"versus"

[thaiturkey]

This was my ugly side. It comes out now and then. Eh. I debated returning to delete the post but I was tired, grumpy, feeling snotty about stuff. I felt Random Ramblings where more than chickeny stuff is grist for members' mills was a fair enough spot to post what bugged me without thunking any good person on the side of the head for what was bugging me. I wouldn't dream of pointing out errors in specific posts to embarrass someone who was communicating his or her experiences or thoughts.

I'm well aware of the huge number of non-English members. I am also aware of reading handicaps, visually impaired readers and writers, and even the frequent "auto-correct" features which imperfectly select incorrect words as one types.

I know full well smarts and writing ability aren't always linked.

AND I have my own linguistic oddities in my writings, frequently switching to deliberately anachronistic forms of words, colloquialisms, etc. Wait, I bet I used "etc." wrong! Long, run on, compound sentences, inconsistent use of punctuation, all kinds of poor sentence structure and the like.

All of y'all are are quite correct in what you've said TO ME. I am chastened. I don't think I'll delete this thread, after all. Staff may consider it inappropriate and remove it - I'd understand if that's the case.

Anybody else wanna lob stones?

I don't think that there is any animosity on the thread, so far at least. Your OP point is valid and we are discussing different points of view. I hope that is what RR is for. I enjoy discussions like this while others like to write about cup cakes. Each to his or her own. In retirement, I like to exercise my brain rather than let it fall into disuse.

 

[Kaitie09]

wht i rly cant stnd r the ppl who type like this...

I'm always reading a Craigslist post where someone is trying to sell something while typing like that. Can't you just add the extra letters? I don't think it's that hard to type out a whole word.

 

[hemet dennis]

wht i rly cant stnd r the ppl who type like this...

LOL

 

[thaiturkey]

Here is another point , often overlooked. Not everybody in this forum speaks english as a first language. There are plenty of folks born in other countries or living in other countries. I was born and raised in germany , but live in the US for the last twelve years.

I have friends here from all over the Western world and also meet others on expat. community forums. If they wish to talk with other expats., they must be able to speak English. Some conversations are quite difficult but we are all rubbing along together and the patience shown is quite remarkable.

On the other hand, some German friends of mine have such good English, written and verbal, that it puts to shame some of my own countryman who make every grammatical and spelling error imaginable.

An American friend of mine was a journalist based in South East Asia and working for Stars and Stripes in the USAF before he retired. He taught me the difference between 'bait' and 'bate'. I'd never seen the word 'bate' as far as I remember. His English is a model to others, allowing for the different spelling if you're not American.

 

[arlock]

Props to Kaitie. It's one thing to have an occasional spelling, grammatical or punctuation error (or two); so long as an eight year old could read it and understand it, who cares. But yes the ppl who R 2 la-z to use normal English are who annoy me.

 

[gryeyes]

My dearest friend's adult son is starting a Tattoo business in his garage. His wife had business cards made for him, and I accepted one "with pride" for his endeavor. (I also have tattoos, so he's hoping to get me as a customer.). Anyway, the text in the largest font on the card includes the word "Tattoo's." Gah! I said something to his mother, my friend and she nodded sadly. Apparently his customer base has never noticed the error.... Gosh I hope none of his customers want skin art with words. I'm starting to giggle again. It's my usually hidden, wide streak of evil which slips out from under cover now and again. Perhaps all that ridicule I suffered in my formative years makes me crotchety in my dotage. I'm occasionally REALLY surprised when people tell me what a considerate, loving, and friendly person they find me to be. Nooo, I'm really evil; I'm just pretending to be nice. She said, hoping nobody believes that tripe. I wonder if readers even notice my signature line?

 

[thaiturkey]

wht i rly cant stnd r the ppl who type like this...

I'm always reading a Craigslist post where someone is trying to sell something while typing like that. Can't you just add the extra letters? I don't think it's that hard to type out a whole word.

Isn't that rubbish a by-product of cell 'phone texting? The laziness of it is offensive, even in a text message.

 

[hemet dennis]

C u all L8ter.

 

[thaiturkey]

My dearest friend's adult son is starting a Tattoo business in his garage. His wife had business cards made for him, and I accepted one "with pride" for his endeavor. (I also have tattoos, so he's hoping to get me as a customer.). Anyway, the text in the largest font on the card includes the word "Tattoo's."

Gah! I said something to his mother, my friend and she nodded sadly. Apparently his customer base has never noticed the error....

Gosh I hope none of his customers want skin art with words.

I'm starting to giggle again.

It's my usually hidden, wide streak of evil which slips out from under cover now and again. Perhaps all that ridicule I suffered in my formative years makes me crotchety in my dotage.

I'm occasionally REALLY surprised when people tell me what a considerate, loving, and friendly person they find me to be. Nooo, I'm really evil; I'm just pretending to be nice.

She said, hoping nobody believes that tripe.

I wonder if readers even notice my signature line?

Google Images has some good tattoo errors. Here's one:

 

[canada-goose]

Quite so. There is a problem, though, when the shortcomings are so great that the intended meaning isn't clear. English is such a powerful tool of communication that we should respect it as far as we are individually able.

Agreed. It's always good to make an effort to use English (or any language, for that matter) well.