Have you noticed?

[KmH]

A sizable percentage of the posters asking questions in the various forums don't type capital letters.

The vast majority of the people that reply to these queries, DO use capital letters.

:scratch::scratch::scratch::scratch::scratch:

 

[Jaszek]

Lol. I just saw the other post you replied to. The one with macro.

 

[Derrel]

KmH wrote, " ....A sizable percentage of the posters asking questions in the various forums don't type capitol letters.

The vast majority of the people that reply to these queries, DO use capitol letters."

Uh, yeah, I have noticed that. I try to use capital letters in my replies, but a lot of younger people who do a lot of texting and IM communication skip the use of capital letters much or most of the time.

I did a quick look-up just for background:
Main Entry: cap·i·tal
Pronunciation: 'ka-p&-t&l, 'kap-t&l
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English capitale, modification of Old North French capitel, from Late Latin capitellum small head, top of column, diminutive of Latin capit-, caput head -- more at HEAD
Date: 13th century


So, we can see that people who do not use capital letters might perhaps have small heads. (grin)

 

[KmH]

KmH wrote, " ....A sizable percentage of the posters asking questions in the various forums don't type capitol letters.

The vast majority of the people that reply to these queries, DO use capitol letters."

Uh, yeah, I have noticed that. I try to use capital letters in my replies, but a lot of younger people who do a lot of texting and IM communication skip the use of capital letters much or most of the time.

I did a quick look-up just for background:
Main Entry: cap·i·tal
Pronunciation: 'ka-p&-t&l, 'kap-t&l
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English capitale, modification of Old North French capitel, from Late Latin capitellum small head, top of column, diminutive of Latin capit-, caput head -- more at HEAD
Date: 13th century


So, we can see that people who do not use capital letters might perhaps have small heads. (grin)

Doh! I corrected my spelling error by the way.

So true about the IM, texting generation. The dumbing down of America continues apace.

The attitude reminds me of a bumper sticker I once saw. It said, "Hire a teenager.......while they still know it all."

It seems todays youth, in many ways, is taking longer to mature.

It also seems many of the IM, texting generation don't really understand how to use the Internet to their best advantage. Or more properly, they use the Internet in a way that guarantees their knowledge base is as narrow as possible.

 

[Jaszek]

I think I know how to use the internet. What website do you think I spend most of my internet time on? lol

 

[c.cloudwalker]

It seems todays youth, in many ways, is taking longer to mature.

I would be surprised if your parents generation didn't think the same. :lmao:

Overall, true, there is a dumbing down of the population but aren't teachers (and I mean that in the widest sense possible which would of course include parents, medias, body politic, etc) to blame? After all most people don't learn what they are not taught. And most people learn by example. Who do you think their examples are?

The one thing that may have changed (I would have to ask my parents) is that, today, we seem to glorify dumbness. How long before you get the usual "grammar nazi" post?

 

[Derrel]

On a related note to what KmH mentioned, that many young people today use the Internet in such a way as to guarantee that their knowledge base is as small as possible, I think there's a generational issue at work between the young and the middle aged people in the world,and that is that younger people tend to post much,much shorter messages than do people in their forties and fifties.

My wife was reading a humorous article to me the other day,and the web-based article was entitled something like, "How to Know if the Hot Babe You're Chatting with is Really a Cougar." One of the ways to tell if it's a 20-something versus a 40-something woman was , "She sends you e-mails longer than 50 words". Another was, "She uses punctuation and capital letters when texting."

I have noticed on many web boards where the predominant age is 30 or lower, that longer posts are frowned upon,very strongly. Often the supreme insult to an in-depth post is issued,and it goes something like this: "No need to write a book,dude." All over something like 200-300 words.

And speaking of the Internet; many young people today have absolutely NO IDEA what Usenet is, or what a goldmine lies hidden there, just a software app and a few domain entry fields away--all they seem to know is the web. "Hire a teenager.......while they still know it all." Oh, man, I gotta' find that bumper sticker!

 

[Dagwood56]

When I was in school using a calculator to do math problems was not allowed, we used that old fashioned stuff called a pencil and paper and did it with our brains! How can kids learn if a machine does it for them?

I can deal with the use of no capitals, but I must grit my teeth to keep from saying anything about the "text messaging" style of writing.....and spelling? Don't get me started on spelling! There is one member here who constantly uses a "word" that just makes me want to scream. "Probably" is it so difficult, does it really take that much extra time, to add the 2 "B's" ? The "word" I speak of is "Prolly"! I sometimes wonder if they actually think its spelled like that!

Getting back to the original subject; I believe much of the grammar and spelling problems with today's young people stems from learning to read phonetically. How can anyone learn to spell correctly when learning to read like this?

Teachers today don't teach -they babysit! I'm not blaming the teachers for this though, its the society we live in, its what society has deemed as the correct way for teachers to "teach". ....I will now get off my soap box.

 

[Aye-non Oh-non Imus]

How can anyone learn to spell corectly when learning to read like this?

:taped sh:




I'm in total agreement with the frustration with the lack of punctuation, misuse of grammar, run-on sentences and the inability to put a coherent thought together in either their question, answer or comment. Although not always the case, many on those that bastardize the English language (where English is their first language) also show short comings in the images they post. I don't know if there is a direct correlation, but I find it curious.

 

[Dagwood56]

How can anyone learn to spell corectly when learning to read like this?

:taped sh:




I'm in total agreement with the frustration with the lack of punctuation, misuse of grammar, run-on sentences and the inability to put a coherent thought together in either their question, answer or comment. Although not always the case, many on those that bastardize the English language (where English is their first language) also show short comings in the images they post. I don't know if there is a direct correlation, but I find it curious.

Fixed it.

 

[Dmitri]

wow, you guys sure r on a hi horse 4 peeple who dont speek english right,

--------------
Cnut cyning gret his arcebiscopas and his leod-biscopas and Þurcyl eorl and ealle his eorlas and ealne his þeodscype, twelfhynde and twyhynde, gehadode and læwede, on Englalande freondlice.

Old English - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
--------------------

Somewhere there's a higher horse than yours just laughing down on y'all

23 skidoo!

 

[Jaszek]

Hey, I don't speak English right, you have a problem with that? lol. Just kidding. I notice that in school (going into senior year in High School now). When the teacher makes us proof read each others work sometimes I just want to laugh. People who were born here are worse in grammar than some one that came to the US about 8 years ago (that would be me ).

 

[monkeykoder]

It seems todays youth, in many ways, is taking longer to mature.

I would be surprised if your parents generation didn't think the same. :lmao:

Overall, true, there is a dumbing down of the population but aren't teachers (and I mean that in the widest sense possible which would of course include parents, medias, body politic, etc) to blame? After all most people don't learn what they are not taught. And most people learn by example. Who do you think their examples are?

The one thing that may have changed (I would have to ask my parents) is that, today, we seem to glorify dumbness. How long before you get the usual "grammar nazi" post?

Of course anyone should know 99% of the difficulty of being a teacher nowadays is getting the students to care enough to open their books. No matter how much they are given in a classroom they'll never learn if they aren't interested in learning.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

Hey, I don't speak English right, you have a problem with that? lol. Just kidding. I notice that in school (going into senior year in High School now). When the teacher makes us proof read each others work sometimes I just want to laugh. People who were born here are worse in grammar than some one that came to the US about 8 years ago (that would be me ).

I've experienced this myself a number of times when I go to France. My french is far from perfect but people who don't know me are always surprised that an American would speak their language so well and I've been told a number of times that my french is better than that of most french people.

There is a very simple reason to that. Those are foreign languages. We had to study to learn them and if we studied with the right teacher we tend to speak them (and write too) very well while a native speaker learns as a matter of fact. Only those interested in the correct use of their language will make an effort to learn the subtleties of it.

And unfortunately language is very low on the list of skills of interest to most people today.

You have probably heard that immigrants usually know more about our history and political system than a great percentage of Americans. Same basic story. They need to study it to get their citizenship and that is way more important to them than a diploma is to the average high-schooler.

Cheers.

 

[Big]

With all the instant messaging and texting going on these days, kids are in huge trouble when it comes to writing letters to anyone of importance. Instead, it makes them look like an uneducated fool.