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From: dianeh@ISM780.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.singles
Subject: Re: Re: Do I feel sparks? (grammar/spell
Message-ID: <33100034@ISM780.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 6-Feb-86 00:48:00 EST
Article-I.D.: ISM780.33100034
Posted: Thu Feb  6 00:48:00 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 11-Feb-86 03:03:41 EST
References: <235@pttesac.UUCP>
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Nf-ID: #R:pttesac:-23500:ISM780:33100034:000:2170
Nf-From: ISM780!dianeh    Feb  6 00:48:00 1986


[Yes, we have no line eaters; we have no line eaters, today...]

>I guess I just wanted to say that sometimes (but not often) I don't
>mind poor grammar and/or spelling.  It depends on how well I receive
>the message.  Anybody else out there feel as I do?

Well, I tend to be a bit more lenient towards poor spelling, since I
know people who are quite intelligent, but who really have a hard time
with it -- they usually at least make a valiant effort, though :-).
(I did recently see a spelling of the word "against", however, that I
didn't think was possible -- it had more consonants than vowels, including
a "k" [I still haven't been able to figure out how a person could get
that even if they were trying it phoentically], and I *was* tempted to
send them mail.

Poor grammar, on the other hand, usually bothers me. There are those
rare gems that actaully work, like "You're good -- you're awful good."
or some of the Tom Frye postings, which are clearly dialect (at least I
hope they are :-)). Unfortunately, poor grammar more often just makes the
person sound stupid and tends to make me immediately prejudiced against
any validity their statements might otherwise have. I suppose one of the
reasons it bothers me is that this is our *language* -- it's what we've
agreed to use to communicate to one another. If it didn't have some
structure, some agreed upon forms and rules, we wouldn't even be able to
come as close as we do (which, admittedly, isn't very) to understanding
one another. If a person can't take the time to learn their own language,
to learn about verb agreement or syntax, it just seems damn lazy to me.
English is a rich, open language; it allows for and adapts to our changing
needs, but abusing that, letting the language deteriorate into mush,
seems wasteful and inexcusable.

(Oh my, anyone want to take a guess at what I majored in at college? Or
what I aspired to be when I was younger and had those sorts of fanciful
aspirations? Oh well, so much for my soap box...)

Diane Holt
INTERACTIVE Systems Corp.
ima!ism780!dianeh

"...and this thing you call `language' -- you depend on it for so much,
 but are any of you really its master?"