogative. The gaming community, which I am emphasizing on, have grown blasé of the imperfections of spelling "ur" or "1337", people understands it and that's all that really matters. (Check it out, run on sentences!) Imagine yourself going through every post and messages and criticizing the imperfections of the internet world, or better yet, speaking perfect structured sentences during a tactical strike in some first person shooter game. It is better to adapt to a world that is reversible than to reject it, many people has already made this point, you can easily switch from speaking 1337 to formal high standard English. It does not really matter really, as long as you understand it, and it's not a mutilation of the English language, I don't see anything wrong with it.

Post-Script, it seems that many people have tried to avoid flaming, so the flamage is pretty low according to my opinion, given what you have written is pretty flamable.

Pevil Lahuta's Pet Moa · Jun 04, 2005, 04:33 PM // 16:33

You really like them big words dont ya?

Translation---

You receive a significant quality of satisfaction from inserting elongated terminology into your opinionated entries. Do you not?