EvC Shorthand

WCEJWPE

WCEJWPE: Why Can't Everybody Just Write Plain English?I think the art of writing is quickly becoming something of the past with all that ridiculous shorthand stuff. Personally, I'd much rather read a well written post that is made up of grammatically complete sentences, well punctuated, and spelled correctly.I don't mind the occasional use of acronyms like YEC, TOE, and such, but to foreshorten whole phrases like "as far as I am concerned" to something that sounds like a kicked dog is pure laziness, as far as I'm concerned. If we can't keep our thoughts tidy, as is demonstrated time and again on this site, then let's at least keep our language clean. Or is that asking too much?This message has been edited by Parasomnium, 02-May-2006 08:12 AM

This very topic is proof that the message is NOT always transmitted.

I don't know, Dawn. It could be text messaging. Then again, with T9, typing a text message has become a lot easier.I don't think being a non-typer is a factor. The people who use shorthand the most are some of the more prolific posters, it seems. Being able to write so much in such a short time, they'd have to be proficient typers. But that may be my skewed view of the situation.By the way, here is an example of what I mean. One may not always agree with Faith - or perhaps never - and her beliefs are of course poppycock in the eyes of some, but BY GOD, SHE CAN WRITE! In that post, she managed to avoid all but two acronyms, and the two she did use are so frequent on this site that we may overlook such a small error. {added by edit}Of course there are more good writers among us, but I was rather amused by what Faith wrote there, and I wanted to do something with it. I don't subscribe to the view she expressed there, but I respect it. And I admire her use of language.This message has been edited by Parasomnium, 01-May-2006 11:48 PM

You may be right, RAZD. Text messengers are more concerned with c-ing ppl l8er. (Although you would expect them never to see anybody at all, when they can just as easily text them.)Anyway, phrases like "in my humble opinion" are not very likely to find their way into text message conversations between 13 year-olds. So you're probably correct in thinking it's more of a nerdy thing, originally.I still think we'd be better off without shorthand. Just spending a little more time writing what you want to say may also help in thinking it through a little better.This message has been edited by Parasomnium, 02-May-2006 12:12 AM

Brad McFall is a different story altogether. His shorthand is other people's names. By mentioning seven or eight names - usually the same ones every time - Brad writes one-sentence essays in which each name stands for a whole body of thought. By stringing several of these sentences together, he writes complete theses nobody understands.

Thank you. I am.But it's difficult to keep up the pretense. Everyone here thinks I am this bloke from the Netherlands, but I don't know how to write English with Dutch mistakes, and sooner or later people are going to notice.Whew! I am glad I got that off my chest.Speaking of which...

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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science." - Charles Darwin.

That's why I said it the way I did. I'm not a working class bloke, I am a gorgeous upper class woman. I used the word 'bloke' because I was expressing someone else's idea of me. (Yours perhaps?) That's very nice of you to say, dear. But it comes naturally.

We were talking about *moi*, remember?

I think "Received Pronunciation" is the term you want. And from what I've heard when I had to visit the Netherlands (these Star Trek conventions are so demanding you know), they leave out the "Beschaafd" from "Algemeen Beschaafd Nederlands" nowadays. They think it isn't very civilized to call themselves 'civilized'.This message has been edited by Parasomnium, 04-May-2006 12:22 AM