Sentynel wrote:"Y'all" is just short for "you all". It's no less grammatically correct than using, say, "isn't" as a contraction of "is not".

I think grammar hardly matters these days. Everyone uses the sms language-I use 'u'll' as 'you all' whenever I sms because 'y'all' is a bigger word. And all this stuff is corrupting my language. But I don't think it really matters nowadays as far as you get your message across.

I disagree entirely (to the extent I almost always type words in my SMSes out in full). Proper grammar remains very important - if you can't use it you look uneducated (especially in the eyes of, say, potential employers) and it often leads to confusion about meanings if misused.

The problem with SMS slanguage (note the "s") is that some people accept it and some don't, while some adapt it in a different way that you do. It's very ambiguous, and it's safer just to use normal language and proper grammar whenever you can.

That said, the English language is already so mangled, why not mangle it even farther?

Sentynel wrote:I disagree entirely (to the extent I almost always type words in my SMSes out in full). Proper grammar remains very important - if you can't use it you look uneducated (especially in the eyes of, say, potential employers) and it often leads to confusion about meanings if misused.

Since when is a nice collectivist like you worried about impressing so called 'employers?' :P

wrote:That said, the English language is already so mangled, why not mangle it even farther?

Or we can do what Shakespeare did, and just make them up as we go along. :D

Reading Macbeth (If you don't know the author you ought to be executed.)

I read Midsummer's and Hamlet some time ago. Romeo and Juliet is so overrated. I'm thinking of starting on Comedy of Errors but I went to Bartiforums instead.

Honorius wrote:Romeo and Juliet is so overrated

That's getting sigged xD

Oh yeah. I'm gaining a rep.

Honorius wrote:Oh yeah. I'm gaining a rep.

Yeah, and it's mostly bad. With a few good moments like above.

So it's like plum pudding, except the pudding is spoiled but the plums are freshly picked and plump.

*Vague Subatomic Particle Reference*

Quite.

Quite vague.
As for the SMS thing- if I've got a QWERTY keyboard, I type it out in full unless I'm in a hurry.
A friend I speak to, when on IM, we both use proper grammar and such, while with others I don't give a damn.
With SMS 'slanguage' I don't have the problem of being misunderstood or not being able to get something, it's easy to figure out.
Everyone I know uses the same things.
And lol is lol world over.
Shweet.
And sad.

Mwamba wrote:Since when is a nice collectivist like you worried about impressing so called 'employers?' :P

Alas, the world is not collectivist. =p

Dansariki wrote:Quite vague.

The "plum pudding" model was an early attempt at a model of the atom, before Rutherford's scattering experiment showed its true structure.

Sentynel wrote:I disagree entirely (to the extent I almost always type words in my SMSes out in full). Proper grammar remains very important - if you can't use it you look uneducated (especially in the eyes of, say, potential employers) and it often leads to confusion about meanings if misused.

You type the full word while smsing :o. Not a single word I type is in full. Unless it is a 1, 2 or 3 letter word.
I agree, grammar obviously matters if you are looking for a job or giving interviews, writing exam papers etc. But I wasn't talking about that. I was talking about the day-to-day conversation we have with our friends & acquaintances. Who bothers about grammar then?

At least one person got the vague atomic joke. That's good.

N & B, that last sentence you have there is just begging to be answered. With my strong willpower, I will not answer it and let someone else take the reins.

Honorius wrote:At least one person got the vague atomic joke. That's good.

I got it (I'm a nerd =P)

>2 out of 200. I'll take it.

nathanielandbartimaeus wrote:You type the full word while smsing :o. Not a single word I type is in full. Unless it is a 1, 2 or 3 letter word.
I agree, grammar obviously matters if you are looking for a job or giving interviews, writing exam papers etc. But I wasn't talking about that. I was talking about the day-to-day conversation we have with our friends & acquaintances. Who bothers about grammar then?

I do. With predictive text, typing the full words out is quicker than using the abbreviations.
I disagree that grammar isn't important in day-to-day conversation - and it's not like it's any harder to use proper grammar than not. Furthermore, if you don't apply it regularly, the times you actually need to employ it you have to think about it and likely make mistakes. If you use it all the time it's second nature.

Honorius wrote:At least one person got the vague atomic joke. That's good.

Well I am a university physics student.. I'd have problems if I didn't get it. =p

Meh. Plum pudding is chemistry, not physics, but I see your point.

Hahaha! Point! Get it?

Neither do I.

"The point is, is that there is no point because points are sharp, and they hurt - especially when they hit you in the eye."