HUZZAH! Banned from Rentech.com!

[J. M. Pescado]

I have a 12-year old niece, and she only has been learning english for one year. My sister has to forbid her to access international forums, because a) she wouldn't understand, b) she would most likely misunderstand, and c) the danger of learning it wrong is far too great.

I dunno. I think that seeing those forums with the right supervision can be beneficial to learning English. Sorta like how on the Yummy channel, something always goes wrong: It teaches you what NOT to do.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Depends on the supervision, though!  Trouble is, there are so many "street corner" teens whose parents actually don't want them to be that way so don't let them out to hang around on street corners, so they use the Internet as a sort of substitute!

[laeshanin]

I, for one, am extremely happy that this site isn't crowded with people that are demanding and can't spell. Example:

I NEED HELP U HLP ME NOW OR U SUXXORZ!

grrr.

You know, this is sooo one of my pet hates. I even spell things properly on my mobile as I can't stand the goddamn 'speak' that passes for language these days. I'm such a pedant that misspelt words on signs make me want to bite chunks out of a wall, and apostrophes... well, if I see any more in the wrong place I won't be held responsible for my actions.

[Database]

I know - I am happily 12 right now and the number of people my age and slightly older/younger that tlk lik dis  is amazing!

Some people have the nerve to critisize me for typing properly!

End of Rant. I hope you enjoyed it.

[reggikko]

You know, this is sooo one of my pet hates. I even spell things properly on my mobile as I can't stand the goddamn 'speak' that passes for language these days. I'm such a pedant that misspelt words on signs make me want to bite chunks out of a wall, and apostrophes... well, if I see any more in the wrong place I won't be held responsible for my actions.

Ah, the old misplaced apostrophe. It is the bane of my existence. The thing that gets me is that it isn't even one of the crazy rules of English. Plural? Yes? No apostrophe! Easy, right? It's bad enough when it's used on a sign that was handwritten for someone's garage sale. At the Palace Theater near my house, the sign on the custodian's door says "Janitor's Only". Doesn't someone check these things?

[dizzy]

I think what confuses people is that the 's can be both possessive and a contraction of the word "is."

[ZephyrZodiac]

Confusing if you don't know, or bother to use, the rules!  Now, the French language also uses apostrophes, but do you see those in the wrong place?

What really annoys me too is reading a book, which one assumes has been proof-read, and finding spelling errors and grammar errors all over the place!  James Joyce may have intended them, but with most authors it's laxness or ignorance!  And since most books these days are written on PCs or word processors, the spelling errors are totally uncalled for!  Haven't these people ever heard of a Spell Checker?

And database, it's nice to meet someone of your age who cares about these things!

[Brynne]

At the Palace Theater near my house, the sign on the custodian's door says "Janitor's Only". Doesn't someone check these things?

Maybe the janitor is a little possesive of his door? "Janitor's only! Not yours, too!"

I'm a spelling/grammar nut, myself.  I used to win spelling bees when I was in middle school, which did wonders for my popularity. Lately, though, and perhaps it's just my 35-year-old brain getting a little senile before it's time, I find myself going a tad nuts with the commas. All of a sudden, every few words sounds like they're comma-worthy. And, believe it or not (because I hardly can), I have caught myself typing "there" when I mean "they're". What is going on with my head??? I used to write good. Real, real good. The confusement of it all!

On the vs toopic (okay, new laptop, small keyboard. Left typo in to illustrate what I'm dealing with all the freaking time, now. Takes me forever to type a message.),... ahem. On the vs "topic", I always check to see who else is on the site when I'm over there. Remember the days when there would be about 2-3 lines of names? Jeez, it takes up half my screen, now! And it started with the MTS2 contest-thread-removal fiasco. When I saw the surge in "hlllep!!1" posts, I knew we were in trouble. I like this site being so small. And secretive. Shhhhhh!

[ZephyrZodiac]

Lends a certain air of exclusivity, doesn't it!

[Brynne]

Sure does! I feel special.

[Liss]

I'm in medical transcription training, which involves a lot of proofreading, so misspellings and misplaced punctuation drives me nuts too But when I'm typing on the net I do have a tendency to not use capital letters. LOL

[ZephyrZodiac]

Well, there's a big difference between ephemeral stuff on the net and something that's going to go into print and people are going to be paying for.  I do feel that, whre people are shelling out there hard-earned cash they have as much right to expect the book they buy to be produced with care as they do the pizza!  (And the pizza seller can be in trouble if it isn't!)

[veilchen]

It just makes it so hard to read and understand when it is misspelled, and the leetspeak is even worse than the netspeak. I sympathize with Brynne though, I also have the tendency to make long sentences. When I re-read them, I suddenly find all kinds of places that seem to scream out for a comma, so I tend to go a little over-board with them.

My daughter is a grammar and spelling enthusiast too, and that in two languages. I once showed her a post in netspeak (not from me) and I could've sworn I saw steam comming out of her ears.

JM, the supervision idea is not bad, but my sister is not all that well versed in english either. That would only result in two people scratching their heads . Dutch is more her speed; I can read it (barely) but I couldn't write it, or speak it.

Database, I agree with ZZ. It is actually a good thing to be able to write properly, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Funny you should say that about Dutch, V.  I once met a Dutch girl who spoke no English ( we were on a French course in Brittany, and speaking French all the time was a bit tiring for both of us) and we managed to understand each other -she spoke in Dutch and I spoke in German!  I could also understand my German friend's first husband, who was a Berliner, and her parents, who were from Bavaria, better than they could understand each other!

On the other hand, I have great difficulty understanding Geordies (from the Newcastle-on-Tyne area of England)!  I think sometimes it's easier to make allowances for vowel-shifts in a foreign language than it is in your own - it's the consonants you are listening for!

[Ness]

my mother's family is dutch, and even though I only speak english, listening to dutch I can often catch the general gist of what is being said...  I may be about to be shouted at here, but I've been told that dutch is kind of a stepping stone between german and english - enough similarities between dutch and the other languages to figure it out, even though german to english is much harder...

Ness

[Brynne]

But when I'm typing on the net I do have a tendency to not use capital letters. LOL

Did you intentionally capitalize LOL? 

[ZephyrZodiac]

I think the German that is spoken in the North near the border with Holland is very similar in sound to Dutch, it's the spelling which differs and makes the two languages appear more different than they actually are.  The majority of words are the same, it's just the slight differences in vowel sounds make them seem different.  Since I would have said that German vowel sounds have greater similarity with English ones than do Dutch vowels, I find it hard to understand the logic of the idea that Dutch is a "stepping-stone" to English. 

[Danni]

On the other hand, I have great difficulty understanding Geordies (from the Newcastle-on-Tyne area of England)! I think sometimes it's easier to make allowances for vowel-shifts in a foreign language than it is in your own - it's the consonants you are listening for!

I completely understand you there! I'm a Scouser (from Liverpool, England), and moved up near Newcastle-upon-Tyne just under three years ago. I'm better at understanding Geordies now, but when I first moved up I had to ask my boyfriend to translate! I don't have much of an accent, something that I used to get bullied for in school.

[Kochanski]

On the other hand, I have great difficulty understanding Geordies (from the Newcastle-on-Tyne area of England)! I think sometimes it's easier to make allowances for vowel-shifts in a foreign language than it is in your own - it's the consonants you are listening for!

I completely understand you there! I'm a Scouser (from Liverpool, England), and moved up near Newcastle-upon-Tyne just under three years ago. I'm better at understanding Geordies now, but when I first moved up I had to ask my boyfriend to translate! I don't have much of an accent, something that I used to get bullied for in school.

I don't have too much trouble with Geordie any more (I'm a southerner who moved to the North East 15 years ago). I find the Scots accent the hardest to understand especially when they talk fast. 

[ZephyrZodiac]

After 15 years, I'm not surprised you no longer have problems with Geordie!  It's probably more familiar to you now than broad cockney!  But I'll bet you this, local people immediately recognise you for a southerner, but whn you visit friends or family down south, they laugh at your Geordie accent!

[Kochanski]

 I picked up what has been desribed by local friends as the worst Geordie accent they have ever heard. But when I go home the accent disappears in about a day and I return to the faint Wiltshire accent I used to have interspered with some Geordie expressions.

Edit. Yes my family do laugh and yes I get recognised as a southerner although no one is very good at guessing which part.

[Ness]

perhaps that was a slightly dodgy way of putting it...

my mother (dutch) always told me that dutch was similar to both english and german, but english and german are not really similar at all...   I can get the meaning of more dutch than I can german - despite the fact that my mother and her family have not spoken dutch since she was 6 and I spent two years at school learning german...  I knew it wouldn't make sense when I originally posted, and I'm still not sure that it makes a lot of sense now.

Ness

[ZephyrZodiac]

I think I follow you.  Now, since the original language of the Saxons was of Germanic origin, and the original language in Holland was also of Germanic origin (hence the English name for Hollandisch is Dutch, whereas the German name for German is Deutsch!) all three languages are very much bound up together, but obviously different influences came to bear on them and they changed, English probably the most, due to the influence of first the Scandinavian languages and then Norman French.  In a sense, English is the most advanced in that the original inflexions, cases, genders etc. have been largely lost due to the continuing evolution of the language (and possibly the linguistic laziness of it's speakers!), whereas both German and dutch represent a purer form of the language.

When one considers how many languages have gone to make up what is present-day English, it's strange how difficult most English children find learning a foreign language as closely akin to their own as French or German, yet Chinese or Japanese children, whose language could hardly be more different from ours, seem to learn to speak English well.  At a school where I used to teach, we had a couple of sisters from Hong Kong who arrived speaking no English at all.   the elder one was conversing with other children by the time she had spent 3 months in the school, the younger one, who was more reserved, hardly spoke at all for two years, then not only did she speak English nearly perfectly (apart from her accent, as some sounds she did find difficult) but did so well at learning German that she was awarded the German Prize!

Isn't it amazing how far we digress from the original thread!  Anothr English characteristic, digression......

[Ness]

Is that a characteristic of english people (from england), or just english speakers...   

Ness

[Liss]

But when I'm typing on the net I do have a tendency to not use capital letters. LOL

Did you intentionally capitalize LOL? 

LOL to me is a short, burst of laughter.  lol is just a giggle   what i mean is i usually type in all lower case, not capitalizing the beginning of sentences, or names, or i's. hehe