Since I joined Yahoo! Answers, I am frankly shocked at the level of literacy shown herein. I am hard pushed to believe that some of the characters here were allowed to leave school. I am not talking about the occasional spelling mistake, but one evening on Yahoo! Answers will show so much dodgy spelling and grammar, it is almost frightening. My point - is the proliferation of text message-style spelling and grammar evidence of declining intelligence - or are these people just plain lazy?
2006-08-19 22:07:40 · 21 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Other - Society & Culture
They are either lazy, don't care or want to appear younger than they are by using 'teen' language.
I know someone who used 'wan2' on their CV instead of 'want to'.
2006-08-19 22:24:27 · answer #1 · answered by Rox 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I agree. Using abbreviations and contractions makes sense when you are sending short messages using a non-qwerty keyboard, but so many people actually write like that all the time!
I am a college lecturer (Not in English, in IT) and I am genuinely amazed at the appalling standard of work handed in by all the Vicky Pollards in my 16 - 19 year old group. I don't mean relatively obscure points of grammar or the occasional typo; their written work is in a broken pidgin that at times is hardly recognisable as English. More to the point, they are baffled by my comments - they do not even realise their English is so poor!
One thing I don't understand in Answers is why folk don't simply use the spell-checker, it only takes a few seconds!
2006-08-19 22:30:56 · answer #2 · answered by Avondrow 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It is rampant. This world is slippin fast. Morals are on a great decline. Laziness, sloppiness and bad manners are considered normal now. Bad grammar is just a close off-shoot of these behaviors.
Next time you visit a drive through, notice where the employee is looking when they hand you your order. They will hand me my food, say, "Thank You", but will not make eye contact with me. What are they looking at? I guess I should be thankful that they even said anything because there have been several times when I don't hear a word from them.
2006-08-19 22:19:05 · answer #3 · answered by viewAskew 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Don't be such an elitist. Mostly it's a style thing, a fashion of the language.
As long as it serves the basic function of communication, then it works (oral or written). If it can also be used to explore other means of expression, then great!!
Diversity is always good especially in stretching the bounds of communication, even if it's spelt wrong and the grammar is incorrect.
Using your line of thinking, some classic books are beneath your contempt ... e.g. The Clockwork Orange.
'Nuff said.
2006-08-19 22:31:47 · answer #4 · answered by Alzebub 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I have had many similar conversations about the standards of English, whilst I can understand it in those in the process of learning, some questions are almost unintelligible. Dyslexia may be a reason, in which case why not ask someone to check that what you have asked makes sense. I don't believe that the poor quality of English is directly related to text messaging, or 'chatspeak' but it may be a combination of these things with a lack of use of written English.
Regards,
Tin
2006-08-19 22:22:45 · answer #5 · answered by Tin 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hell, I'm just lazy. I'm an English teacher but lets face it no one wants to go on the Internet and worry about the correct spelling or whether the grammar is correct. The majority of the mistakes here seem like laziness not illiteracy.
2006-08-19 22:17:37 · answer #6 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
They are lazy and uneducated!
Lazy because there is no need for shorthand when there isn't a word limit (as there is on a text message)
Uneducated because anything that doesn't have a text message abbreviation just seems beyond their ability to spell!
2006-08-19 22:17:22 · answer #7 · answered by Trevor h 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
People are just plain lazy, don't learn proper spelling & grammer in the first place then spell things however they want!
2006-08-19 22:28:44 · answer #8 · answered by shq_foxyfaerie 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It does not help the use of vocabulary. The English language has many ways to explain a message and I suppose text messaging is one of them.
2006-08-19 22:19:51 · answer #9 · answered by brogdenuk 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I believe it is both! This is why asinine movies like Talladega Nights and Scary Movie 4 are selling and also why obesity has become such a great issue.
2006-08-19 22:15:19 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Too many of the questions on this site are written by retards who cannot use the English language as it should be used. They are spoiling the site with their inane rubbish. Sadly a lot of the ones who do not write in text and attempt English sadly fail. I do accept that some non-English speakers use this site. They are excused.
Text writers are lazy and stupid.
2006-08-19 22:14:16 · answer #11 · answered by daisychain 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋