Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site fluke.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!security!genrad!decvax!microsoft!fluke!inc
From: inc@fluke.UUCP (Gary Benson)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: English Usage
Message-ID: <132@tpvax.fluke.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 15-Dec-83 12:37:53 EST
Article-I.D.: tpvax.132
Posted: Thu Dec 15 12:37:53 1983
Date-Received: Sun, 18-Dec-83 06:17:15 EST
References: <1241@pur-ee.UUCP>
Organization: John Fluke Mfg. Co., Everett, Wash
Lines: 24

Thank you! Yes, I too have noticed the sloppiness, and even started to
woder if some of these folks were illiterate or what(?).

Two things occur to me: first, people are trying to invent conventions
that carry more meaning than just their *words*. I mean, I don't normally
say, "than just their asterisk words asterisk", but using those symbols
here helps denote emphasis. I am suggesting that perhaps when a person
mispells 'they're' or 'their', he is attempting to put some of the flavor
of real speech into his article, or add some immediacy and interest.

The second thing that came to mind is that many users don't have a
full-blown editor available when they're writing an article, and aren't
sohphisticated enough in using other utilities of unix to create the
article first, edit, then post. Or maybe they don't care enough about what
they post to put that much effort into it. 

Whatever. You have raised an interesting point, and maybe more discussion
should go on in net.misc or net.lang.


-- 
---
Gary Benson
John Fluke Mfg. Co.
Everett, WA, USA