OMG! FYI, the OED is like all TMI. Can we still be BFF? LOL.

Originally posted by PsykoOps
The powers to be

Our future overlords or should we just say OL's

okay thanks. See I didn't even shorten OK.

just think we could all be using this www.omniglot.com...
The Ogham alphabet (᚛ᚑᚌᚐᚋ᚜)

The Ogham alphabet was used to write Archaic Irish, Old Welsh and Latin and Ogham inscriptions have been found in various parts of Ireland and the British Isles.

The Ogham alphabet (vertical)

Btw, I'm finnish so lemme give you little example about how twisted and complicated a language can be. Afaik finnish is the 3rd most difficult language in the world. If you're not native you can live here for 25 years and still get it totally wrong.
Here's a simple example. Using the word bridge. In english you say "bridge, at a bridge, in a bridge, by a bridge" etc. but in finnish we say with the word bridge the following:

silta (basic, bridge)
sillatta (without a bridge)
sillalta (from a bridge)
sillalla (at a bridge)
sillalle (to a bridge)
sillasta (of a bridge)
siltana (as a bridge)
sillan (means someone has or owns. Owns a bridge for example is Omistaa sillan)
siltaan (into a bridge)
siltoineen (with his/hers bridges)
sillaksi (into a bridge, meaning something becomes something as in the road turns into a brige)

Now that is just one word and even though I'm a finn I cannot be completely sure that is 100% accurate Some words have really really weird rules but native speakers nail them naturally while those who are not don't. We say the speak "Bad finnish" around here. So far english has given us tons of words and keeps doing so. Such as CD that is now a word in here officially. So the right way to use it is Cd:lle, Cd:llä, Cd:tä jne. with : and now my brain starts to hurt

[Edit to add] I just realised that list is very very short and doesn't even come close to having all the variations but you get the idea.

reply to post by PsykoOps


I'm not a Finnish speaker, but just wondering. How is that different than using separate words instead of additions to one word?

example,
"To a bridge", in English with no spaces:
Toabridge

"To a bridge", in Finnish:
Sillalle

All in all, no matter if you add an addition onto the word itself or additional descriptive words it seems it would be just as complicated.

Because it's not the same word anymore. Only the 'Sil' part in the beginning stays the same. Silta, sillat, silloilla, silloista, siltojen, sillatta' I think the total was 32 variations that excist but might remember wrong.

reply to post by PsykoOps


Once again, I'm sorry I don't know the Finnish language, but you have to use the describing words as well as the modified word itself?

What I mean is, in Finnish, you have a "To a" before the word "sillalle"? Or is that the additional part to the word itself?

Edit: Not trying to say it isn't a complex language and in fact I have heard it is, I am just genuinely curious.

OK (Okay) **

BBQ (Barbecue) **

LOL (Laugh Out Loud) **

ROFL (Rolling On Floor Laughing) **

LMAO (Laughing My A** Off) **

STFU (Shut The F*** Up) **

GTFO (Get The F*** Out) **

DILIGAF (Does It Look Like I Give A F***)

YASSILPO (You Are So Stupid I Literally Passed Out)

TISCOOYMYSWI (There Is S*** Coming Out Of Your Mouth, You Should Wipe It)

HWISTKYWBTCWNDTYELAYSO (How Was I Supposed To Know You Were Black? That Comment Was Never Directed Toward Your Ethnicity Let Alone Your Sexual Orientation)

Evolution at its finest.

** these abbreviations did not have to be corrected, according to my computer they are actual words)

Originally posted by PsykoOps
Why is it dumbing down? I'd think it would be the exact opposite. Simplers, leaner and faster therefore way more efficient.

Bedtime Rant:"
U can call it that":
I'll stick with "bastardized and lazy".because words have power and subtle meanings.they can move a crowd to their feet.Music and lyrics used to move people not just "bitches" in an expressive but positive way
CU b4 Lnch @ the pblik exocootion..Is just nasty..
They tried "Ebonics" once; it was what it was: a lazy bastardization of the language to assuage a politically correct feel good culture.
lack of reading the language written properly is why alot (most?) folks spell like chimpanzees.This isn't going to help. Somebody trying to make a "high level"impassioned argument; but tells me I have to arm up now! To stop "marshall law!" loses every single bit of credibility.
Thanks but no thanks Gomer I'll wait for the next rebel band; this ones a little slow...

Oh yeah: Hey "simplers" when the little squiggly red underline pops up automatically it means you didn't type a recognized word.or ran two together.if you right click it it will even provide the correct common spelling how easy can it be?
Yes there are plenty more important things going on then "spelling-nazi" games...

reply to post by RSF77


No we use the modified word alone. Like "go to a bridge" "Mene(go) silllalle(to a bridge)", "go to the bridges" "mene(go) silloille(to the bridges)" etc.

[edit to add] Also when you start twisting verbs and adjectives it gets really funky

seakpgin aubto the iculsonin of asyonircm itno the odfrox doticirany, wehn tehy sartt to pinrt it uniseg tihs cazry ludgangae ylu'ol kown it's tmie to haed to sefar gorudn!

YES this is the end of civilization...I HATE people who write like this...

But you know, TSHTF...TPTB want it this way. LOL glad no one here on A.T.S. uses abbreviations to talk about HAARP or TPTB or UFOs or the OED or anything...

Oh and according to the OED itself, Shakespeare created over 2000 new words in his time, and if this website had been around then, there'd be a bunch of people b***ing on it about how he was destroying the language. My god you people can turn anything in to a crisis

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
I'm more worried about people not reading books anymore.
They don't have the attention span required.
You ain't seen bad yet!

Nothing a good permanent power outage won't fix.

reply to post by soficrow


I was really hoping to come into this thread and troll the OP for posting a title that clearly isn't made up of anything resembling English.

Boy was a I wrong.

OMG WTF?

I learned shorthand by playing World of Warcraft. The learning curve of the game is quite steep. Some of the greatest challenges happened to be: multi-tasking, the number of keys and combinations used, and player language. At first I didn't know what anyone was talking about because everyone used shorthand, but YOU HAVE TO. It is nearly impossible to communicate a concept to other players while controlling your character with a million key-binds. Everything is fast! If I didn't understand an abbreviation in a message from another player, all I would have to do is ask. After a little while, I was able to understand new phrases without asking. It's actually pretty interesting, and I haven't really thought about it until now.

Wouldn't you say our lives have become chaotic and fast paced due to technology in general? If I wasn't able to juggle a seemingly impossible number of tasks on a daily basis, I would feel like I fell off the wagon. The same principle applies to shorthand, in a way. You either learn it, or you fall behind.

I use some of the shorthand I acquired while playing WoW when I text, as I am a very busy person. I am so busy these days that I don't even have time to play. If I use an abbreviation in a text that a friend does not understand, they will ask, and then I find that they will start using it, too. My texts aren't riddled with shorthand, but it gets the job done efficiently. Just like in the game.

While I don't think shorthand should replace everyday language while speaking, it doesn't bother me when somebody else inserts a word here and there. I can deduce what they mean when they say lol by the way it is pronounced. The main thing is that we both understand what is being communicated. I also understand that some of these words are nothing more than a fad. Just like any new term "those darn kids are using these days," some will stick while others fade. However, there is no excuse for using shorthand in an English assignment. English class teaches us how to create whole sentences. Learn to walk before you run.

Like it or hate it, shorthand is here. Why limit yourself by remaining ignorant of the dialect because you find it unintelligible?

There's a Robert Heinlein short story about an elite group who have developed a language that allows them to express meaning much quicker than we do now. Short sounds replaced whole sentences and ideas. This allowed them to 'think' much faster than the rest of the population and hence develop culturally much faster. So who knows, this may be 'dumbing up' rather than 'down

TTFN.

Originally posted by Chindogu

Originally posted by Crakeur
reply to post by soficrow

 

another sign that the end of civilization is nigh.

my daughter says omg all the time and it drives me nuts. if we can't speak and write properly, we're doomed

I'm with ya there. Net speak drives me bloody nuts. It's lazy when you type it and it's downright offensive when it's spoken. Shakespeare must be turning in his grave.

Agreed. Shakespeare would find it awful.

...wait, in Shakespeare's time, awful meant "full of awe" - awefull.

Ya know?

I was copied on an email last week from my boss in California, who asked for comments on the content.

My simple reply was that in future they might want to write it in plain English instead of all the corporate-speak acronyms, so that us non-Americans might actually understand exactly what they are talking about! That, or add a glossary at the end.

It really is getting that bad! Myself and colleagues in the UK and Europe get these emails all the time, or sit on conference calls scratching our heads wondering what they are driving at and trying to figure out the abrreviations and acronyms. To be fair, my boss did agree it was getting a bit silly and even he is starting to struggle with it. Ironic too that one of the worst offenders, a senior VP we all report in to, was just over a couple of weeks ago running an internal training course whose focus was on communication.

As an aside, I did tell my boss that the premise of the email, once I'd figured it out, was a POS and that under European law we could not adopt what they were proposing, so they were SOL! That raised a chuckle from him.

reply to post by soficrow


I'm with you, pal. Good thing the Oxford dictionary is not the foundation of ATS. I think we should fight to keep that kind of jargon of these pages! LOL

Evolution of language. It happens all the time. We may not like it or even understand half of the stuff that comes out of the kids mouths these days but it's happening and will continue to happen so the best we can do is learn it.
We don't have to use it ourselves but at least we will know what the hell that 15yr down the street is saying when we walk past....

Actually... scrap that, I don't think I WANT to know...

I WOULD AGREE THT TXT SPEAK IS DSTRYNG LNGG AND DMBNG PPL DWN. I SPPS IT IS OKY AS LNG AS U DO UNDRSTND REAL LNGG AND R CPBL OF BEING ABL 2 SPLL CRRCTLY

Point taken?
R txt msgs gr8 for today’s society and pedagogies in composition, rhetorical, and linguistic courses? Or r troubled linguists correct in worrying “that the proliferation of text messaging…will enforce sloppy, undisciplined habits”? (“Linguists”). 2 b able 2 answer this with ne sort of accurate social comprehension of the language of txt spk and a luv for not only linguistics but also rhetoric and new techniques that lead to an increase in the vivid and significant variety in language, 1 must b able to accept txt spk as a legitimate language. Txt msgs hv recently been used n forensic linguistic research as a way 2 identify stylistic points btwn victims and criminals. Dr. Tim Grant, Deputy Director of the Centre for Forensic Linguistics at England’s Aston University, believes that “…new technologies have created an anti-social phenomenon of mass anonymity and the ability to identify the writer can only be beneficial for society”; this acceptance of txts as appropriate for language analysis and acknowledged legal and investigatory evidence hints at the fact that txt spk has moved beyond a teenage trend in communication and n2 the full-blown realm of legitimized language (“Txt Crimes”).