Comments on: On Language

By: Kevin Asher

Kevin Asher — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:25:13 +0000

Also noted, it is not completely out of place to use the phrase “invisible budget” when one is in discourse with one’s PLN. After all, they might be experiencing the same phenomena you are… And one more thing, did you get my e-mail?

By: Kevin Asher

Kevin Asher — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:14:31 +0000

I never claimed to be better at spotting my mistakes than anyone else is at spotting their own. But I know the OP and I know that he’d forgive me for my errors as it is not possible to detect those errors I made in speech. However, to the question about what opinions are better off not voiced at all are are hatespeech. I’ve seen it much too much on the internet all over. There really is no appropriate place for hatespeech. While your Constitutional rights give you the right to say what you want, it does not give you the right to just be a blanket jerk. The Constitution does not protect oneself from being punished for being an idiot.

By: Veronica

Veronica — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:05:10 +0000

For the record as well, in no way did I intend to imply that the author would see Kevin’s comments as negative criticism instead of opportunities to fix errors. God knows we can all use constructive feedback! It makes the world go ’round. Thanks again for an interesting article.

By: theartguy

theartguy — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:01:37 +0000

“Around” was grammatically correct? Dagnabbit, I worded that sentence that way because I WANTED it to end in a preposition. (The in joke is that my sister made such a big deal about that grammar rule that members of my family would place prepositions at the end of our sentences even if they made no sense being there whatsoever.)

In any case, I’m glad you liked my post Veronica. And for the record I chose to see Kevin’s comments regarding my errors as opportunities to fix errors, rather than negative criticism of them.

By: Veronica

Veronica — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:54:36 +0000

Hmm… someone else was quicker to comment. My earlier comment was in response to Kevin Asher.

By: Veronica

Veronica — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:53:22 +0000

In response to the previous comment, the errors obviously weren’t ignored or they wouldn’t have been pointed out. I’d like to point out, though, that the word “around” in the sentence “Just try ending a sentence with a preposition when my sister’s around” isn’t a misplaced preposition; it’s acting as an adjective in this case, so that’s technically not an error. Also, even the best grammarians are “capapble” of making typos once and a while . If you want to get technical, in the U.S., punctuation marks such as commas and periods go inside of quotation marks. However, no matter where you are or which grammar rules you learned, it’s important to always be consistent in your writing. In once place in the comment, a comma appears outside of them, and in another, a period appears inside. We all live in grammatical glass houses, so let’s learn from each other instead of automatically throwing stones. I think that was the real point of the article, which I found pretty entertaining.

By: theartguy

theartguy — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:39:14 +0000

(“Capapble” has been fixed, “around” was intentional.)

Some of what you’ve said ties in with a point I addressed in my post – not every method of communication is appropriate in every setting. I may find it interesting how LOLspeak and 1337speak evolved, but I’m not about to accept research papers written in those styles. People should always be aware of their target audiences and tailor their styles of communication appropriately.

I won’t even place those styles into the category of “internet voice,” because most of the communicating I do through the internet still uses the “professional voice” you mention.

I’m curious though … what opinions are better left not being voiced, even in the appropriate venues?

By: Kevin Asher

Kevin Asher — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:06:54 +0000

I will ignore the two errors (Just try ending a sentence with a preposition when my sister’s around.) and (capapble) I noticed in your post and instead get to the point of the post. While I understand that yes, on the internet everyone can have a voice, not everyone understands when to use their internet voice and when to use a more dignified or professional voice. And because there are more than a handful of people that don’t understand that even in “certain circles”, some opinions ought not to be voiced. Because of these facts one is more likely to find me chastising people that fall into either category than to take part in the “discussion.”