Is Punctuation a Lost Art ???

[tjcruiser]

OK ... it's the end of a long day. And, admittedly, I'm in a bit of a grumpy mood, looking to vent a little, perhaps, and am scoping around for something to zoom in on in my crosshairs. Here's what I found in my sights...

Without singling out any individual forum members, I've noticed various recent posts that are a hodge-podge, multi-line rambling of words thrown together blindly, without the aid of commas, periods, capitalization, or any other helpful punctuation. I try to read such posts with some level of comprehension, but too often find myself getting lost in the babble, and end up shaking my head in frustration of not having a clue as to what the postee was trying to convey.

Don't get me wrong here ... I'm not trying to nitpick on the occasional typo or misspelled word. I'm certainly often guilty of those. And I don't mean to come off sounding like the "Grammar Police" or anything like that. But then again, I'm mystified as to what thoughts could possibly be going through the mind of people who post such rambling, nonsensical comments. Do they think that people reading the posts will actually comprehend what they are trying to say? Are they typing away in such manner in a desperate effort to save a few keystrokes, and perhaps save a precious second or two? Do they even realize their own lack of grammatical construction?

Which all gets me thinking further ...

In these "tech days" of I-Phones, Droids, and ridiculously endless text messaging amongst the populous, text messaging itself has become a new-age art, complete with its own cryptic shortcuts, acronyms, abbreviations, and the like ... all too often with a dire lack of proper punctuation.

It appears that our younger generations are growing up with text-messaging (and its crypto-cheats) as a necessary second language. Fine ... I have no problems with that directly. But I fear that the crypto-cheats in this second language are overshadowing and deleting any basic punctuation skills that we all should have learned in grade school. Is punctuation a dying art?

Is it too much to ask that people here on the forum write their posts with something closely resembling an actual sentence or two? I'd suggest that doing so would encourage the postee to brush up on what I'd consider to be fundamentally important communicative skills, and prompt the readers of the post to grasp the point and/or question being conveyed, and respond in a cohesive manner.

So, c'mon guys ... Can you please throw me a comma and period every now and then, and begin a sentence (if you build one) with a capital letter?

Am I alone in this thinking???

OK ... Rant over ... Sorry ... It's been a long day ...

(You can go ahead now and tell me I'm an idiot for getting all pissy like this ...)

TJ

[choo choo]

heytj sory i don have eny ida of whot u r takng abot every1 her obzervz al of the rools of gud gramr sen10se strutur spelin and punk u aton gerg

[nsr_civic]

roflmao:D:thumbsup::laugh:

[Stillakid]

TJ, you serving cheese with that whine? ROFLMAO!

[Reckers]

You tell 'em, TJ!!!!!

[Matt LeBlanc]

I agree TJ.

[N to O]

I'm with you TJ. The kids are coming out of school today with poor reading, writing, and spelling skills, and the new technology, like texting, is creating bad habits. We all make errors in our typing and spelling, but what I'm seeing now a days is terrible. Just my opinion.

I am editing this to add, that hopefully we realize that some of our posters are from different countries, and that english errors are understandable.

[Stillakid]

So I guess the thing to do, is to discourage those less fortunate from posting here. Sorry, I can't see that as a positive.!

If you have trouble reading/understanding a posting, ignore it. But to castigate someone for their inability to communicate in a manner that pleases you, I find that to be petty.

[tankist]

IMHO this is important. i may be guilty of this at a times, but i try to. when i fail i'm lucky to have the excuse of English not being my native language. it is somewhat easier with built in spellcheckers and such, but still my apologies in advance.

[Reckers]

If I may....

I think the heart of the argument is about those who can communicate clearly but choose not to. I don't believe anyone here would berate someone who is unable to perform the task: I think it's more about the posts that are nearly unintelligible. An example might be "well i dunno if i wanndo do tht r nt but anways wht kind of stuff would be used to bldup the undersurface if i try that cause i dnt wanna spnd too much and thn nt have enuf lft ovr for the cars u know?"
I agree this is neither an english class or a place to bash fellow-posters; however, when one posts, taking the time to communicate effectively is a courtesy that benefits both the poster and the reader.

[Reckers]

Anton, you do just fine---don't ever doubt that!

[Stillakid]

"I agree this is neither an english class or a place to bash fellow-posters; however, when one posts, taking the time to communicate effectively is a courtesy that benefits both the poster and the reader."

Len, I agree with what you're saying, but feel the best way to deal with ANY posting that you don't like or don't understand, is to just, ignore it. That would send a better message to those able to post a more comprehensible message.

If you have a need to let someone know that they're not communicating, IM them.

[Reckers]

I think that's a perfectly reasonable approach, Jim. That said, I've been on the receiving end of posts such as I described. When it's specifically to me, I'd feel rude in ignoring it---it's like intentionally snubbing the author. I admit, though, to wishing the message did not require deciphering.

[N to O]

If I may....

I think the heart of the argument is about those who can communicate clearly but choose not to. I don't believe anyone here would berate someone who is unable to perform the task: I think it's more about the posts that are nearly unintelligible. An example might be "well i dunno if i wanndo do tht r nt but anways wht kind of stuff would be used to bldup the undersurface if i try that cause i dnt wanna spnd too much and thn nt have enuf lft ovr for the cars u know?"
I agree this is neither an english class or a place to bash fellow-posters; however, when one posts, taking the time to communicate effectively is a courtesy that benefits both the poster and the reader.

Thanks Reckers, much better said.

[choo choo]

u ppl qt yr bchn an gt a lif gerg

[tjcruiser]

heytj sory i don have eny ida of whot u r takng abot every1 her obzervz al of the rools of gud gramr sen10se strutur spelin and punk u aton gerg

:laugh::laugh::laugh:

And THAT, my friends, was worth the price of admission right there! You put a big smile on my face there, Greg. Well done!

On to a more serious response to the comments above.

I suppose it was inevitable that my post/thoughts might stir some controversy. Let me offer some clarification ...

It is certainly NOT my intent to discourage anyone from participating here on the forum. I'm thrilled that we have several (apparent) younger members sharing their interest in the hobby. Sometimes, the age of a younger member shows through a bit via how their comments are phrases and constructed grammatically. I have no beef whatsoever with a 5th grader writing like a 5th grader.

Rather, I'd suggest that Recker's eloquent response and example echoed my thinking best:



I think the heart of the argument is about those who can communicate clearly but choose not to. I don't believe anyone here would berate someone who is unable to perform the task: I think it's more about the posts that are nearly unintelligible. An example might be "well i dunno if i wanndo do tht r nt but anways wht kind of stuff would be used to bldup the undersurface if i try that cause i dnt wanna spnd too much and thn nt have enuf lft ovr for the cars u know?"

I agree this is neither an english class or a place to bash fellow-posters; however, when one posts, taking the time to communicate effectively is a courtesy that benefits both the poster and the reader.

Jim, it is not my intent to single out or castigate any individuals here, nor to be petty. Kids should write like kids ... no beef from me there.

But as people mature, I believe that writing is a fundamental skill that goes hand in hand with our ability to communicate, and communication amongst us is a good thing. For those WHO DO HAVE THE ABILITY to communicate properly, I encourage them to do so ... at least to the level that readers can comprehend what they are trying to say. Construct a sentence, if you can, and leave the text-messaging crypto-speak for the I-Phone.

'Nuff said. Sorry if I've upset or offended anyone here ...

TJ

[shaygetz]

I'm blessed that, yeah though I was a doped up freak in the 70s, God's grace carried me through and had me come out of all that functionally literate, mathematically and grammatically---and all that public educational effluvium in between. I try to be patient...

[tworail]

This is a typical debate on quite a few forums. Some forums just take it in stride, others not so much.

I frequent a lot of automotive forums where the lack of basic grammar skills is very apparent with alot of the posting community. Some forums just accept it for what it is, others will single out, ridicule, and possibly ban those who don't take the time to construct proper posts that can be read without getting a migraine. There is something to be said for that approach though - you never get a migraine reading anything there, and everything is clear and concise. No screwing around.

Ultimately the community decides what is acceptable or not. The site does not have any specific rules about posting grammar and such. The hope and the dream is that everyone posts in a manner that can be easily understood by anyone who is reading the content.

Secretly, I am a member of the Grammar Police. Even though I probably don't have great grammar myself. More accurately, the Proper-English-Posting Police. It is unlikely that I will tell a member to write properly, even though I have been tempted in the past, someone usually beats me to it :)

On this forum, I don't think it is that bad... although I don't read every single post. I have cringed here and there on certain threads. There seems to be two groups of offenders - the text typer, who seem to think this whole site is a chat area, and post as such. Then there are the lazy writer, who may use correct spelling, but lack proper structure. In my opinion, the former should definitely be made aware that it's unacceptable on this site. The latter... well, I would hope that over a period of time their skills would improve a bit just by osmosis. Not sure what else could be done there.

Most here understand the value of intelligible posting if they want to get anything out of the site. Those who don't care to put the time or effort in, will not get the desired response to their contributions and possibly invite criticism over their basic communication skills :)

[Reckers]

Amen to that.

[tjcruiser]

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[supermunk]

:laugh::laugh::laugh:

And THAT, my friends, was worth the price of admission right there! You put a big smile on my face there, Greg. Well done!

TJ


Very Very Very true TJ.:laugh::):D