Destruction of the english language on the internet.

[thompson_321]

I have had enough of smilies, LOL, ppl, and anything else like that. Nearly everyone is using this crap on the internet, and I'm getting cheesed off with it. The problem is that all kinds of people have to use the internet now. It's almost compulsory for musicians. Before the internet you could stay away from stupidity and dumbness, but now you can't, and that's a BIG problem. I'm not apologising if this offends anyone either. If you are offended, that's too bad. But I have never and WILL never use smilies or any letters to shorten words, because that's not my personality, because I'm a serious classical musician.

[Bob]

Wait for it.....  Wait for it....

[ongaku_oniko]

getting cheesed off... I never heard that phrase before. Sounds funny.

You don't capitalize random words in the English language either. Before you pretend to be all intelligent, perhaps you should learn how to write properly yourself first. Oh, and stop posting the same question about scholarships again and again.

[perfect_pitch]

Although I'm with thompson about the english language being degraded by acronyms, slang and generally shortened words (rly, srsly etc...), not to mention how numbers started appearing in some students english essays (I have had kids write b4, some1 etc... in essays)

I personally don't mind the smilies. You're forgetting that the smilies came about years before text speech came along. I remember getting a print out making smilies on your keyboard in about 1994/1995 which was long before mobile phones really had messaging functions.

[ongaku_oniko]

I think some carnegie mellon prof invented the smiley sometime in the 1980s.

[a_serious_classical_musician]

spam

[thebuchertrain]

I have had enough of smilies, LOL, ppl, and anything else like that. Nearly everyone is using this crap on the internet, and I'm getting cheesed off with it. The problem is that all kinds of people have to use the internet now. It's almost compulsory for musicians. Before the internet you could stay away from stupidity and dumbness, but now you can't, and that's a BIG problem. I'm not apologising if this offends anyone either. If you are offended, that's too bad. But I have never and WILL never use smilies or any letters to shorten words, because that's not my personality, because I'm a serious classical musician.

Lol @ noob ^^ 

[djealnla]

I have had enough of smilies, LOL, ppl, and anything else like that. Nearly everyone is using this crap on the internet, and I'm getting cheesed off with it. The problem is that all kinds of people have to use the internet now. It's almost compulsory for musicians. Before the internet you could stay away from stupidity and dumbness, but now you can't, and that's a BIG problem. I'm not apologising if this offends anyone either. If you are offended, that's too bad. But I have never and WILL never use smilies or any letters to shorten words, because that's not my personality, because I'm a serious classical musician.

I have no idea how serious you're about music, but your claim that a serious attitude toward music is linked to not using unofficial abbreviations or smilies tells me enough about your intelligence and the worthwhileness of talking with you.

Enjoy your laughable "superiority".

[djealnla]

I have had enough of smilies, LOL, ppl, and anything else like that. Nearly everyone is using this crap on the internet, and I'm getting cheesed off with it. The problem is that all kinds of people have to use the internet now. It's almost compulsory for musicians. Before the internet you could stay away from stupidity and dumbness, but now you can't, and that's a BIG problem. I'm not apologising if this offends anyone either. If you are offended, that's too bad. But I have never and WILL never use smilies or any letters to shorten words, because that's not my personality, because I'm a serious classical musician.

I also find it pretty laughable that YOU tell US that a certain language is being destroyed because of the Internet, when you don't even capitalize its first letter - i.e., you write "english" instead of "English".

[thinkgreenlovepiano]

I have had enough of smilies, LOL, ppl, and anything else like that. Nearly everyone is using this crap on the internet, and I'm getting cheesed off with it. The problem is that all kinds of people have to use the internet now. It's almost compulsory for musicians. Before the internet you could stay away from stupidity and dumbness, but now you can't, and that's a BIG problem. I'm not apologising if this offends anyone either. If you are offended, that's too bad. But I have never and WILL never use smilies or any letters to shorten words, because that's not my personality, because I'm a serious classical musician.

Ok, that's fine. I'm not offended. It's much easier to read typed out text than to read w0rdz th@t r typ3d l1ke th1$ l0l. 

 But I hope you won't be offended by my smileys either. It's my way of making my posts on the Internet seem friendlier. I love smileys.
You know, I use shortened words way more at school than I do on Internet forums or even MSN (or should I say Windows Live Messenger? ). It makes note taking a lot faster. Of course I know better than to hand in an essay filled with Internet slang and abbreviations.  It's all about register and tone.

[thalbergmad]

Although I'm with thompson about the english language being degraded by acronyms, slang and generally shortened words (rly, srsly etc...), 

This was happening well before the arrival of the internet although the internet has seen a massive increase.

Have a look at some of the correspondence between Elgar & Jaeger.

Thal

[countrymath]

Oh, rly?

XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

^________________^

[pianisten1989]

Oh, rly?

XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

^________________^

I lol'd!

T-dog, you need to chillax bro'!

[pianowolfi]

Ey sup? Ah I c!!   Oh my another fanatic. LOL^z  

[thompson_321]

I also find it pretty laughable that YOU tell US that a certain language is being destroyed because of the Internet, when you don't even capitalize its first letter - i.e., you write "english" instead of "English".

Well you are right about that, although that was a spelling error, and you are deviating from the subject. But I am not afraid to speak my mind.

[thompson_321]

Although I'm with thompson about the english language being degraded by acronyms, slang and generally shortened words (rly, srsly etc...), not to mention how numbers started appearing in some students english essays (I have had kids write b4, some1 etc... in essays)

I personally don't mind the smilies. You're forgetting that the smilies came about years before text speech came along. I remember getting a print out making smilies on your keyboard in about 1994/1995 which was long before mobile phones really had messaging functions.

You are the only person on here who agrees with me.

[thompson_321]

getting cheesed off... I never heard that phrase before. Sounds funny.

You don't capitalize random words in the English language either. Before you pretend to be all intelligent, perhaps you should learn how to write properly yourself first. Oh, and stop posting the same question about scholarships again and again.

Stop being so offended. Why are you so bothered about anything I type anyway? You don't know me. What difference does it make? If you don't like what I type, just ignore it.

[ongaku_oniko]

Stop being so offended. Why are you so bothered about anything I type anyway? You don't know me. What difference does it make? If you don't like what I type, just ignore it.

I think you're the one who is offended... I'm not bored by what you're typing, I just find it hilarious that a person who's IQ is as high as a dogs' would go about lecturing others.

[thompson_321]

I also find it pretty laughable that YOU tell US that a certain language is being destroyed because of the Internet, when you don't even capitalize its first letter - i.e., you write "english" instead of "English".

You shouldn't be critisising me about one letter, which was just a mistake which I admit to, when you consider smilies and all the other crap people use in their sentences on the internet.

[thompson_321]

I think you're the one who is offended... I'm not bored by what you're typing, I just find it hilarious that a person who's IQ is as high as a dogs' would go about lecturing others.

My IQ is very high thank you very much. I fail to see how my IQ is any lower than someone who continuously uses terms like LOL, LMAO, ppl, or smilies. Don't you care about the English language?

[countrymath]

I lol'd!

T-dog, you need to chillax bro'!

Fuc yeah, u'r right, IMO.

[ongaku_oniko]

My IQ is higher than anyone who uses smilies and shortened wording.

That is your own claim, and an obviously false one, seeing as famous University professors use smileys. As I've said before, it was invented by a Carnegie Mellon professor. Surely he is smarter than you.

You shouldn't be critisising me about one letter, which was just a mistake which I admit to, when you consider smilies and all the other crap people use in their sentences on the internet.

That's not just off by one letter...

And your grammar is horrible. Even someone with no grammatical education like me knows this. Correct your own sentences before correcting others.

[thompson_321]

That is your own claim, and an obviously false one, seeing as famous University professors use smileys. As I've said before, it was invented by a Carnegie Mellon professor. Surely he is smarter than you.That's not just off by one letter...

And your grammar is horrible. Even someone with no grammatical education like me knows this. Correct your own sentences before correcting others.

Well, if we can just get back to the subject, I was talking about the destruction of the English language with shortened wording and smilies. I was not talking about grammer. And I was not correcting others, I was merely bringing up the subject, and stating that I am tired of it. If professors are using this language, I am sorry, but I would not want to be associated with these people. Even if they were the finest minds in the world.

[ongaku_oniko]

Well, if we can just get back to the subject, I was talking about the destruction of the English language with shortened wording and smilies. I was not talking about grammer. And I was not correcting others, I was merely bringing up the subject, and stating that I am tired of it. If professors are using this language, I am sorry, but I would not want to be associated with these people. Even if they were the finest minds in the world.

Let me try to talk to you with reason one last time.

1. Don't be so arrogant. The world does not revolve around you. As is clearly obvious in this thread, the number of supporters you have is overwhelmingly small. Just because you talked about something doesn't mean others can't talk about other things. What you're essentially asking is that people only post if they agree with you. That won't happen. No one really cares if you're tired of it or not.

2. While I agree, abbreviations can be bad, it depends on the situation. What's wrong with using some abbreviations in normal chatting with friends online? It's understandable. However, bad spelling and grammar sometimes isn't. I find poor grammar to be worse than a few abbreviations.

3. Food for thought: Where do words come from? Are they not invented by people? How are words added to the dictionary? Is it not because they are used by people? What really is a word, and what isn't? Think about that. I wouldn't be surprised if decades from now, "ppl", "lol", "omg", etc would be added to the dictionary. Would you be okay with it then? Are you pissed off at people using it because it's not in the dictionary? I find that hilariously robotic.

4. It's "grammar", not "grammer". Let me ask you this: Given a choice of associating with you, and the Carnegie Mellon professor, who do you think people will choose? People other than your mom, that is.

[pianisten1989]

And your grammar is horrible. Even someone with no grammatical education like me knows this. Correct your own sentences before correcting others.

Can I get an Amen!
Oh, sorry:
Dubble-O, ma bro! Tha' was some crazy ass pregnant dog pwning! I was like OMG No he din't!:P ;P :O :C ;I:/:D:D:D

[thompson_321]

Let me try to talk to you with reason one last time.

Ok. You are right, I have no command of language. But I am never EVER going to use these terms people use nowadays. To me it's like graffiti over a beautifully crafted piece of art work. And I am not apologising for thinking this, and not apologising for bringing this subject up. Just take a look at the comment above this one and maybe, just MAYBE you will see why I am getting so cheesed off. Good day.

[chopinspride]

I amm afraid I cannot endure the reading of this colossal, stupendous topic. It is full of utter absurdity and is often deride of meaning. Indeed, we must vigilant in this modern era. The english language is in a maelstorm-like state of anarchy after the invention of the mobile-telephone and the vocabulary those who use it employ. However, we do not need to make an exhibition of ourselves in this municiple amphitheatre. Let us discuss music instead.


 

[perfect_pitch]

Another sad mark against the destruction of the english language...

https://www.news.com.au/world/scrabble-goes-street-as-slang-terms-like-innit-added-to-dictionary/comments-e6frfkz9-1226052509680

[mike_lang]

I amm afraid I cannot endure the reading of this colossal, stupendous topic. It is full of utter absurdity and is often deride of meaning. Indeed, we must vigilant in this modern era. The english language is in a maelstorm-like state of anarchy after the invention of the mobile-telephone and the vocabulary those who use it employ. However, we do not need to make an exhibition of ourselves in this municiple amphitheatre. Let us discuss music instead.


 

Overlooking the typographical error in your first sentence, surely you mean to use the word "devoid," rather than "deride" in the second sentence; include a verb such as "be" or "remain" between "must" and "vigilant" in the second, and use the correct spelling, "municipal," in your penultimate sentence.

Love,
The Ever Vigilant One

[mike_lang]

I have had enough of smilies, LOL, ppl, and anything else like that. Nearly everyone is using this crap on the internet, and I'm getting cheesed off with it. The problem is that all kinds of people have to use the internet now. It's almost compulsory for musicians. Before the internet you could stay away from stupidity and dumbness, but now you can't, and that's a BIG problem. I'm not apologising if this offends anyone either. If you are offended, that's too bad. But I have never and WILL never use smilies or any letters to shorten words, because that's not my personality, because I'm a serious classical musician.

I think all we can do is laugh at it, and take it as part and parcel of the internet age.  That said, it doesn't mean that we have to take part in it!

I think the best antidote is to make sure that we are still doing real reading and writing, with an emphasis on the latter - or the letter ;-)  It is fairly common to send texts, facebook messages, and otherwise brief notes, but I think if we make sure to take the time also to do real writing (not just novels or scholarly essays, but carefully composed posts (!), thank-you notes, full-length emails or letters to our loved ones, and so forth), we can help to keep the integrity of our language.

That said, I don't think that our country (well, mine - US) has traditionally been as concerned with said linguistic integrity, as other peoples, such as the English or the French.  Our current modes of communication seem to be symptomatic of our unabashedly practical approach to the language.

And THAT said, an unabashedly practical approach to the language is completely inappropriate for many occasions, such as . . . a job interview.  Reading, writing, speaking . . . that forgotten holy triptych . . . OK, that last bit was a little melodramatic, but I certainly agree with the original poster that we have a problem!

Mike

[caseyelston]

LMFAO! with so many things in this world to be mad at you chose this! I did not know that being a "serious classical musician" meant you cant use acronyms. is there a list of the ones you can use? can you put "USA" for United States of America? How about "don't" instead of "do not"? People have been shorting words from the beginning of the English language The only thing you have proven with this post is you are rude and close minded. If every musician became as close minded as you we would all be "classical musician" because we would never have our own ideas! We would all fear something new and just keep playing the classics. 

[perfect_pitch]

No... You forget the difference... USA stands for 4 words ---> United States of America. There's nothing wrong with that acronym. Don't is an abbreviation for 2 words ---> Do not... People have been shortening MULTIPLE words with shortened versions.

When you start shortening single words - then it becomes pathetic.

And considering this thread is under 'anything but piano'... I think we can moan all about it if we want. I'm a teacher and I've marked secondary school assignments which are ATROCIOUS with spelling. It's kind of like the music industry today and what it's doing to the quality of music we hear today.

Most of the prominent singers, don't write their own songs (because the record companies write them), can't sing in tune (thanks to the complete dependence on auto-tune) and even then, most of them can't sing (because they lip-synch).

So yes - I am with thompson on this and I think it's bloody awful that the English language is becoming a big pile of watered down spew and that people can't even be bothered to spell simple words such as 'rly' 'some1' 'h8' etc... SERIOUSLY!!! We are watching the end of the English language, and I feel sick.

[ongaku_oniko]

So yes - I am with thompson on this and I think it's bloody awful that the English language is becoming a big pile of watered down spew and that people can't even be bothered to spell simple words such as 'rly' 'some1' 'h8' etc... SERIOUSLY!!! We are watching the end of the English language, and I feel sick.

Social darvinism. Those who aren't intelligent enough to use real language in formal settings won't find a job (at least not a good one) anyway, and they deserve to be weeded out.

There are many things wrong with this society, and while may 21th might seem like a joke, I don't doubt that we are on the verge of destroying humanity as we know it.

[caseyelston]

LOL is an acronym just like United States of America.

[mike_lang]

Those who aren't intelligent enough to use real language in formal settings won't find a job (at least not a good one) anyway, and they deserve to be weeded out.

I agree that job applicants are becoming less and less articulate, but I don't think it has to do with their basic intelligence.  It is more from disuse: we just don't write enough anymore!  Who composes a letter?  Who keeps a journal?  Who writes an essay on a topic in which they are interested (not a blog post, which seems to have its own language standards)?

Facebook messaging, IMs, texts and tweets are not something that will go away in the foreseeable future, because they are just so damned practical (except perhaps tweets -- I've never gotten into that).  What we need to do is to promote is a culture of reading and writing, and begins at the earliest age, and must be followed through on during middle school and high school.  I think the onus here is on the education system.

Unfortunately, the casualness which is the American way seems to be reaching inappropriately into formal areas.  I need only point out that many offices no longer have a "casual Friday," since that is the standard dress code every day.  I remember seeing a very funny Curb your Enthusiasm bit on that . . .

In any case, let's not waste our time attacking the intelligence of our Earth-mates, but instead decide what the roots of the problem are.  Some things we can do something about, and others not; we need to decide which is which, and then put our money where our mouths are!

Mike

[ongaku_oniko]

I agree that job applicants are becoming less and less articulate, but I don't think it has to do with their basic intelligence.  It is more from disuse: we just don't write enough anymore!  Who composes a letter?  Who keeps a journal?  Who writes an essay on a topic in which they are interested (not a blog post, which seems to have its own language standards)?

Facebook messaging, IMs, texts and tweets are not something that will go away in the foreseeable future, because they are just so damned practical (except perhaps tweets -- I've never gotten into that).  What we need to do is to promote is a culture of reading and writing, and begins at the earliest age, and must be followed through on during middle school and high school.  I think the onus here is on the education system.

Unfortunately, the casualness which is the American way seems to be reaching inappropriately into formal areas.  I need only point out that many offices no longer have a "casual Friday," since that is the standard dress code every day.  I remember seeing a very funny Curb your Enthusiasm bit on that . . .

In any case, let's not waste our time attacking the intelligence of our Earth-mates, but instead decide what the roots of the problem are.  Some things we can do something about, and others not; we need to decide which is which, and then put our money where our mouths are!

Mike

While I respect what you say, I must say I disagree.

I have criticised the education system of north america more than enough, even in my posts here on pianostreet. I totally agree that the education system is extremely inefficient, to put it nicely. But still, every year we have IMO (international math olympiad) medalists, people like Arnav Tripathy, Alex Zhou, Evan O'Dorney, etc. Would these people ever write informally in a formal setting? I don't think so.

It's more than obvious that one should not use abbreviations such as "lol" or "sup" on a resume, or even a school essay. Those who cannot recognize even a basic concept such as this are the people who are a standard deviation below the average, or people who just don't care (I argue that they are not intelligent enough to care).

Who writes essays or journals? A lot of people do. Perhaps it is because I live in a community with overachievers (in the biggest annual high school math contest, our school had 4 of the 5 perfect scorers in the grade 10 category out of the whole country), but I know many people who work to improve their language skills, their math skills, everything they need to be successful later on in life.

No one can change you but you yourself. As much as the education should improve, the blame should not be put on the education system but on the individual.

[perfect_pitch]

LOL is an acronym just like United States of America.

Yeah... but the phrase 'United States of America' is 9 syllables long... it can be easier to say it as USA.

Take for instance... Deoxyribonucleic acid. There is an acronym for that... but for goodness sake, it's 10 syllables long. To shorten it down to 3 is understandable.

However 'Laugh out loud' is 3 bloody syllables - are people that lazy that they can't say three syllables instead of three bloody letters???

[ongaku_oniko]

I would like to note that in terms of education, I think improving it would require putting LESS money into it, and not allowing teachers to form unions.

As it is, take BC for example. In my short 5 years of secondary school, the teachers went on strike once, and almost a second time.

The teachers earn a comfortable living, much higher than the average wage in Canada. Yet what about the students' achievements? 20 years back, Calculus was part of the grade 10 math corriculum. Now it's for good students who finished math 12 early. And the corriculum gets watered down every year. In fact, recently (5 years ago for grade 8, 4 for grade 9, so that our year does not get changed, but the year after ours use the new corriculum for the first time), they started implimenting a change in all the courses. Needless to say, the courses got significantly easier, and the textbooks are a lot more picture based.

Does this really help the students? No. They put so much money in making new textbooks, but the result is students do not learn as much as before. They stopped making provincial exams mandatory. Now, students can just make a teacher happy and get an "A" and get into a University without knowing anything. I've always been baffled by how students who get straight As in grade 12 can't solve something like "find the probability of two people having the same date for their birthday in a room with 50 people".

Every year the corriculum is watered down, every year the graduation rate decreases. Yet the teachers keep asking for more and more money. What have they done to deserve more money? Nothing. Teachers in China earn much less than teachers here, yet students in China learn a lot more. People rebuttal by saying that the Chinese are not "creative", and that teachers teach creativity here. But how really do you measure creativity? How do you teach it? I must admit, students are quite creative, coming up with things like "pwn", "lolcat", "roflcopter". But I don't think knowledge and creativity is mutually exclusive.

But one thing I am sure of, is that funding and teaching quality are not necessarily positively correlated.

[mike_lang]

No one can change you but you yourself. As much as the education should improve, the blame should not be put on the education system but on the individual.

I could not agree more with you that we are all responsible for ourselves.  Let me say that perhaps I put undue emphasis or blame on the education system: what I mean to say is that it is a sector in which we can make adjustments in order to retain our beautiful language; whereas, we cannot get rid of facebook, twitter, cell phones, and so forth -- I think that ship has sailed.

It's great that your school achieves so highly, and that your classmates are so engaged in life that they are inspired to write beyond the . . . err . . . national average.

I think the best solution to the "Destruction of the english language on the internet" was formulated by St. Francis of Assisi: "Preach the Gospel.  And if necessary, use words."  Or Ghandi . . . I think you know where I'm going with that one.

Cheers,
Mike

[pianisten1989]

OMG NO!!! THE LANGUAGE IS DEVELOPING! NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

[mike_lang]

OMG NO!!! THE LANGUAGE IS DEVELOPING! NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I suppose it is becoming more economical . . .

[perfect_pitch]

OMG NO!!! THE LANGUAGE IS DEVELOPING! NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

Developing my arsehole... It's becoming something that resembles the ooze that's secreted out of a cows backside...

Economical... RUBBISH! It's becoming watered down to resemble badly made cordial.

[mike_lang]

Economical... RUBBISH! It's becoming watered down to resemble badly made cordial.

wuz tryin to see da bright side . . . ROFLCOPTER

[nanabush]

I love internet insults!  I'd love to see a conversation like this one in person!!  Half of the people on this thread are just enjoying themselves, and the other half have a thesaurus next to them.

[richard black]

I agree that English is suffering more than most languages, simply because it is unusually widely used in www-space. But funny abbreviations and emoticons don't bother me: what I find annoying or depressing (depending on the mood I'm in) is the kind of mistake that shows people have no idea how words work and what they mean. Bad punctuation is the most obvious example of this - mixing up your and you're, for instance, and inserting random apostrophes in words that don't need them. And things like the mistake made a few times in this thread, confusing the word 'acronym' with 'abbreviation'. USA isn't an acronym.

[lelle]

your just jelaous there better in english then you

[floydcramerfan]

Okay, I see the point about the over use of abbreviations on the internet, but I don't see what's the big deal about smilies.  I don't use them because it's just not the way I write, but I will use the occasional lol or something like that to be funny.  However, I do think that there is a time and a place for everything and you should know the appropriate time to use them if you do.  I am a braille reader, and we use a lot of what are called contractions, which are abbreviations.  For example, we would write receive as rcv.  We do this because braille takes up so much space because the dots are bigger than print letters.  A braille Bible is 18 huge volumes and that's just the text with no commentary.  If you get one with commentary, you're looking at twenty-four to thirty volumes.

When I was learning to spell as a kid, the teacher would make me write the words in both contracted and noncontracted forms to make sure I knew how to spell them.  Of course, now I mostly use the computer so I have to type words out anyway.

[countrymath]

Okay, I see the point about the over use of abbreviations on the internet, but I don't see what's the big deal about smilies.  I don't use them because it's just not the way I write, but I will use the occasional lol or something like that to be funny.  However, I do think that there is a time and a place for everything and you should know the appropriate time to use them if you do.  I am a braille reader, and we use a lot of what are called contractions, which are abbreviations.  For example, we would write receive as rcv.  We do this because braille takes up so much space because the dots are bigger than print letters.  A braille Bible is 18 huge volumes and that's just the text with no commentary.  If you get one with commentary, you're looking at twenty-four to thirty volumes.

When I was learning to spell as a kid, the teacher would make me write the words in both contracted and noncontracted forms to make sure I knew how to spell them.  Of course, now I mostly use the computer so I have to type words out anyway.

I didn't read this post, but floyd cramer RULEZ

[floydcramerfan]

Oh yeah, he's flippin' awesome!!!!!!!!  I must go play Last Date now, but first I'm gonna go post a video of myself trying to play and prepare myself for Piano Idol.

[pianisten1989]

your just jelaous there better in english then you

its spellz inglish, nub!