Tuesday Rant

DRFerron · #1 (**permalink**) 11-15-2011

I don't visit the Off Topic forum too often because I always leave it angry and there should be nothing on a sailing site that makes one angry.

But this forum is the most appropriate location in which I can vent.

I am 45. Maybe I'm getting old. Perhaps it is because I fall solidly in the void between two named generations and I'm feeling left out and cantankerous. Maybe it's because I have not yet had my second cup of morning tea.

But, is there something inherently evil in punctuation that I am not aware?

I'm not perfect. I make mistakes. I'm sure this message contains mistakes that I will miss and I will attempt to correct them before I press Submit. But in order to write an entire message with nary a mark of punctuation and random use of capital letters - that is deliberate, not a mistake. I started to throw correct grammar into the rant but that may be crossing the line into curmudgeonly. Asking for complete sentences may have me taken away in a straight jacket.

I get that not everyone has a command over their language - whatever language that may be. I get that not everyone has English as a first language and that is usually easy to spot and understandable. I don't agree that computers and text speak have changed things that much. It's almost as if some people just don't care about communicating effectively and the impression that good communication gives.

In these times of economic uncertainty, why be frugal with one thing that is free and abundant? Punctuation does not cost anything. Here, I'll even give out some periods...................... Wait, I'll throw in some commas. ,,,,,,,,, Enjoy with wild abandon!

jameswilson29 · #2 (**permalink**) 11-15-2011

Nice rant. I agree. You can tell a lot about a person by his or her writing style.

PorFin · #3 (**permalink**) 11-15-2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by DRFerron

... there should be nothing on a sailing site that makes one angry.

Other than inept surveyors, indifferent yard workers, and (GASP) power boaters?

Quote:

Originally Posted by DRFerron

... But this forum is the most appropriate location in which I can vent.

I am 45. Maybe I'm getting old. Perhaps it is because I fall solidly in the void between two named generations and I'm feeling left out and cantankerous. Maybe it's because I have not yet had my second cup of morning tea.

But, is there something inherently evil in punctuation that I am not aware?

I'm not perfect. I make mistakes. I'm sure this message contains mistakes that I will miss and I will attempt to correct them before I press Submit. But in order to write an entire message with nary a mark of punctuation and random use of capital letters - that is deliberate, not a mistake. I started to throw correct grammar into the rant but that may be crossing the line into curmudgeonly. Asking for complete sentences may have me taken away in a straight jacket.

I get that not everyone has a command over their language - whatever language that may be. I get that not everyone has English as a first language and that is usually easy to spot and understandable. I don't agree that computers and text speak have changed things that much. It's almost as if some people just don't care about communicating effectively and the impression that good communication gives.

In these times of economic uncertainty, why be frugal with one thing that is free and abundant? Punctuation does not cost anything. Here, I'll even give out some periods...................... Wait, I'll throw in some commas. ,,,,,,,,, Enjoy with wild abandon!

I'm obviously a kindred spirit. My own pet peeve? The incorrect usage of the verb advise and the noun advice. I don't know why, but it really bugs me.

smackdaddy · #4 (**permalink**) 11-15-2011

oh harden up ya grammar nancies we're sailors we're supposed to suck at this kind of thing

emoney · #5 (**permalink**) 11-15-2011

Had you been offering semi-colons, then I would've been "all in".

PBzeer · #6 (**permalink**) 11-15-2011

To me, it's that it makes it easy to misunderstand someone, in the absence of vocal communication, if they don't punctuate and use words correctly. Though there are some who will nitpick, as a means of avoidance.

rbrasi · #7 (**permalink**) 11-15-2011

I'm with you, DR. It does drive me a bit crazy, but I know better than to let it get to me. I see it everywhere, from business flyers to storefront signs and even, ironically, guidelines handed to my kids from their teachers. The biggest culprit? Misuse of apostrophe's. See that? I just did it. I'm 44 and always thought I was generation X, by the way.

DRFerron · #8 (**permalink**) 11-15-2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by smackdaddy

oh harden up ya grammar nancies we're sailors we're supposed to suck at this kind of thing

Smackdaddy, you are in a category (and world) of your own. You get a pass.

However, I think Joseph Conrad and Herman Melville and Mark Twain - just because his books are awesome - (and a host of others) would disagree.

Not that I think for a moment that everyone needs to write like them. I think what frustrates me most are the young people who are still in school and who, now more than ever before, will really need to communicate well to place themselves in a better position to compete for jobs once they graduate.

T37Chef · #9 (**permalink**) 11-15-2011

HaS "Cruisingdad" bEEn pOsTingG in OT agaainN!#?

Moderatoprs, geezx

smackdaddy · #10 (**permalink**) 11-15-2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by DRFerron

I think Joseph Conrad and Herman Melville and Mark Twain - just because his books are awesome - (and a host of others) would disagree.

Holy crap! Are you kidding? Reading Melville is like swimming through mud - sure, carefully-crafted, properly-punctuated mud...but mud nonetheless.

That dude needed to get out more.

I'll give you Conrad and Twain though.