Thursday, December 08, 2011

Language and misspelling

One of my biggest grievances with social media is seeing how unintelligent the world actually is. I understand that people like using "u" and "2" etc instead of typing out the full words. I can handle that, even if it bothers me. Sometimes I even attribute misspellings to autocorrect or other various phone issues. My phone has added apostrophes and letters where I didn't notice before. But some people completely misspell a word or use the entirely wrong word. That bothers me. The people in question are all at least high school graduates. I don't follow public education much, but I hear that the majority of schools out there aren't doing too hot right now. Budget cuts etc. But English is one subject that is continually taught from Pre-K through graduation. How often is grammar and spelling drilled into our minds? I was complaining to Matt last night about your and you're/ there and their and they're. While I can explain to people the difference, it's just something that I have memorized since we learned it every single year of our childhood. There is a place. Their is possessive. They're is a contraction. Didn't you ever watch school house rock?

Another things that bothers me: cussing. I understand that the majority of the population uses various cuss words in everyday speech. But, do teachers cuss in the classroom? Some may, but is it considered appropriate? Do businessmen use cuss words when making a presentation? Would cuss words be acceptable as part of a research paper at the high school or college level? Why can't more descriptive words be used in place of the cuss words that can encompass so many different meanings? To me, cussing makes a person seem dumb. Dumb may seem like a mild word, but that is the truth. Incapable of speech, to an extent. If the person can't think of better ways to express themselves of if they do not possess the vocabulary needed to clearly state their stances... send them back to school! A lot of people "cuss tastefully". In my opinion, tasteful communication sounds like something the Queen of England would do. Can you imagine the Queen using the favorited cuss words that are ever so popular?

This brings me to my last point. A positive. I said favorited. This is not a word. Interestingly, creating words does not bother me! It shows creativity. The only time it bothers me is if a person creates a word thinking it has one meaning just because they do not know the actual word for what they are thinking.

Rant over.

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