Grammar and spelling

[kimkennedy803@gmail.com]

I have been asking a question to myself for a few years now. Ok, more than a few years. It has been since texting got to be a big thing. The question is why do some authors think people want to read what they wrote when it is all in text speak. The readers can never tell what the author is writing because there are so many different way it can be taken. Like LOL, that could be 'lots of laughs' or 'laugh out loud'.

Another question I have been asking is why do they shorten three letter words? Are they that lazy, that they can't be bothered to put the letter that goes in the middle in there. How do people still miss spell words to we now have auto correct and they can use their voice to say the word and it will come up.

[pittwitch]

Grammar: a lost art.

[GeorgeGlass]

Must...resist...grammar...spelling...rampage...

Okay, calmer now. On the off chance that there is an AFF member alive who hasn't seen this yet, here is a timely and relevant music video: Weird Al Yankovic's "Word Crimes."

[Daye]

*Grammar.

And the difference between 'laugh out loud' and 'lots of laughs' is not going significantly change the content of a message.

That said, there is a time and a place for text speak, and prose is not it.

[BronxWench]

To be very honest, I tend to text in full words, and with proper punctuation. I have no patience with trying to puzzle out a series of abbreviations and acronyms, and I'll just ignore the message if it's that incomprehensible.

[DemonGoddess]

I positively LOATHE textspeak in chapters, forum posts, and etc. To me, it bespeaks of laziness.

[Kurahieiritr]

I may post a semi-raw chapter to give readers something to look at if I have not been posting much because of the real world situations that happen, but I replace such chapters as soon as is humanly possible with grammatically repaired versions. I tend to use human speak in dialog because people don't use proper grammar when they talk to each other as a rule. However, I am very strict with my own writing when it comes to all other elements.

To my thinking, grammar checking programs are the most important tool any writer can purchase. I have never had interest in cell phones or text message programs of that classification. On facebook, I am constantly lost when I run into text speak outside of the terms LOL, ROFL, WEG, and LMAO. I avoid text speak because I have never understood what was attractive about it. Laughter is one of my favorite things, so I do tend to abuse the above terms. Also, I loved the Weird Al song. Word Crimes made me laugh a lot so thanks for sharing that one @GeorgeGlass.

I have seen a number of text speak stories on various sites across the web. Because I do not know the lingo, I must back pedal to find a different story. In some respects, the lost art of grammar is a sad statement about how our society has become fixated on doing everything faster, and more efficiently to the point it no longer has any meaning at all. We are losing too much of what once made civilization great. Fast and gratuitous actions only seems to increase the pressure of consume more ideals that are sold constantly on the radio, and on televisions around the globe. Civilization is losing a lot of what made it special because of the lost art of grammar usage I believe.

[green-tea]

So when I see stories with very poor grammar and punctuation, bordering on chatspeak or textspeak or whatever these crazy kids call it these days... I question whether the author is telling the truth about being over the age of 18.

Seriously. Think about it a moment. Most of us have figured out by age 18 how to write, if not 100% correct, at least close enough to get by pretty well. The few exceptions I've found have been the kind of people that don't enjoy writing and wouldn't do it in their free time, or didn't have English as their first language. I don't think grammar is a lost art though, in fact, I think we're seeing a renewed interest in it by the number of grammar snobs that are cropping up. It's like the technologically literate are starting to push back against the illiterate that are infiltrating their domain. We went from using 1337 to set ourselves apart to using perfect grammar while online to set ourselves apart from the people that don't type as well as we do...

On websites other than this one, I just assume simple ignorance or not enough experience with typing, thereby making the person more likely to take shortcuts.

Edited August 10, 2014 by green-tea

[Kurahieiritr]

So when I see stories with very poor grammar and punctuation, bordering on chatspeak or textspeak or whatever these crazy kids call it these days... I question whether the author is telling the truth about being over the age of 18.

Seriously. Think about it a moment. Most of us have figured out by age 18 how to write, if not 100% correct, at least close enough to get by pretty well. The few exceptions I've found have been the kind of people that don't enjoy writing and wouldn't do it in their free time, or didn't have English as their first language. I don't think grammar is a lost art though, in fact, I think we're seeing a renewed interest in it by the number of grammar snobs that are cropping up. It's like the technologically literate are starting to push back against the illiterate that are infiltrating their domain. We went from using 1337 to set ourselves apart to using perfect grammar while online to set ourselves apart from the people that don't type as well as we do...

On websites other than this one, I just assume simple ignorance or not enough experience with typing, thereby making the person more likely to take shortcuts.

A: A very interesting hypothesis that I had never thought about when I crossed phone text shorthand variety fics. I always assumed that they were so absorbed in text messages from their phones in their real life that they had forgotten that there is a real language available to them. If they are underage, then they should not be on this site. Hope you have not just handed the clean up crew a new criteria for their minor hunting jobs. It would be a very depressing situation iof most of those text speak stories were written by underage brats.

[BronxWench]

Trust me, it's not just underagers. My sister in law, may the gods keep her on the other side of the country, sends me emails in text speak. From her iPhone.

[Kurahieiritr]

Good to know, Bronx. I don't even own a cell phone so have never really had much experience with text speak. Only one person I know ever sends text speak and I have to call her and find out what the heck she meant with every message she sends. She finally stopped texting me in shorthand after a few dozen line by line explanations were demanded by yours truly. Any time she wants to communicate with me, she calls to avoid the headache of translation, or writes messages in complete sentences when dealing with me.

Guess my first guess that people have forgotten they have a full blown language at their disposal was truer than I have ever suspected in this case. Kind of depressing to learn it is not the rare and random situation I often hope it is any longer.

[sympathyheart]

The only time I ever use textspeak is when I'm sending a text to one of my friends or on Facebook. When I write I use proper grammar and spelling, because I am so OCD about it. You should never use short hand words when writing unless it's part of the story. For example: reading a text a character has sent to someone. I can't tell you how many times I want to strangle my boyfriend when he sends me a text with a misspelled word. Yes, I can still read it, but don't rely on your phone's autocorrect because I know for a fact a phone won't mistake "tired" for "tried".

[moss gypsy]

On a random note, since we're discussing grammar, here's a question: would it be proper to place a question mark within single quotations that are, themselves within double quotation marks? For example:

"Haven't you ever heard the saying, 'don't shoot the messenger'?" he asked.

or

"Haven't you ever heard the saying, 'don't shoot the messenger?'" he asked.

The second sentence looks more correct to me. Just wondering what ya'll thought.

[BronxWench]

Technically, the first is correct. VERY technically. I agree it looks awkward, though, and honestly? I'd rewrite the sentence, or use italics for the saying, rather than single quotes.

[DemonGoddess]

The first is correct.

[GeorgeGlass]

I'd also be inclined to capitalize the D in "Don't," because "Don't shoot the messenger" is a complete sentence.

And for the love of mods, could somebody correct the spelling in the title of this thread?

[DemonGoddess]

fixed it

[GeorgeGlass]

Bless you, equine hell-deity.

[Melrick]

Yeah, the first is correct because the question mark is related to the sentence as a whole, not the quote within the single quotation marks. Putting the closing single quotation mark outside of the question mark would be suggesting that that quote is a question, which it isn't. But yeah, it does all look a little awkward and messy and a rewrite wouldn't go astray.

[Kurahieiritr]

I feel your headache from here, Pak. I am doing the exact same thing to 4 freakin novel length stories and am nowhere near done.

[Ryder]

^ I've also been going over some of my own stuff. A lot of older fiction and short scenes that I've been digging up on my computer have been making me question my grammar and punctuation a lot lately so I've started digging through everything almost obsessively. Such fun. Not.

As for the Original Post, I can't stand that kind of super-abbreviation and it's beyond me if/why anyone can think it's an acceptable way to write a story. I can't even stand it in text messages, let alone a freakin' novel. Though, I haven't really seen it much in stories, and the few I have ever encountered called for an instant Alt+Tab. Seen it a lot in forum role-playing, though. Any kind of abbreviation is unnecessary in story writing, in my opinion, unless it's how a particular character is talking and then it needs to be appropriately noted/acknowledged so a pile of random letters or incomplete words aren't suddenly just dumped onto the reader's lap.

[KoKoa_B]

The only time I am a fan of text speak is, well when I'm texting! I will admit that I am a heavy user of LOL because... honestly, how many of us actually type out: "I am laughing out loud at that"? ... LOL!

The only time that I use actual text speak is when I'm in a hurry. More than likely I'm driving... and yes I am guilty of doing that! Not so much now that I've upgraded to an 100% touch screen; my texting is limited to stop lights and traffic jams...

As far as an entire story written in text speak? Why would I want to read a story that focused on two characters texting each other unless it was a oneshot?! That's how a lot of these writers have to realize. Now, I've read stories where the scene was set in chat rooms and I guiltily enjoyed them. But, there is a vast difference between typing in a chat room and texting.

Grammar. I ain't touching that! My grammar is horrible! So, yeah... moving on...

There may be legitimate reasons for using abbreviations in a story. The military use them a lot... although they're technically acronyms. If it's an abbreviation or acronym that's detrimental to the story line, I see no need to spell it out. I'm going to use "NBA" and not the "National Basketball Association". If it can mean something else, then I would probably throw it around as a hint or make note of it in a small author's note (which is more than likely to happen because I can't sit there and assume that everyone knows what NBA is).

[13thJackal]

"I'm new to this forum as I have said I do read a lot. "

"My spelling really sucks but not as bad as my sentence structure." "What brought me here ... let's just say I got lost Soto Speak."

[13thJackal]

" I use a lot of Texas Slang."

"And some that my android phone can't spell. "

" I wrote a story about a human female and a turian

I came up with "adaptable metabolism" it's a word that I thought I made up but it works in story's where two different Species can get together and do their thing. "