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Language Arts Mastery

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itlnstln:
So I'm reading reviews for a product on SteepAndCheap.com (a Woot-type site for hiking/camping equipment), and I stumble across this unintelligible drivel from one of the customers:


--- Quote ---good bag holds on when i get going.stuff stays dry trust me im out in the grind hard.has alot of room
--- End quote ---


It just got me thinking about how awful people's language skills are on the Internet.  It's like they completely forget how to talk/write.  I mean, sometimes what people write in message boards, product reviews, etc. does not even equate to how they would say what they wrote in person, let alone how the would write it if it were prose.

I know message boards, reviews, etc. are fairly informal, and informal writing pervades these media, but dammit, people, write coherently, so I can figure out WTF you are to say!!!  BTW, proper punctuation and capitalization helps greatly along these lines, but at least try to spell correctly and create properly formed sentences.

*steps off soapbox*

P.S. I completely understand non-native language speakers participating in a forum that is not based in their native language.  I am talking about Joe Blow from backwoods Appalachia who can't form a second grade sentence; writing, instead, something that belongs on a LOLCAT.  Clear writing is one of the things I enjoy on this forum, and I applaud everyone here for their good writing skills.  Thank you.

lowpoly:

--- Quote ---punctuation and capitalization helps greatly along these lines, but at least try to spell correctly
--- End quote ---
I found a spelling error, haha.

But seriously, english speaking forums are so much better than german speaking forums where often wrong-spellers are the majority. Must be the school system.

itlnstln:
LOL!  I corrected it; thanks!

xsphat:
Something that belongs on LOLCATS, that cracks me up because it's so true. I'm a professional writer and an English major so itlnstln, your post is a mirror of my own way of thinking. Whenever people ask me how they can write better, I tell them to write how they speak. That my friends is the trick.

I can has Nerthgete keybordz?

KBurchfiel:
I tried writing a post in all caps to prove a point, but the site automatically "decased" my sentense. Come to think of it, that's a pretty smart feature.

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