Showing my age with words
Got doc, thx4 reaching out!!!!
Did not reach out; contacted you, wrote, dropped by. Arms still at sides metaphorically and literally.
K. Else? To be honest need yr help.
To be honest with you adds nothing to what you're saying. If you tell me you're being honest, I'll wonder why you need to reassure me.
Lunch Jen & I? U cld use break.
Jen and ME. Me, me, me, me, me.
LMFAO! boomers into yrselves! Old ppl!!!
We did go for lunch–and laughed about the three-generation workplace. Nearly forty years between us and I'm feeling every one.
Do you show your age (or generation, at least) when you communicate? I still can't bring myself to say 'sick' instead of 'cool' and use 'awesome' only when referring to natural wonders of the world or the realm of spirit.
Do you show your age (or generation, at least) when you communicate? I still can't bring myself to say 'sick' instead of 'cool' and use 'awesome' only when referring to natural wonders of the world or the realm of spirit.
Comments
-linda,ny
We've had to offer workshops at my company on how to write actual emails, which include a section on not using "text speak" (r u there?) in business emails.
The "me/I" thing makes me crazy too.
I think that often when people in our age group try to "adopt the lingo" it just comes across as trying too hard and accentuates the age differences even more.
I didn't even realize my corporate Blackberry could receive text messages until a 30 something friend sent me one.
My particular peeve with the younger generation is the misuse of 'button down' for button front shirts. Button down refers to a particular collar detail people, not all shirts!
On the other hand, there is something to be said for the ability to "code-switch" given the appropriate context. It's certainly fun to throw "awesomesauce" into the conversation with my nearly 9 year-old nevvie. I wouldn't use it at a client meeting, though.
On the other hand, my 8-year-old daughter wrote "H.E." to denote "Happy Easter" on a card to her grandparents. Where did that come from? She doesn't have a phone!
I tend to use honestly and frankly in sentences -- will reconsider.
I do not have the IPhone that the rest of my family own and use my cell infrequently!
We have students at school that text during class to other students in the classroom next to theirs...it has become a very big issue at school.
I wonder what effect this will have on the English language in the future.
I have been known to ignore my daughter's email requests when they are not written in standard English.
And no, I do not text. It is quite wonderful to know that I needn't respond immediately to most communications from others because my friends and clients are aware of my idiosyncrasy.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=aarping&defid=3313933
For those of you not familiar with AARP, it's the entity formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons.
Linda- Not sure where the age divide is, but definitely below 49!
une femme: I don;t text and hardly anyone has my cell phone number, so I don;t get many, either.
Northmoon: Yes, somehow button-down transmigrated. I wonder if they would call the kind you mean button-down button downs?"
LPC: Mine still call me Dude sometimes, enjoying baiting me.
Rubi: "Awesomesauce" is new for me, I just caught on to "whatev".
Jane W. H.E.? Guess M.C. is next, and I have received an H.B.
SewingLibrarian: I see that almost daily.
Marguerite: As one who actually remembers and sent telegrams, you paid by the word. They have all the letters available and fairly cheap data plans. It's just finding shortcuts, with all the joy and peril that confers.
Susan Tiner: "Honestly" and "frankly", as well as the longer "to be honest with you" is just filler language, with which we buy time to think. It's not a grammar issue, just a speech habit.
But I was very interested in working through David Crystal's book, Txtng: The Gr8 Db8, with some of my classes last year. . . there are brilliant, brilliant examples of texting wordplay. Also just read Robert McCrum's Globish and now am reading Bill Bryson's Mother Tongue. All show a language in constant evolution.
But I think you're talking about something more problematic than poor spelling and banal communication -- it's a failure to be attuned to audience. MacLuhan was right -- the medium is the message, so attention should be paid to whether the medium suits the audience we're aiming at. That includes such etiquette as salutations, titles, spelling, etc., etc.
Marsha: I have been paid for it too, and wonder if you too have had the experience of having your grammar edited back to an incorrect usage by a young person who is sure he is correct because he and all his friends say it. A friend recently showed me her new resumé, developed with her by an outplacement firm. How about adding "value proposition" and "sustainable advantage"?
Fritinancy: Ours is Canadian Association of Retired Persons: CARP.
Dadgummit, I love that.
ming: Yes! And "less" instead of "fewer".
Lark: Hope I don't sound humourless, we need that too. O hai!
Jill Ann: I am thrilled by a well-spoken young person. Do your children use "I hope that..." instead of "hopefully"?
Mine know the correct (old-timer's) form but have defaulted to the vernacular.
Like several other commenters, I do text, but I don't use any shortcuts. I get teased about it by my offspring and some of my Gen Y clients, but I don't care.
And I make my children write proper thank-you notes for gifts. They hate me.
Tiffany: If I don't get a thank-you note, on the next occasion, a gift does not happen. E-mail is OK if the person is traveling, or a known
wild child, but I much prefer the effort of a handwritten note. Yes, I am the proper aunt in many respects.
What I hate to see is the preposition taking the place of a past participle as in:
"He should of known..." (should have). Also could of, would of may of and so on.
and the intrusive participle in:
"If he had've (had have) known..."
And as for the apostrophe...! Let's just say that I advise people that it's safer to forget about it; at least they'll be right some of the time.
What I hate to see is the preposition taking the place of a past participle as in:
"He should of known..." (should have). Also could of, would of may of and so on.
and the intrusive participle in:
"If he had've (had have) known..."
And as for the apostrophe...! Let's just say that I advise people that it's safer to forget about it; at least they'll be right some of the time.
What I hate to see is the preposition taking the place of a past participle as in:
"He should of known..." (should have). Also could of, would of may of and so on.
and the intrusive participle in:
"If he had've (had have) known..."
And as for the apostrophe...! Let's just say that I advise people that it's safer to forget about it; at least they'll be right some of the time.
And then I hate to see a verb that's been related to something plural in a sentence which is not in fact the subject of that sentence. Usually the verb is related to the nearest noun not to the subject.
Jocelyn: We all pick out spots, one of mine is "irregardless".
Angel Jem: It seems fast to every generation. My father fought against "cool" as a term of approbation and lost.
Regarding texting itself, I am reminded of the relief I felt when my daughter informed me that she very, very seldom actually speak on her cell phone - usually only to me and to one other person she loves; she texts everyone else. I was pleased because I am telling myself that she thereby avoids the health hazards of placing a cell phone so close to her brain and eyes. I haven't explored this deeply because I am enjoying this belief, and don't want to explode it just yet.
By the way, Vivienne, it is perfectly correct in English to end sentences with prepositions. You can easily google this, and find such reliable sources as oxford.com . The avoidance of this Germanic sentence structure, normal in English as in other West Germanic languages, stems from the efforts of Latinist grammarians.
What English does tend to avoid is long sequences of words between a noun and its related preposition in a separable phrasal verb - as is common in German.
Jocelyn, all the radical teachers I have known were sticklers about language (not necessarily English, often French or Italian) - sociolinguistics is quite different from knowledge of standard usage.
I am another of the "born old" set in this respect, though a fervent rebel in others.
I might say "That's the funniest thing I could think of" in everyday, vernacular English, but would re-cast the sentence if writing a formal document to avoid the stiff, correct usage ("the funniest thing of which I could think". I'd choose instead to avoid that pesky preposition: "I could not think of anything funnier."
There are probably better revisions, too. I regularly consult grammar texts but am hardly an expert.
Marsha: I ended up telling him, "If you want it to go out this way, let's put your name on it, not mine." That is when he had some inkling that he might check the usage further than his next cubicle.
My sons called me "Dude" at 15 or 16 but have since reverted to Maman.