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Email has destroyed the proper use of punctuation.
I have decided to remove all of the following from my online vocabulary. Let me know if I slip up.
Exclamation points.
Emoticons.
All caps for purpose of emphasis.
Bold and Italic.
And to avoid as much as possible:
Slashes.
Dashes.
Parentheses.
My theory being that if something can't be communicated with actual words, it isn't worth communicating. Punctuation was never intended to replace facial gestures, nor text to replace verbal communication.
jeff
February 23 2005, 20:55:10 UTC 7 years ago
And really, what did italics and dashes ever do to you?
February 24 2005, 00:21:15 UTC 7 years ago
you are the definition of my newly coined phrase
more pomo than thou.February 24 2005, 19:23:29 UTC 7 years ago
For the record...
So just to clarify, I was making a joke. Admittedly a rather judgmental joke. Sorry.Ironically, I am not "more pomo than thou" anymore. You can be obstinately anti-pomo if you want. Or pro-pomo, or pseudo-pomo, or whatever the heck you are. I don't really get what you are anyway. Which is probably a good thing; it leaves me less room to judge you.
It just seemed to me that there might be a little modern elitism behind your rejection of superfluous punctuation, and I, being a defender of some things pomo, came to the defense of our pseudo-verbal friends.
And I'm sorry if our pseudo-verbal friends have been used to manipulate you at times. Humans are always into their little power plays, and they'll even stoop to using poor innocent punctuation marks to float their dastardly agendas. I do hope you'll find it in your heart to forgive "the punctuation", and perhaps use them to more effect than your more manipulative brethren.
February 23 2005, 21:25:08 UTC 7 years ago
Sorry, you knew I was going to get in on that though.
February 24 2005, 15:09:46 UTC 7 years ago
Actually
You are the only person who understood what I was trying to say here anyway. That we should try to actually use words to communicate instead of shapes, being as we are adult human beings.These leads me into a rant about the moral responsibility of advertisers. Have you noticed that all commercials try to do is make you feel an emotion and then attach their brand to it? Mcdonalds uses the phrase "I'm loving it" and then attaches their name to it. It's invasive. As if they are actually trying to pry open my psyche and put their logo inside.
The connection being communicating via emotions rather than words and sentences. I think it makes us dumber.
jeff
February 23 2005, 21:39:20 UTC 7 years ago
Seriously, though, I think that's a very good idea! Sadly, I have too small a vocab (and too dyslexic a mind to use the words I do know) to be able to communicate with text alone...I mean, when I flip words in person, someone can easily say "You meant *insert correct word here*, right?" and we can all have a good laugh. Online, people take me more seriously and then I can very easily offend or, at the very least, confuse. It's a curse, really....;-)
February 23 2005, 22:04:20 UTC 7 years ago
Thank you for taking a stand against the melt-down of language!
February 23 2005, 22:46:00 UTC 7 years ago
y0u f0rg0t 4b0ut 1nt3rch4ng1ng l3tt3r5 and numb3r5.
And this is coming from the guy who is second in my "All-time too much use of smilies in emails / LJ's" list. You are behind my friend
February 24 2005, 02:54:06 UTC 7 years ago
yes
Guilty as charged. Thus, the attempt to reform myself. Though I generally do avoid exclamation points.February 24 2005, 13:49:31 UTC 7 years ago
The Linguist Weighs In
Interchanging numbers and letters is interesting because it illustrates something about the way people read. The same piont is illsutarated by tihs setenence whcih is spleled copmltely wrnog but whcih you prbobaly hvae no prbolem redaing.the point is this when we read words we dont read them one letter at a time from left to right we see them as whole units as pictorial objects as such we mostly pay attention to their outside borders rather than whats inside them
And by the way, didn't that last paragraphy suck without punctuation? Yes, it did. So stop being an elitist bastard and coming up with new ways for people to think you are incredibly annoying. Communication is only possible by employing social convention. Start convening.
February 24 2005, 15:04:51 UTC 7 years ago
Re: The Linguist Weighs In
I'm not complaining about punctuation in general. I'm complaining about punctuation I personally hate. So quit being and elitist bastard and telling me what punctuation I'm not allowed to hate.:) and ! and -- and ... and / are annoying.
jeff
February 24 2005, 16:34:03 UTC 7 years ago
Re: The Linguist Weighs In
Over the years people have experimented with different punctuations. Liking some of these experiments, others have adopted them. This process has gone on for years and years until a general consensus of millions of people has been formed as to the usefulness of these punctuations. All of those people have indirectly agreed that these punctuations are useful and can enhance communication in various ways. But wait! Lo, cometh a man to confound the wise! His name is Jeff and he finds these punctuations annoying (though just some of them). "Come," says Jeff, "Follow me. For I have found the way!" Atop his mountain, he sermonizes on the evils of the day - exclamation points, all caps, bold and italics. "REPENT!" he cries. "Turn from your evil ways!" His wisdom spreads throughout the land as he goes from town to town, casting out the spirits of chatroom and IM blather from all who are oppressed. "Here is a man who teaches with authority," the people cry. "Even the emoticons obey him!" Yet evil lurks in the future as the priests of social convention meet together to crush the gospel of Jeff before it can become widely accepted. Will they be successful in crushing Jeff's revolutionary idealism? Will Jeff's prescriptivist crusade catch on with the public? We shall see...*Please note effective use of exclamation points, parenthesis, all caps, and ellipse (the ...)
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February 24 2005, 00:23:32 UTC 7 years ago
wha?
r u trying to b teh stoopid? lolz!!11!February 24 2005, 00:47:02 UTC 7 years ago
February 24 2005, 02:02:19 UTC 7 years ago
February 24 2005, 05:49:15 UTC 7 years ago
hhmmm...
Well, I had quite a good argument worked out in response to your post, and then I went back and re-read what you actually said. I figured out that I was arguing a slightly different angle on your exact point.Would you like to hear my argument?
February 24 2005, 15:00:55 UTC 7 years ago
Re: hhmmm...
knock me outFebruary 24 2005, 23:53:50 UTC 7 years ago
rawk...
"I understand what you're saying, but I think the problem lies in mis-using punctuation, not in just using it at all. Obviously, every junior higher who contributed to the horror that is netspeak should be banned from AIM, but just because the exclamation mark has been abused doesn't(and I'm not saying I haven't done so, yes, many a time...) mean we should through the poor thing out.Punctuation is what gives the written word life. It gives the reader the ability to discern what, exactly, the writer was trying to convey. Without correct punctuation we would all be swimming in a sea of misunderstanding, whether you're talking about now-a-days with the internet, or way back when; when all information was transmitted on paper (or some such device).
Now, let's see how that looks with out paying attention to punctuation:
Punctuation is what gives the written word life it gives the reader the ability to discern what exactly the writer was trying to convey without. correct punctuation we would all be swimming in a sea. of misunderstanding whether, youre talking about nowadays with, the internet: or way back when when all information was transmitted on paper or some such device
Not the best example ever, but still, which one do you think transmits my thoughts more perfectly?
And Erick’s right. Read “Eats Shoots and Leaves”. Or just read the frontispiece."
ah the fun of it all....
February 24 2005, 06:25:06 UTC 7 years ago
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?d
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?d
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?d
February 24 2005, 15:55:34 UTC 7 years ago
February 24 2005, 18:12:08 UTC 7 years ago
February 24 2005, 18:37:13 UTC 7 years ago
February 25 2005, 16:28:33 UTC 7 years ago
February 24 2005, 17:06:58 UTC 7 years ago
Wow
Provocative.Also, my roommate's parents sent him an Amplified Bible for Valentines' Day, and I just took a glance at it this morning. You would hate and detest it (loath, abhor, have contempt for).
/p
February 25 2005, 04:03:19 UTC 7 years ago
If society starts separating into those who descend into their neo-babel and the rest of us who are apparently elitist snobs, which will end up being the Eloi and which the Morlocks?