BS: lower case posts with no punctuation

Subject: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 04:39 PM

i have noticed lotsofpeople are posting their messages all in lower case and i think i am going to start doing this too cuz its like really kewl and you dont have to waste energy hitting the shift button or putting in commas and stuff and everybody thinks youre like really busy and rushing to get your post finished so you can go hang out with your friends and stuff and its like really kewl and you get matt r writing into your thread cuz he thinks you are kewl and i think i am going to start doing this

luvyall

murray

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: Sorcha
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 04:43 PM

it bugs metoo murray.

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 04:46 PM

iusedtobekewl!

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: toadfrog
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 04:47 PM

whothefuck doyouthinkyouare--anyhow?

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: Roger in Sheffield
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 04:48 PM

IhateitwhenpeopletypeyouwhenUwilldo.

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 04:49 PM

I THINK WE NEED TO BE CAREFUL ABOUT THIS ONE AS IT IS AWLAYS POSSIBLE THAT SOMEONE IS TYPING IN ALL LOWERCASE BECAUSE OF SOME DISABILITY AND IT IS AT LEAST IMO PREFERABLE TO ALL CAPS HAVING SAID THAT IF PEOPLE ARE DOING IT TO BE COOL I WISH THEY WOULD STOP

JON

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: Tig
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 04:53 PM

Maybe it's because some people don't know how to use punctuation and capital letters? I admit to not checking quite a few of my postings so I do loose the odd capital, but most of it is punctuated.

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: 53
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 04:56 PM

Well, I am a secretary and I can live with lower case better than I can the absence of punctuation.

But thewordsallruntogetherlikethis takes me twice as long 'cause I automatically hit the spacebar and then have to back up.

I sometimes get emails in all caps. I hate that because I feel like someone is shouting at me. One of the agents in the office where I work sends them that way so he doesn't have to hit the shift key. I automatically go back and correct errors if I take time to catch them.

But I have submitted messages here that have grammatical errors. I hate it when I do. But I rarely proof these like I do my work! This is a place I can hang out and switch off my 'work'. Right?

Glenda

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: CarolC
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 05:03 PM

I think some people do it because they get into the habit while using 'instant message' kinds of communication. My son is a very articulate person and a good writer. He has no desire to be 'cool' in the sense that Murray implies.

But I have seen him carry on as many as eight simultaneous conversations through instant messages, and the only way to do that is to abbreviate things a bit. I have to admit that reading posts like that is a bit difficult for me and it takes me longer, but I can understand how some people might get into that habit.

I'm curious to know when it's going to stop being 'kewl' to behave condescendingly and patronizingly toward Matt R.

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: GUEST,Ickle Dorritt
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 05:03 PM

Really, life is too short - if people understand you, upper case, lower case then it shouldn't really matter.

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 05:07 PM

I carry on all kinds of IM conversations, and I absolutely will not 'abbreviate' like that!!!!

Bollox!

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: CarolC
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 05:15 PM

Well, you're a better man than I am, Clinton ;-)

I have trouble carrying on even one of those IM conversations at one time without abbreviating. That's why I don't enjoy IM very much. I can't even begin to imagin being able to do eight at one time.

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 05:22 PM

Carol, may I say that I had, and have, no intention of being either patronizing or condescending to Matt, despite our past differences. If it seemed like that, I apologize in advance. It's just that Matt is a lot "kewler" than I am !

Murray

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: CarolC
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 05:34 PM

Sorry if I imputed motives that were not yours, Murray. It just seems like Matt takes a lot of pot shots about his age from a lot of people.

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: Matt_R
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 05:38 PM

Well, I've never used the word "kewl". I'm a copy editor, so it's my job to make people's writing skills readable.

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 05:58 PM

Ickle Dorrit,

Just because people can understand you, I don't think you should neglect grammatical rules or correct spelling.

Try to make it easy on the reader. Correct grammar, spelling and punctuation help most people to read more quickly and easily.

No doubt you can understand the following sentence:

teh caat ssat onn ttthe maat

If I wrote everything in such a manner, well draw your own conclusions...

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 06:06 PM

To give you credit Matt, I don't think I remember reading any of your posts that was less than impeccably written. I might not have known what you were talking about, but that would be due to my unfamiliarity with the subject matter rather than to any literary shortcomings on your part.

Murray

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: GUEST,Arkie
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 06:17 PM

I usually skip the posts in which the writer does not bother to seperate words or follow some basic writing conventions. I don't figure I've missed much.

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 06:23 PM

I always rather assume that posts in lower case are written by coackroaches. As in "archie and mehitabel" by Dom Marquis, where archie, the reincarnated journalist, who came back as a cockroach (presumably because he had been a good journalist and deserved promotion) used to type by diving at the keys. But he couldn't manage the shift key, which was stiffer.

Mind, with computer keyboards, that wouldn't apply would it? The poet e.e.cummings did it too. I don't know if he was a cockroach as well.

Since it makes it harder to read, I'd say it counts as being discourteous, unless you have similar problems to archie, as some people do who aren't cockroaches. Running the words together is doubly discourteous, with the same proviso. Still, it's not important enough to make a fuss about, and to do so could even encourage some people to faff around like this.

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 06:28 PM

IMHO, discourtesy is alsways worth taking issue with. Making a "fuss" well perhaps that would be a bit OTT.

Murray

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: CarolC
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 06:30 PM

"The poet e.e.cummings did it too. I don't know if he was a cockroach as well."

(*grin*) Nah... he was just pretentious.

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: Deckman
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 06:33 PM

I well remember my first lecture from darling Ellen, in London. It was during the "Walt Robertson" thread, about six months ago. She and I, and many others, were e-mailing frequantly. She explained (told?) me that she NEVER uses capitals when e-mailing, as it frees her ... and this from a grand and professional writer. Being new to e-mailing, I assumed that this was what I was supposed to do. I tried it and I totally failed. I just couldn't bring myself to do this grevious wrong. I know, I know, I'm old fashioned, and probilbly a lousy speller, but I just didn't feel 'right' about it. So, I now sleep a little better. If attempting proper punctuation bothers you, Oh well. I guess I'll NEVER be considered "trendy." CHEERS and GOOD THOUGHTS Bob(deckman)Nelson

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: Deckman
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 06:38 PM

... and, as Archie says ... "toujour gay, toujour gay, toujour gay!" CHEERS! Bob(deckman)Nelson

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: Banjer
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 06:42 PM

I try to make sure all my posts are correctly spelled and grammaticaly correct to the best of my ability. I went to school in an era when English teachers would accept nothing less than good handwriting (which I always had a problem with) and correct spelling. All assignment must be in ink!! Unlike the math teacher who would accept nothing in ink. All math assignments must be in pencil! It seems in todays schools the tehachers are just so grateful to get anything turned in that nothing matters, ink, pencil, grammar, spelling, who cares? At least the kid turned something in! What a difference 30 years can make!

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 06:42 PM

Naah - surely that was Mehitabel?

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: CarolC
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 06:54 PM

Of course you're right, McGrath of Harlow. I don't know what I could have been thinking.

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: CarolC
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 06:57 PM

Oops! Egg on my face! I didn't see Deckman's second post.

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: Bill D
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 07:19 PM

I am a slowish, two-finger typist, and it takes ME a long time to get some of my posts spelled reasonably and looking readable. I also embellish my typing with ellipsis...., with *grins*, and with capitals when I wish to make a SERIOUS point...etc.

I do this to make my postings sound as much like 'me' talking as possible in this medium. You may disagree with my thoughts, but at least you'll have some idea what they are!

I do realize that some people have different degrees of education and abilities, and I don't fret about small details, but some people are just lazy and make no real attempt to make their posts clear. (Yuhknowhaddimean?)

It's simply a matter of attitude.

(and I am reminded of The 1st law of hitch-hiking .. "Look like who you want to pick you up")

if u type like this and dont punctiate or spell good, u may not get much attention because some of us just cant force oruselves to read runon sentences with no concern for what u want to say being phrased in any way that is easy to understand without stopping and looking at the words very slowly for along time which we dont always have.....if u see my point.......

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 07:27 PM

I agree with Bill D, I am still new to the internet and not very good at typing(it takes me 10 minutes to just to write my name!), and in my job I never type (I am a delivery driver), But now I do try to post my messages properly.john

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: Bill D
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 07:38 PM

yep, John, and I see improvement in your posts everyday. It is clear that you are making the effort!

(I took a sort of perverse pride in not taking typing class when I was in 7th & 8th grade, and I never regretted it until 5 years ago when I needed to see the letters appear on the screen. Now I am 62, and VERY slowly teaching myself touch typing from a free program)

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: catspaw49
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 08:03 PM

Especially in discussion forums such as we use here, it is easy to read more or less into the words that are written. We have had long discussions about this before and using the **grin** and **BG** and the other icons (:<)) can have very beneficial effect in making your words understood in the manner you mean them. Inflection is very difficult to transmit as Bill so well points out so using less than standard grammatical tricks sich as the ellipsis..............well..........it just makes sense doesn't it?(:<))

Like many others, I try to type in the same manner I speak and to give the reader asense of the voice pattern and it's implied attitude.....friendly, angry, humorful, sarcastic, or combinations of all gets to be a challenge. Sometimes I am misunderstood, but I doubt if I have as many problems with that as others do and as the most prolific poster in the joint, I think my percentage of understanding vs. lack thereof is pretty good.

All lower case of all of anything doesn't help me to understand a poster as there are too many ways to tkae individual words, let alone sentences and paragraphs! But if it makes you happy then go with it and I'll do my best to keep up and guess at your meaning. Many times though, like Arkie, I just skip them.

Sorry.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: Joe Offer
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 08:12 PM

There's a very well-known guy with the initials DG who always posts in lower-case one-liners with no punctuation...and what he says is always worth reading. DG has something to do with the DT [grin]. His name is green-something-or-other....
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: catspaw49
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 08:22 PM

I think dg DOES use some nowadays Joe. At least his stuff IS readable, often though because the ol' fart is pretty "short, sweet(?), and to the point."

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: Louie Roy
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 08:25 PM

I never learned to type until I was 75 and I know I make a lot of mistakes with my punctuation marks,but being a hunt and pecker I do the best I can.If I or someone else misses a period,question mark,etc,etc,etc mark it doesn't excite me ,but I'm sure if one of you who are so well versed on spelling and punctuation should happen to have a daughter who misses three periods in a row I'm sure you will become very excited.My question though is this who in the Hell are you to Judge?Do you have a Halo over your head or couldn't they find one big enough? Louie Roy

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: paddymac
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 08:31 PM

Aw, gee, shucks & golly willikers. Foolish me. ithoughtthisthreadwasgoingtobeallaboutemulatingjamesjoycebutasitypethislineimwonderingwhatwillhappenwhenthemachinetriestoreadthisallasonewordanddropitalldowntothenextline.

I thought this thread was going to be all about emulating James Joyce, but as I type this sentence I'm wondering what will happen when the machine tries to read this as all one word and drop it all down to the next line. Well, now I know. It screws up the copy/paste process and won't allow me to start a new paragraph without ending the previous one with a punctuation mark of some kind. Normal punctuation seems much easier, not to mention the benefit (well, in most cases) of a more intelligible post.

Having said all that, I do recall that when I first began using e-mails there was a pseudo-convention of not using caps, which I presume was somebody's idea of efficiency. But even there, punctuation was still required.

No doubt styles of writing will (or have) emerge(d) in cyber worlds which may not conform to the "standard" for whatever language is being used, but such evolutionary false-starts which impede rather than enhance communication won't likely get far.

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: paddymac
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 08:37 PM

Hasty apologies to all. I foolishly thought the above mesage would appear here pretty much as it did on my screen. It appears that this system's way of dealing with the problem is to treat it as one unbreakable word and "widen" the post. Sorry for the inconvenience, but, maybe it makes the point better than my words did.

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 08:42 PM

Catspaw-What does BG mean?
It is very good to see you back here.john

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: Cobble
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 08:47 PM

I would think that people just making the effort would be enough, not every one is an editor or such. Cobble.

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 08:56 PM

Reading and writing have been around much longer than the Internet. If there were something superior about writing without grammar, punctuation, accurate spelling, and capitalization, the professional writers and editors of the world would have discovered that by now, and we would be seeing whole books, magazines, and newspapers being written that way.

"archy and mehitabel" is a good book, and I know at least one poem by e e cummings that I like a lot, but I don't see the world rushing to imitate them, so I don't plan to imitate them either.

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: catspaw49
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 09:05 PM

Effort IS the thing Cobble! Most people could care less about occasional typos or spelling errors or bad grammar and syntax. The questions is, are you doing your best to be understood or just taking the easy way out? Communication is the name of the game!!!

BG = Big Grin as opposed to BSEG.....(:<))...thanks john!

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 09:10 PM

Spaw meant to say "most people COULDN'T care less about typos, etc ".

Murray the mindreader

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: Jeri
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 09:12 PM

Spaw appears to have buggered off somewhere, so...
*BG* = Big Grin

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: catspaw49
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 09:19 PM

Actually, what I meant to say was, "Kiss my fockin' ass Murray" or something along those lines..............

(.......and sometimes things depend on who you are and how well you're known and your relationship to the person.....)

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: Little Hawk
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 09:29 PM

ive just been all around orillia and i cant find one single post that has any punctuation some dirty words here and there but no punctuation none THERE WAS PLENTY OF UPPER CASE HOWEVER MOSTLY IN FACT hosers generally cannot manage lower case too well

LH

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: catspaw49
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 09:33 PM

Hawk, you're completely screwed. Check in at the NYCFTTS and we can have you partially functional in only a few months...........

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: Little Hawk
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 09:38 PM

I know I'm completely screwed! Thank God there is someone who understands. Can I get a room with a Venus Flytrap in it?

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: Jeri
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 09:45 PM

Oops, Spaw obviously buggered back while I was feverishly typing those two lines.

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: catspaw49
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 09:46 PM

Sure Hawk.......and we'll assign Dr. Johnny Fever to your case.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: wysiwyg
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 10:42 PM

our friend ed just got a used computer and caught internet fever but he worked with his hands all his life and never as a writer and every email message he has sent me has looked just like this except he always signs them love ed

i do love ed he got us to play together when we first picked up our instruments a few years ago and just look at the result

and i would never dream of telling him how to write

except if he wrote in all caps

he does write that way when he writes with a pencil so thank god he likes lowercase for computer is what i say

he blesses us all and i don't judge him

he is the happiest person i know excpot maybe for his grandaughter my folkbaby and just seeing his name in my email makes me smile and if he posted here i would smile even more

and if anyone here was mean to him because he does not write like most if us do it would make me cry for a long long time and i might go away it would be too mean i couldn't bear to have brought him to a place where he would be looked down on

its an issue of classism don't you think

if we don't like to read things written this way we don't have to you know

susan

Subject: RE: BS: lower case posts with no punctuation
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 11:00 PM

Thanks Catspaw.