Does punctuation matter?

[James Burleigh]

I followed a link from this forum over to a speed-traps site and came across this post:

"I was caught in this speed trap I was going 68 miles per hour and was pulled over by a motorcycle unit he said do you know how fast your going I said ye 68 mph, he said no you were doing 83mph what a bunch of crooks"
The above comment gets an F- in punctuation. It's missing about 32 periods, including the last one. A semi-colon would have been an astonishing display of punctuation dexterity rarely seen on the Internet. And how did the poster determine that a comma was necessary? Better make that a solid F instead of F-.

The above post and others on the Internet make me wonder: Is punctuation completely optional on the Internet? Or maybe this person is just uneducated (stupid?). If it's the latter, then 90% of all respondents on, say, YouTube, are uneducated (in the case of YouTube, add angry and vindictive; but that'll have to be another post).

Does punctuation matter?

 

[ionbeam]

.

 

[dcarver]

?

 

[UselessPickles]

¿

 

[Silent]

!

 

[feeger]

;

 

[johnny80s]

;

 

[High Desert Rat]

i thinks is dos we'al used funny cymbals four reel writtin' However, the conventional English rules shound not discarded for the sake of speed. In my current vocation reading poorly written material is part of the fun. If, and I take a risk in stating, parents would care more about the education of the children they produce than the sports teams, t.v. programs, you tube, and other related activities the level of skill would increase. We can blame teachers, but education is a community effort. A weekend that is filled with endless trash is hard to overcome. That being said, the percentage of student that create most of the problems is 3 to 4 percent. These students require 80 to 85 percent of the time of educators and adminstration for discipline and non-academic activities. Special Education class are filled with examples of poor parenting and take away resource from those students who truly need those services. Private schools flourish not because the instruction is better, they flourish because of the students in the class. Pay money and expect reults, if it is "free" is has no value. This forum is not the place for these types of conversations. In the end I am going to fire up the bike and go ride for an hour before the kids start moving around.

 

[user 6393]

"reading" what people have to say is a great way to get to know them...

or, moreso, to decide NOT to get to know them

just a thought

 

[v65]

Did you fix the spelling? Hard to imagine they got caught right, at least that has been my experience.

 

[FJRBluesman]

No... in this case. I still read it and understood it; however, it is rather nasty in the grammar department. So here's my contribution.

. , , " ? " , " . " , " ! " !

YMMV

 

[James Burleigh]

.

See thats why i love the forum i can always count on you guys to crack me up

 

[Silver Penguin]

From one member of the grammar police to another, I think that it does matter. The message quoted says a lot about the writer yet he probably has little concept of the negative impression he gives. On the strength of his one sentence statement (if you can call it a sentence), I would suggest that he probably was doing the speed quoted and is an idiot too (and probably doesn't admit to have a very small penis).

Does the Internet promote a lack of pride in language? I don't think so. The Internet is merely the means of transmission. If this person, and others like him, put pen to paper, we wouldn't blame the pen or the paper for his inadequacies. The 'Net just makes his shortcomings more public.

My two cents says that there is less accountability for language these days. If your English teacher or your Mother isn't correcting it, then it doesn't matter. Why should you care? If you post jumbled garbage on the Internet, who is going to see it as your responsibility? One only has to look at the 'Reader Comments' section after any article in the on-line version of the newspaper.

Sad, sad, sad. I plan on enrolling in the JB school of language this summer, to improve my own tenuous grasp on punctuation coz it wud be like cool you know to learn stuff like that doncha think. that JB dude like kinda knows wot hes' about n he rights fun stuph on the frj forum

 

[High Desert Rat]

nothin' but fun...

 

[Crash Cash]

If it's the latter, then 90% of all respondents on, say, YouTube, are uneducated

Yup. You know how dumb the average person is? Well, by definition, half of 'em are even dumber than THAT. When the question is "are people really that dumb?", the answer is invariably a resounding "YES!" The internet and the cheap PC with point'n'drool user interface simply allows these morons a venue to broadcast their idiocy. At least there's usually a "delete" or "next" button handy.

One of my all-time favorites is:

"Unfortunately with motorcycles not much protection with a motorcycle and when involved with motorcycle car or motorcycle anything accident unfortunately riders of motorcycle takes brunt of injuries."

-- Lt. James Hoekman, Minnehaha County Sheriff's Department

If I'm at work and have to be nice, my standard reply in these situations is: "If you're trying to communicate with me, you'll need to make far more effort with spelling and punctuation to succeed." I can cut and paste that so I don't have to think about it too much, and that keeps my blood pressure down.

 

[Silent]

I blame it all on cell phones, and those cryptic text messages.

 

[user 6393]

I blame it all on cell phones, and those cryptic text messages.

txtn is hawt

 

[madjackdog]

From one member of the grammar police to another, I think that it does matter. The message quoted says a lot about the writer yet he probably has little concept of the negative impression he gives. On the strength of his one sentence statement (if you can call it a sentence), I would suggest that he probably was doing the speed quoted and is an idiot too (and probably doesn't admit to have a very small penis).

Jill, are you saying that there is an inverse relationship between penis length and punctuation? If so, you may be on to something, because I minored in English in collage, and I don't like to brag, but ........ Oops, I've said too much already. I'll probably be swamped with PM's from Bustanut and Odot.

 

[TCMike]

I blame it all on cell phones, and those cryptic text messages.

txtn is hawt

Huh? :unknw: