The Weekly 'Is TV Forum Down?' Thread

[wells]

Nick Harvey scares me really, as far as others go I feel James H is a popular member, but he is constantly talking about me in a rude manner. I like it hear and at TVF but I fear that I am going to get kicked out

[iSon]

I feel James H is a popular member

Brilliant!

I'm glad you've got a sense of irony.

[wells]

From http://www.dictionary.com

irony

n 1: witty language used to convey insults or scorn; "he used sarcasm to upset his opponent"; "irony is wasted on the stupid"; "Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own"--Johathan Swift [syn: sarcasm, satire, caustic remark] 2: incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs; "the irony of Ireland's copying the nation she most hated" 3: a trope that involves incongruity between what is expected and what occurs

[Lee]

*picks up talky stick*

Unfortunately the problem with certain new members is that they seem to think it's OK to use pidgin English on the forum. I just don't understand why is it so hard to write using proper English, and not using text speak or dropping all of the capital letters, apostrophes etc.

Granted some posters aren't English - fair enough; a bit of scrutinising of my server logs reveals that TVF gets many hits from around the world, including countries where English is not their first language but ones that do seam too think its ok 2 rite like ths, which hacks me off, somewhat.

I do not profess to be perfect at English, but at least I make the effort to make my posts readable and correct to the best of my knowledge.

Over and out.

There's a sort of irony about this spelling lark. Some tend to think they're smarter if they can spell correctly, whereas I would've thought the more intelligent person would be able to understand and put up with a lack of capital letters or apostrophes. No offence intended there, that's just my way of thinking.

Maybe this is something to do with how I was bought up, but I've never felt I've had the right to decide how intelligent a person is, or indeed get annoyed just because of the way they type. You simply have to get over the fact that not everyone speaks and types the same way.

As you say, they may not speak English, they may be dyslexic, they may have another reading or writing problem, they may have only three fingers on each hand, or they just may not have had the best English teacher. A lot of the time people with dyslexia get pissed off because they can't read or write. If you couldn't read or write, imagine how you'd feel to have some snotty-nosed fart tell you to "use proper English or fuck off."

There has always been a grown-up (and quite effective) way of dealing with someone you can't understand. Ask them politely to explain what they mean. In my books, being polite rates a lot higher than any level of English. Politeness is so simple, they even teach it in primary school. Albeit unsuccessfully I might add, but that's another thread.

Every once in a while after I've made what I thought was a perfectly good post (OK probably a slightly thick one), I'll get a sarcastic one or two-word post following it along with that facking rolling eyes icon. And it would always be from one of the Earl Grey drinkers, or someone you'd expect to be a lot less childish. The way people are spoken to on that forum is very wrong, and it has contributed to a lot of the crap that happens on there now.

*Put's the stick down again*

[Adders]

*picks up talky stick*

Unfortunately the problem with certain new members is that they seem to think it's OK to use pidgin English on the forum. I just don't understand why is it so hard to write using proper English, and not using text speak or dropping all of the capital letters, apostrophes etc.

Granted some posters aren't English - fair enough; a bit of scrutinising of my server logs reveals that TVF gets many hits from around the world, including countries where English is not their first language but ones that do seam too think its ok 2 rite like ths, which hacks me off, somewhat.

I do not profess to be perfect at English, but at least I make the effort to make my posts readable and correct to the best of my knowledge.

Over and out.

There's a sort of irony about this spelling lark. Some tend to think they're smarter if they can spell correctly, whereas I would've thought the more intelligent person would be able to understand and put up with a lack of capital letters or apostrophes. No offence intended there, that's just my way of thinking.

Maybe this is something to do with how I was bought up, but I've never felt I've had the right to decide how intelligent a person is, or indeed get annoyed just because of the way they type. You simply have to get over the fact that not everyone speaks and types the same way.

As you say, they may not speak English, they may be dyslexic, they may have another reading or writing problem, they may have only three fingers on each hand, or they just may not have had the best English teacher. A lot of the time people with dyslexia get pissed off because they can't read or write. If you couldn't read or write, imagine how you'd feel to have some snotty-nosed fart tell you to "use proper English or fuck off."

There has always been a grown-up (and quite effective) way of dealing with someone you can't understand. Ask them politely to explain what they mean. In my books, being polite rates a lot higher than any level of English. Politeness is so simple, they even teach it in primary school. Albeit unsuccessfully I might add, but that's another thread.

Every once in a while after I've made what I thought was a perfectly good post (OK probably a slightly thick one), I'll get a sarcastic one or two-word post following it along with that facking rolling eyes icon. And it would always be from one of the Earl Grey drinkers, or someone you'd expect to be a lot less childish. The way people are spoken to on that forum is very wrong, and it has contributed to a lot of the crap that happens on there now.

*Put's the stick down again*

Whilst I agree with what you've said there, there comes a point where it's passed an odd spelling mistake here and there and it becomes a load of nonsense which takes an age to read. There are plenty of spell-checkers available. So if you can't spell particularly well I'd recommend using one. I use the Google Toolbar spell checker to check over my posts and I must say I find it very useful indeed because I always type rather quickly and leave several spelling mistakes which sometimes look rather embarrassing.

The best thing to do though is read through your post and see if you can understand it before posting it because if you can't understand it, I don't think many people will.

I'm not a person who judges people's intelligence (or in some cases lack of intelligence) by their spelling but simple grammar errors such as using "there" instead of "their" or using "was" somewhere where the word "were" is supposed to be used just shows a lack of basic understanding of the English language.

*Puts the stick back where Lee left it*

[Lee]

*Puts the stick back where Lee left it*

*Throws stick out the window*

Typical. If I don't make a complete idiot of myself, my automatic spell-checker will.

[Adders]

*Puts the stick back where Lee left it*

*Throws stick out the window*

Typical. If I don't make a complete idiot of myself, my automatic spell-checker will.

Hehe, it was just sticking out like a sore thumb.

[Lorns]

When i read this thread and many in TVF the lyrics to Shania Twains song 'That don't impress me much' spring to mind

Except the 'Rocket scientist bit of the song'

[cdd]

sum ppl on msn mng 2 wrt lk dis.

It takes me longer to do it that way -- I have to employ quite a bit of brainpower to consciously shorten all the words! I think some people just do it because everyone else does and it's "the done thing".

[Skytower]

sum ppl on msn mng 2 wrt lk dis.

It takes me longer to do it that way -- I have to employ quite a bit of brainpower to consciously shorten all the words! I think some people just do it because everyone else does and it's "the done thing".

Could be right.

However, the other end of the scale is the "yoof" of today - the texting generation, so used to sending texts with all the abbreviations that entail. One glance at the Radio 1 messageboard would give you a huge example of how the grammatical standards have plummeted (and use of "txt spk" has soared) in everyday usage.

[Chris]

sum ppl on msn mng 2 wrt lk dis.

It takes me longer to do it that way -- I have to employ quite a bit of brainpower to consciously shorten all the words! I think some people just do it because everyone else does and it's "the done thing".

Could be right.

However, the other end of the scale is the "yoof" of today - the texting generation, so used to sending texts with all the abbreviations that entail. One glance at the Radio 1 messageboard would give you a huge example of how the grammatical standards have plummeted (and use of "txt spk" has soared) in everyday usage.

And it shows. Today in my AS Law lesson I received this handout, featuring an (apparently) real sample of an exam paper that was done by some student. It was littered with spelling, grammatical and punctuation errors, and misuse of some words such as "they're", "their" and "there".

Here's some samples ...



I couldn't stop laughing all the way through reading it. Hmm - I'd like to see him get sued for "liable". And I love the bit about him referring to juries getting "knobbled". A comedy of errors at its best!

As you can see, this guy's use of English is truly atrocious - and I am amazed he even got 8 marks out of the 20 that were awarded for that section of the paper.

It's clear that they don't seem to care much about marking down for bad English usage these days, and no wonder employers complain so much about students leaving education with good grades, but lacking in basic Maths and English skills. I certainly wouldn't want this chap to be my solicitor!