To Alice....you took your question off but I have an answer for you?

Question

Alice....

To be taken seriously in the world you need to be able to communicate effectively. New TXT chat may be fine for you and you're friends but to the rest of us it shows someone to be lazy and un-educated... whether they are or not. Also, some slang and mis-spelt words can give a sentence a whole different meaning.

Please don't think I'm having a go at you here, I'm talking in general terms but it is a perception that most people will get.

I used to think it doesn't matter how you type as long as people understand you but over the last few years I have found you only really get serious attention if you make an effort...

And yes I agree with you.... there are far too many people interested in spelling mistakes than answering the question....

Take care,
Graham

Answer 1

The simple fact is people will look at you're lack of care and crass mistakes and think...
"Why should we pay any attention to her, she can't even be bothered to learn to read or write correctly so what would she know about anything?"
It may sound a 'snobby' reply but that's what you will get.
Also, there are a lot of people hanging about on here with little real interest in answers who just mess about. Giving them possible reason to consider you 'retarded' will give them a sense of superiority and they will pick on you... it's just life...

Bring back English. be proud.

Charlie boy.

Answer 2

I had an answer for her too:

One would assume that if you are in a forum devoted to words and wordplay, then you would have a love of language and therefore would certainly consider the wanton mangling of the language and casual disregard of the most fundamental rules of spelling, grammar and syntax to be quite depressing and worthy of comment.

I'm not talking about the occasional typo here, but rather the endless attempts to portray an aura of "coolness" through an exaggerated and affected display of poor literacy, coupled with a defensive diatribe whenever such a display is pointed out.

If you choose to present a facade of illiteracy, and insist on the right to present such an image, then you shouldn't be surprised or angry when people treat you like someone of low intelligence or intellectual laziness--after all, it's the very effect you are trying to acheive.

I do agree with you that sometimes people worry far too much about the occasional typo or misspelled word--if you can understand what is being asked, then that's the most important thing. But in a world where language and communication is so important, why give yourself such a huge disadvantage?

Answer 3

I had words of wisdom as well. But these are lost now.

I guess some poeple don't want to learn.

My summary is:

1 - its shows disrespect for others because they have to take longer to redecipher it.
2 - the first rule of communication is aim it at your target audience
3 - using shortened txt form also highlight a lack of grammar.

I think using txt format when a full QWERTY keyboard is available is childish. I bet Alice is not a senior sucessful executive, is she ?

I emply lots of people between £75K and £100K. If many other employers are like me I guess Alice is happy to throw away a good salary in favour of her chosen language. Good luck to her, but she'll never get her point across to the rest of the world. If she's happy with that, then fair enough.

I'm guessing Alice is not going to reply to your statements.

Maybe the lunch shift at MCD starts at 10AM ?
Its not really an insult, after all Alice is trying to portray an un-educated young person and doing a good job of it.

Answer 4

Dont have a problem with mistakes. But TXT is so hard to read and looks immature. Surely the point is to be as clear as possible so everyone can understand? Including non English speaking people. I dont even really mind all lower caps but whats wrong with full stops? Why doesnt everyone use them?

All in all though I love YA, having lots of fun reading the answers. Enjoy the well written ones more though.

Answer 5

Graham, some very well-put points from you, and from lots of your correspondents. Well done to them.

As for your last point, the irritation of spelling mistakes, for me, often gets in the way of answering the question. I want to see the spelling corrected before I think about what the person is saying. But I will overlook minor errors if I can understand the point easily.

Alice - hope you take note from these people. It's about communication, darlin'.

Answer 6

This is such a good point that I sincerely hope that everybody reads it AND TAKES NOTE, and that no prat does the usual trick of "this is not a question", because that doesn't come into it. I've also given a thumbs up to almost all of the postings here, and that's not something I normally bother with, so when I say "Good Point", I certainly mean it. Cheers.
Eb#

Answer 7

Excellent points...

As someone who used to hire people, if I had two people who had the same qualifications and/or experience, who were both fully capable of filling the position advertised, the position was always given to the person who took the most care over their overall presentation, both in spelling/grammar and their general appearance....after all, these people are going to be representing the company they work for.

Answer 8

And I was going to say the following :-

Read " Eats, shoots and leaves" And then you will see that language, like all other facets of life, requires some rules to enable us to understand and be understood.

D alturnatve iz we orl av to reed eegits like yo ranting like the undissiplinned, ill eduquated cretin u r.

On a serious note the odd obvious abbreviation which does not detract from the sense of the text overall is fine. Non-punctuated, endless lines of lower case drivel are simply too tedious to warrant intelligent consideration.

Answer 9

True - sometimes a question written in text speak is so difficult to read I give up. Maybe it's a 'yoof' thing but it's important to be able to differentiate between talking to your mates and writing a job application. Context and clarity are everything.

Answer 10

I agree. I have A level English and language is such good fun, but I don`t believe in crucifying it.