Ignorance is the new flat black there is a generation of people that idolize stupidity. Just look at popular music (rap, pop, most shit). There is nary a word a correctly spelled word in the titles now a days. People think your cool cause someone was shot or in jail. This post is a lost cause, times are changing for the worst. Slang and such are common place. Before I got a computer I barley ever wrote anything and was surprised how much I couldn't remember how to spell. Spell check was my savior we need one on the HAMB. Excuse all my poor punctuation and spelling although I'm doing my best. Hell I misspelled my screen name I'm pretty sure its spelled sled but I noticed after I joined oh well I dont sweat it. I was an A B student too, but that was quite a few years ago. I guess I'm just a stupid gear head now.
i agree, but it's kinda funny that the name of this forum is the hokey ass message board. ass is not an adjective so that's incorrect english as well. so unless i'm mistaken, since ass is a noun, then it can't be a conjunction, or adverb to link either Hokey, or message.
Well done Jay I don't envy the flames you may receive for trying to be helpful in this way. Although I think you approached the subject in a well thought out manner, which should help keep the desenters at bay. I had to ad this picture to the post, it's an On Topic Joke, not photoshoped either. What's all this "Websters" stuff, with not one mention of the O.E.D. or that good old line "Look it up in your Funk and Wagnalls" mike
Back when I was in SCHOOL, we lumped THREE cars into the "Deuce" heading... 32 Fords Chevy IIs Mustang IIs (What can I say...we were pretty open minded, cool cars were cool cars! )
Thank you C9! That's something that has bothered me for a long time on most of the websites I visit. It's a shame that our language is taking a back seat to "being cool" and speed typing. It sometimes takes me forever to type a message because I go back every once in a while to correct a spelling mistake, a grammatical mistake, or too add punctuation. Thanks again for the post - it means a lot to me.... Jay
My "pet pieve" (sp?) then and than. "Rather than", NOT "rather then". But, what do I know, me being a M or S student. (E= excellent, S= satisfactory, M= medium, I= inferior, and F= failure.) This was all before A's and all the rest. bftwcs, your post was 100% on the spot. Good post, Tommy Mc
Great work (as always) C9. Even better reply Buick59. I'm the same as a lot of the people on here who just skip over single paragraph posts. They're (not their) just too (not to) hard to read and being that my concentration span can be a tad short at times, I just give up. On occassion I've tried to help people out also, but usually it's not appreciated, so I just let them make fools of themselves and snigger quietly in the knowledge that they can't spell for shit. The funny thing is, even so called "professionals" struggle at times. I do a fair bit of freelance stuff for a couple of magazines and I quite often hear the Sub-Editor groaning in agony as he tries to make sense out of what some "journalist" has written. You'd think if you were getting PAID to write shit, you'd at least get it right!!! BTW, I too was very good at spelling but hated English. Now I get paid to write. SUCKERS!!!
I think you all have put good points across. I know I try hard but a limited amount of school ( 8th. grade) trips me up frequently. I stayed home several days this week with the flu and watched way to much TV. I have no clue as to where a lot of these young folks are learning this stuff. Springer has young women yelling " He my baby daddy" . I also keep on my grandson when he says things like ,"24-7 "or "good to go" I mean after all ,before a month ago I'd never heard of a Tusami.
While we're at it, one of my pet peeves is the non-word SCULPTURING. (and yes it's in the Dictionary, but shouldn't be,) A sculptor sculpts a sculpture. His act is one of SCULPTING, not sculpturing. To say a sculptor is sculpturing is as awkward as saying a surgeon is surgerying, or an architect is architecting. Adding an "ing" to just any word to change it from the item to the activity of making that item, is often just plain silly, and there are other mo-betta words to use. That's why that Webster's is 4" thick!
I can't believe I just saw a link to 'Elements of Style' on the HAMB. The only thing I can think of is Barbara Billingsly's scene in 'Airplane' ('I speak jive'). Traditionally, kids and subcultures kept coming up with slang as a way to distance themselves from mainstream society. Looks like it works.
Bravo, C9! I just wish people would use the "Preview Post" button to look at what they wrote. If it doesn't look right, it PROBABLY isn't. (Sorry. hate that prolly shit ) If you really want to screw somebody up, ask them to diagram a sentence, that will really date you. -MIKE
Wow, I have never come across anyone calling a Mustang II a deuce...blah. It drives me nuts to this day to run across someone who says they have a deuce and to then look out into the parking lot and see a Nova (and I like later Nova's alot).
I was flabbergasted the first time I heard "Merc" used to describe a Mercedes...! That's just plain WRONG
Amen! I can still diagram sentences, but I just turned 52. This discussion of spelling and grammar reminds me of the old story: The fifth grade teacher visits her pupil's home. Young Billy opens the door. "Billy, where are your parents?" "They was in, but they ain't now." "They WAS in? They AIN'T now? Billy, where is your grammar? "She's in the kitchen, bakin' cookies!" Dave (who tried to indent the quoted lines in the Billy story, but was defeated by the posting software)
Dear Sirs; I am with the understanding, that, there is a bill making it's way through the Arizona legislature, at this time, which would bring about the loss of the freedom to cruise. Aside from the blatant threat to individual rights, this bill exhibits overtones of censorship and a desire to quell artistic expression for the appeasement of few. Regards, JOE
My biggest pet peive(?). Knowing how to use TO,TWO and TOO. something I find so simple and gets mangled more often than not.It sometomes ruins really good info and posts for me.
Might be wrong to you, but in MOST of the world, Mercury is a metal, not an expensive Ford. Interestingly (to me, I'm weird), on the eBay UK site, specifically the eBay motors section, there are no specific sections for: Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Mercury, Lincoln, Acura, Infiniti, or Lexus, all cars that, in the USA, we all have grown up with and know fondly. However, none of these makes are sold in any quantity in any other market in the world; little enough so that eBay.uk do not feel it necessary to include them in the headers. Not so similarly, on the eBay USA site, all these AND many others, including makes that have not been imported to this country for over three decades have their own sections. So. This likely makes the USA a car-crazy culture (it is, or at least WE are), able to appreciate many different automobiles, from the "Standard of the World" that was Cadillac, to the Ford Model T, to the lunacy of my Citroën 2CV. Point?? None, other than, now, when I refer to my 300D as a "Merc", I will inwardly grin knowing that I have tweaked you just a little. Cosmo
Now come on Doc; you KNOW that the correct pronunciation is,"Mur-Say-Dees Bnnnzzz". I remember attending an M-B parts and service club meeting when I was a neophyte parts manager and getting called to task for referring to it as a,"Mercedes" by one of the people from the,"Home Office". They take that VERY seriously!
The HAMB is my first exposure to the cyberworld. The writing here shocked me at first, then I found myself copying some of the "cyberslang" I found on the board, in an effort to "fit in" - typical male insecurity issues, I guess... My grammar has always been pretty freeform, but I always at least make an effort to use enough sentence structure to make it comprehensible to the reader (I hope). Thanks C9, for letting me know I'm not the only one on here who cares about such things. And those who don't care - well, they stopped reading this thread a few pages ago, and that's fine...We all contribute in our own ways - some contributions are just easier to read than others...............................
Actually, I am impressed with the overall quality of most the writing on this and other automotive oriented boards. I am certainly not the best of spellers, in fact I am actually pretty bad at it. And my sentence structure leaves a lot to be desired. So I am really not in a position to be an authoritative critic. But I did spend most of my productive life in an environment where the product; decisions, analysis, and guidance, was expressed in writing. Over the years I worked with and supervised a number of bright, well educated, aspiring, and rarely successful colleagues who were simply unable to write anything anyone else would understand. C9 is certainly correct. There are many on the HAMB, myself included, who need to improve their writting skills. The reality is that those who need to work the hardest at this do not have a clue. To prove my point, go back and look at the posts in this thread. All are well written and easy to understand. Jay, you are, unfortunately, preaching to the choir.
I'm "sorta" stuck in the middle. It can take me 15 mins. to compose a reply. I wish I had a nickle for everytime I rewrote a sentence to eliminate a word I was't sure of the spelling. I keep a dictionary here at home. I like to use phonetic spelling lots of times. I don't want to "come off" as a snob. Many of us have our tongues firmly planted in our cheeks and hope that the humor comes through the written word. (2 T's in written? I'll gamble) I agree with everthing you say up to a point. I just hope that we don't scare off valuable contributors because they may be embarassed by their poor spelling and grammatical skills. Some of the best mechanics I've known were semi-illiterate. They'll never be on the HAMB "'cause" they can't read the posts. Thanks to you and your constuctive criticizm, I believe I'm doing a better job of communicating. I know that is your intent. But for the rest of us dumb asses don't panic if you mess up on some spelling. Noone is talking down to you or lecturing you. PS I always capitalize (is it an A or an O?) Deuce. I concider it a proper noun.
My point exactly... There are also a shitload of car guys out there that know next to nothing about computers, and are probably doing good just to Read the HAMB, much less actually post on it. Look at how many HAMB members still can't figure out how to do something as simple as posting Pictures.
You got it right, it's an A... BUT... Consider is spelt with an S. Here endeth the lesson. But you're right. Deuce should be capitalised (down here it's an S not a Zee ), it's most definitely a proper noun.
Bravo C9! I rarely read a paragraph in a post that shows as more than three or four lines of text. If its a reply from someone I recognize and respect I might fight through it, but otherwise I just don't bother. Line breaks are one of my biggest peeves when reading forum material. The other is incomplete sentences. Both my son and one of my work associates both seem to think a phrase communicates. I want to see a complete sentence with a subject and a verb and words I can identify as objects. Responsibility for clear written communication begins with the writer. Quality writing enhances understanding. Enhanced understanding leads to better and more complete responses. Everyone wins.
The Jalopy Journal
