When did it become acceptable to ingore spelling and punctuation?

Question

I have seen a trend in informal written communication for poor spelling, shortcuts, and no punctuation (like texting or posting--and this forum is a prime example). I'm not a school teacher or uptight, and I'm not talking about a simple mistake, or occasional abbreviation. I'm talking about communication so poor I can barely understand the statement. Why is it considered cool? And is this a sign that we are lowering the bar of educational standards?

Answer 1

It sure does not make one look very educated or bright. But it would seem that proper grammar has gone way of good penmanship. I know a lot of kids are taught to spell things phonetically and then corrected later on. I do not think this is right. We had the rules of grammar and spelling and it did us just fine.

Answer 2

I was and English major in college and what is driving me crazy besides everything else you mentioned is the bad grammar, even among professionals. My family grew up speaking and hearing correct grammar and I judge people on how correctly they speak. A lot of college graduates use bad grammar!
English is a living language, changing all the time. That is one reason it is so hard to spell. It is only 40% phonetic and a lot of it is just Anglicized versions of other languages. Some of the more creative misspellings on the boards are just to get past the censors. There are sometimes I wonder just what countries these question are coming from because the spellings are so unusual. English is a language in which one word can be used as several parts of speech, so if there is no punctuation at the critical place, it can get confusing.

The main reason for teaching standard grammar, spelling, and punctuation to each new generation is to make all the works and knowledge of the past in that language intelligible to that and future generations. We can neither read or understand Old English. With a little practice, we can read Middle English, but we can not understand it spoken. Early Modern English begins around the time of Queen Elizabeth I and Shakespeare and the King James Bible. Early Modern English was the most beautiful English ever spoken, but it is hard for modern English speakers to understand much of the vocabulary.
As the English language comes into everyday contact with more and more wold languages, there will be more and more spelling changes and new idioms introduced reflecting a mixed marriages between our language and theirs, just like we have always done.
Languages are living and not static. Languages are made of sound and not found on the printed page. That is only a tangible representation of them to preserve them for future generations.

Answer 3

Yes , we have lowered the standards, coupled with all these kids out there mostly white trying to be black. Hey....lets face the facts the black population is making there own language, Ebonics ....Whatever....I t would be so nice to hear young people speak clear ,intelligent, but it's not going to happen because our school systems encourages it. I am involved in a reading program for kids at local elementary and middle schools and it's not that the kid's can't speak or read proper English, they choose it, and are encouraged to speak this way from their parents. God forbid , someone say anything to offend anyone, of any race, even if you are right. We have went to the extremes in our rights as Americans, we have manipulated our freedoms to suit our needs and wants, and forgotten what is the right thing to do.

Bottom line .....we need to start publicly stopping people in there tracks when they speak like an illiterate, non-educated fool. And try to teach them it's not cool to appear stupid. But the push is on by a lot of blacks to make the white folks look stupid, and it's working! We are all, so going to hell in a hand basket!

Answer 4

Yeah. I've been noticing that, too, since I first joined yahoo answers. Most of the people here do not mind punctuations, which is very crucial in conveying one's idea. There was a case in the US where a defendant was freed from the offense he committed because of an erroneous placement of comma in a statement in the transcript.

See, that's how important punctuation is since everything here is written.

Or you might as well be charged guilty by just plain punctuation.

I'm a transcriptionist, so knowledge of punctuations is so important. And everyone here must try to master them.

Answer 5

It's definitely a sign that we already have lowered the bar of educational standards a long time ago.

I really think that so often kids slip through the cracks and in order for them not to feel stupid or look stupid they disguise their lack of knowledge with words and abbreviations that have obviously been done so on purpose. The most influential and powerful people are not dumb and know better. It's just too bad these kids are focused too much on whether they look cool or not.

Answer 6

NO!!@!@!!!!!!

itz lik totttaally not!

no seriously though... i dont use any caps nor do i use good puncutation although i do know it all and can use proper grammer if i want to...

the reason why is because i play games online where fast communication with others is so vital that nobody has the time for caps or punctuations.

and over time ive grown to enjoy not having to use caps all the time

why is it considered cool? you know why...

its always been cool to spell things wrong or shorten words down. you know.. like or Bratz or NSYNC or TBTBT or OMFG

and also it can be more expressive!!!! YOU CAN DO CRAZY STUFF LIKE THIS orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr........



have long pauses... and who needs commas as long as the intended recipient gets the message and understands it, it doesnt matter how the punctuation is, right?

and is this a sign of lowering standards?

naw.. this isnt school. i write properly when im in school. this is just a fast, easy and fun way to communicate the best and most we can using these new technologies!

Answer 7

I think there are 2 main reasons. One is the trend in the schools to de-emphasize rules of grammar in favor of encouraging self-expression. Somehow rules are seen as making it harder to learn how to write. (In fact, if you emphasize good writing you can be called a "Grammar Nazi" or some other form of insult.) The other, of course, is the growth of chat and email, where for the sake of speed people are using more and more abbreviations and lack of punctuation. Once kids become accustomed to that, it's easier to carry over those habits into other forms of writing.

Answer 8

Sorry, but we need to keep up with times. Everything is so fast paced these days. Maybe your problem with understanding is not solely spelling and punctuation, but also grammar. Also, we got people from so many different countries on this forum. Our setence structure is sometimes influenced by our native way of speaking.

Anyway, read what you can understand and skip those that you cant.

Answer 9

There have always been and probably always will be those people who are educationally and/or linguistically challenged.

Sometimes it is a result of laziness . . . sometimes poor typing skills.

I have to believe that some of the extremely poor uses of language are farces place on the site to discredit certain races, religions, or political groups.

I cannot believe that someone with the intelligence to figure out how to use a computer can be as ignorant as many of the posts to this site might lead you to believe.

I think some people just want to get a rise out of you.

Answer 10

It still is not acceptable. Unfortunately, the teachers no longer correct for it. As it is felt that it is more important that they cover the subject matter, not the little details like spelling and grammar.

I've read more understandable questions from people, for who English is a second language than some english speakers.

I have to drop this topic, it just frustrates me.