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mspauld |
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Ha! I make like three texts a year!
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Starfire58 |
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I don't text at all
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mspauld |
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It's probably for the best. Texting is destroying the English language. Look, it even verbs itself. "Text" isn't a verb!
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Starfire58 |
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true true
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mspauld |
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I'm a bit of a grammar Nazi. My linguistics teacher didn't like that much. She wanted to break me of being a "prescriptive grammarian." She
failed. Hardcore.
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Starfire58 |
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Well, I am a typo queen. What are you gonna do about it?
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BoardFlak |
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Speaking for myself, grit my teeth a lot, same as I do for every typomaker on the boards.
Visit my board at: Farrago Express / My other home base is: The Wannabees |
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mspauld |
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I tend to correct people, but I also just ignore it a lot because I know it annoys people.
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tm15101 |
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mspauld wrote: My uncle is a professor emeritus of linguistics at the University of Washington. He always says English is a "living language", which I guess goes along with your teacher. Rules are necessary on one level, but necessary to deviate from on another level. |
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Starfire58 |
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I don't mind the typos...
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mspauld |
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I guess the moral the teacher was trying to get across was that English is not a "prescriptive language" and it changes all the
time....."living" as TM put it.
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BoardFlak |
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I don't disagree with the concept of a living language. However, without a commonality in the language upon which educated speakers can agree, you soon
lose any sense of a common language across the United States, as regionalisms would become the order of the day. Worst case, you end up with: "Any way
they is spoke it will been all good."
In other words, while recognizing that the language will change, there still needs to be a basic set of rules to be taught; a framework - skeleton, if you will - upon which the language may be fleshed out. In the same way that my face and body will differ from yours, but it still performs in recognizable ways, and when I smile you still understand the expression, thus language needs those recognizable functions that let even regional differences most often be intelligible to the listener. I think a mixture of "prescriptive" and "descriptive" grammarian is best, for that reason. Visit my board at: Farrago Express / My other home base is: The Wannabees |
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mspauld |
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I think I agree....even though I still tilt a bit toward "prescriptive." At least when it comes to writing.
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BoardFlak |
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Writing is where I lean toward prescription. In writing, except for personal messages, you have to keep in mind that you are writing for a broader audience who
might not share your frame of reference. This is where rules and a common parlance are most useful
Visit my board at: Farrago Express / My other home base is: The Wannabees |
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mspauld |
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Now that's my kind of thinking! *Laughs* but really, I don't mind so much if people make mistakes...it's more people not knowing the
"right" way to do it that gets me.
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ContraCadence |
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I'm a little more free-wheeling, or try to be, but I guess I'd have to agree that formal writing needs rules. I only have to look back over some of the
email I get to see why it's needed.
For every drum there is an equal and opposite redrum |
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Taccic |
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I used to go back and fix all my typos, preview all my posts so I wouldn't have no typos, etc.
Now I'm just too lazy. Excuse me, two lazy. :{> |
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Starfire58 |
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I am here to relax. Being professional is work
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BoardFlak |
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For me, it's just a matter of habit. I watch my posts like I watch my poetry and other writing, and it's easier for me (really) that way.
Visit my board at: Farrago Express / My other home base is: The Wannabees |
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mspauld |
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Same here. Typing "properly" is a habit.
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