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Pedants and grammar nazis are idiots who don't know anything about language.

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HAL9000 said:
There is no such thing as proper language, hopefully their they're and there will merge into one ultimately. I've noticed the evolution of language more on this forum than anyone, a combination of the differences between English and American language and Internet language, it's evident that language becomes more simple as it evolves. The transition between English and American is evidence enough of that.
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There you go confusing real life and the intarwebs again. They are not the same. They are not interchangeable. They are not "separate but, equal."
 
MagnusTheBrewer said:
There you go confusing real life and the intarwebs again. They are not the same. They are not interchangeable. They are not "separate but, equal."
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I disagree, the internet is the communication medium of the modern age. It's how human communication and thus language is evolving. But in any event the previous post I made was more about the difference in English and American language.
 
I think what he describes is quite different from the bastardization of language that we see on the Internet.

If you have ever said or typed "would of," you're a stupid person. If you don't know why the supermarket sign should say "10 items or fewer," you're not stupid - you just haven't learned the difference between "less" and "fewer."
 
HAL9000 said:
I disagree, the internet is the communication medium of the modern age. It's how human communication and thus language is evolving. But in any event the previous post I made was more about the difference in English and American language.
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The internet is not a communication medium, it is a medium for exchange of data. Communication still follows classic mediums on the internet, you have speech, video and text. Internet language is lazy, I view it as shorthand, much the same as a court stenographer would use.

I have this secret dream that the English language, and language as a whole, is safe and sound, hiding until our attention spans can catch up.
 
mugs said:
I think what he describes is quite different from the bastardization of language that we see on the Internet.

If you have ever said or typed "would of," you're a stupid person. If you don't know why the supermarket sign should say "10 items or fewer," you're not stupid - you just haven't learned the difference between "less" and "fewer."
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Well no actually that's exactly what he means based on other things I've read by him.To give you an example he described a time when his nephew said "Oh that is so book" to which he asked what that means and the kid explained that when you type cool on a phone using predictive text it sometimes comes up as book so now book = cool to him. He described that as the natural evolution of language.
 
Brigandier said:
The internet is not a communication medium, it is a medium for exchange of data. Communication still follows classic mediums on the internet, you have speech, video and text. Internet language is lazy, I view it as shorthand, much the same as a court stenographer would use.

I have this secret dream that the English language, and language as a whole, is safe and sound, hiding until our attention spans can catch up.
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Unfortunately that's not the case. The exchange of data. Or communication medium that the internet is, is breading a new language. A world where IRL people say "lol" I've heard it, accept it, it's happening.
 
HAL9000 said:
I disagree, the internet is the communication medium of the modern age. It's how human communication and thus language is evolving. But in any event the previous post I made was more about the difference in English and American language.
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The changes from English to American took hundreds of years which in itself is actually a fairly short time. The changes engendered by the web are occurring at a rate of months. There must be a longer overlap or, written works will not be understood from one generation to the next.
 
MagnusTheBrewer said:
The changes from English to American took hundreds of years which in itself is actually a fairly short time. The changes engendered by the web are occurring at a rate of months. There must be a longer overlap or, written works will not be understood from one generation to the next.
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I disagree, look at "coupe" and "aeroplane"
 
HAL9000 said:
Unfortunately that's not the case. The exchange of data. Or communication medium that the internet is, is breading a new language. A world where IRL people say "lol" I've heard it, accept it, it's happening.
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You mean when people say "lol" when they want you to feel good and you haven't made them laugh?

All the new "words" the internet has crated are not words, just shortened forms of phrases that include real language. I'm hard pressed to call internet shorthand a new language, it may be a new way to represent language, but I don't view it as language on its own.
 
Brigandier said:
You mean when people say "lol" when they want you to feel good and you haven't made them laugh?

All the new "words" the internet has crated are not words, just shortened forms of phrases that include real language. I'm hard pressed to call internet shorthand a new language, it may be a new way to represent language, but I don't view it as language on its own.
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shens.
 
MagnusTheBrewer said:
You seem to have missed the point about the time it took and the fact that language reflects culture as well as helps shape it.
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The only point I'm making is that language can change almost over night. Look at "bi-winning" it just needs a catalyst.

Brigandier said:
People put shens because they believe whoever they said it to is engaged in shenanigans by saying what they said.
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"Shenanigans" doesn't have anything to do with telling a lie.
 
HAL9000 said:
And shenanigans has never meant bull shit, yet the internet has now redefined it to be.

nef
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You just made my point. No one but a few denizens of a couple of tech sites know what either means. Using them in general conversation, particularly in the real world, will be met with blank looks, That is why standards have to be maintained.
 
Brigandier said:
The internet is not a communication medium, it is a medium for exchange of data. Communication still follows classic mediums on the internet, you have speech, video and text. Internet language is lazy, I view it as shorthand, much the same as a court stenographer would use.

I have this secret dream that the English language, and language as a whole, is safe and sound, hiding until our attention spans can catch up.
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How many years ago were you born ? <---- lol, wtf ?

How old are you ? <---- lazy, shorthand


Laziness, shorthand or whatever you name it; this is evolution of language at hand and like any social change it carries opposing sides ... those who go on with the change and those who cannot accept it and die off; but the change still occurs and the cycle continues.

As humans there are somethings that give us great satisfaction and one of them is correcting other people, especially in an 'assholic' manner to get a feeling of some sort of superiority. Since the Internet provides a great deal of anonymity, more and more grammar Nazis are born to enjoy this great feeling ... the feeling of being culturally/linguistically superior and thus somehow superior as a being/person.

So this shit is going to go on forever as long as there is something to be gained.


PS: I am not taking any stance against/for one or the other. In fact, the grammar Nazis are part of another cultural evolution and they are simply adapting to it as they have something to be gained from it: that fcuking awesome and super great feeling of putting other people down without losing anything. 😉
 
HAL9000 said:
The only point I'm making is that language can change almost over night. Look at "bi-winning" it just needs a catalyst.



"Shenanigans" doesn't have anything to do with telling a lie.
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she·nan·i·gans/SH&#601;&#712;nan&#601;g&#601;nz/Noun
1. Secret or dishonest activity or maneuvering.
2. Silly or high-spirited behavior; mischief.

There, chew on that cud, moo-cow.
 
MagnusTheBrewer said:
You just made my point. No one but a few denizens of a couple of tech sites know what either means. Using them in general conversation, particularly in the real world, will be met with blank looks, That is why standards have to be maintained.
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They won't be maintained, there is no universal standard for language it is changing every day, what words mean now will be different in 10 years in some cases. Or 2 months in others.
 
Brigandier said:
she·nan·i·gans/SH&#601;&#712;nan&#601;g&#601;nz/Noun
1. Secret or dishonest activity or maneuvering.
2. Silly or high-spirited behavior; mischief.

There, chew on that cud, moo-cow.
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Fair point, in all honesty it's not a word I'd ever use, but my point stands, the internet creates words and changes the meaning of others.
 
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