I've noticed that everyone writes in proper English

I can't speak for other posters, but it just makes sense to me to write the way I'd write in a novel. It's a writing forum, after all.


ETA - Though I write the same on other forums, also.

I think this is a site that realizes that words, language and grammar are the tools of the trade and respect them as such.

I think there are several reasons for this:

• as writers we understand the necessity of clarity to avoid confusing messages,
• as writers we love words and make the extra effort to use them appropriately,
• as professionals, we're aware that we might be scrutinized by others and proper English reflects a professional attitude,
• poor grammar would most likely mark the poster as a writer who's careless with language, which in turn might make potential readers less interested in what the writer might have to say.

I'm sure others might chime in with additional reasons.

Writers aren't the only people that come and browse the forum. People who may have a reason to employ writers also post here, and it is best to present a professional face. Not that I would assume an application for writing work would be turned down on the basis of "used txt spk on a forum once", but it helps to keep in the habit of writing properly.

In addition, I would imagine most people here type their written work rather than writing it by hand, and the thing about text-speak style typing habits is they can become almost instinctive. If I were to habitually use text speak when I type, it would start to slip in to my work without me noticing, and I could really do without the added editing time being wasted on correcting that. My only exception is with text abbreviations that aren't likely to be used in my work, such as IRL and IMHO.

I've never been in the habit of text-style typing, in any case.

In addition to what others have said: not all AW members are native English speakers. Writing in proper English (even if often in casual proper English ) ensures that everyone here has the best chance possible of understanding what we, yanno, write.

As writers, words are our tools, so we use them accordingly. A carpenter doesn't use sticky tacky to hold a chair together, neither should a writer use shortcuts.

I write as I've always written; sometimes, I drop g's for Southern emphasis, other times—when I'm serious or want to be taken seriously—I don't.

How else would a writer write?

MimiAngel621 said:

no1 toks lik dis. its 2 anoying nd they dnt spel rite.

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I can't read that.

It isn't words.

Even if I could read it I wouldn't take it seriously.
It could be the secret at the heart of the universe but I wouldn't believe it. Not if it was written like that.

In the end that could be my loss, I suppose. But all the same, it's true.

I cannot think of one good reason to use textlingo on a forum. It makes people look stupid, foreign or not.

Competence with language is not just for special occasions. Everyone should learn a language well and use it well. There are reasns for English spelling and grammar; they add to the meaning of written material.

There are other forums in which we can use different encoding. I would be curious to see a Chicago Manual of Alternative English Codes.

I rarely use text speak when I'm texting, I wouldn't dream of doing it anywhere else (unless it was to prove a point or be funny.) Text speak actually makes me cringe.

I don't "text." I guess my phone would allow for it, but that is not a feature I ever use. And I have been writing for a lot of years (about 40 professionally, and a bunch more before that in school). It would never occur to me to use those abbreviations other than the occasional LOL or the like.

FWIW. (Oh, that one, too, and often. Also IMHO.)

Although I am likely to overlook occasional typos or infelicities, I write here the way I do anywhere else. Carefully.

--Ken

I will take my own life before I write things like "str8". Probably several others as well.

Kitteh haz found it is also Teh Acceptablz to make posts using Teh Lolspeak. I'm in ur srs writing forumz, talkin like cat macros.

MimiAngel621 said:

no1 toks lik dis. its 2 anoying nd they dnt spel rite.

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That is all.

MimiAngel621 said:

I don't know if this is a good excuse to start a thread, but after being on this site for a while I've just realized that everybody types properly, or at least gets it almost right. Nobody uses texting lingo, or at least maybe I haven't seen anyone who types like this:
no1 toks lik dis. its 2 anoying nd they dnt spel rite.
Every other writing place I've been to has so many users who write like that. Even the people on here who live in Japan for example write English properly! I just wanted to point that out. What do you think?

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The most important part of written communication is staying clear and concise in our message. This is a forum for writers who strive to communicate effectively. I don't think text speak, such as you described above, has any place here.

At least, if I were to come across a post with such text speak, I would quickly move on.

AmsterdamAssassin said:

I think there are several reasons for this:

• as writers we understand the necessity of clarity to avoid confusing messages,
• as writers we love words and make the extra effort to use them appropriately,
• as professionals, we're aware that we might be scrutinized by others and proper English reflects a professional attitude,
• poor grammar would most likely mark the poster as a writer who's careless with language, which in turn might make potential readers less interested in what the writer might have to say.

I'm sure others might chime in with additional reasons.

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Another point:

The more often we put something into practice, the more likely it is to show up in our work. (So that the more often you use poor grammar, the more likely it's going to show up in your professional writing).

I read an article on proper email etiquette, where the writer also pointed out that email mistakes can follow you for the rest of your life. It's like posting drunk nude pictures on your MySpaceFaceBook page - even if it's not viewed by professionals who might be disinclined to hire you, it still shows you as an alcoholic exhibitionist, so why would you deliberately create a negative image of yourself?

I treat emails like I treat writing letters: proper greeting, signature, no uncommon abbreviations, avoid spelling and grammar mistakes and read it over before you send it to the proper recipient. Who might forward your email to someone else, so make sure you make a good impression.

ain't nuthin rong wif bad grammers. And if you look closely enough, you'll see people who let participles dangles and who don't quite pick the right work. There was a user here that I endlessly hounded because he never capitalized anything, but I haven't seen him in a long time.

The culture of this board (and language is all about culture, despite what prescriptive grammarians argue) prefers something close to Standard English.

This doesn't make txt, l337, and other modern written dialects bad (and arguing that these are any less clear to the people who use them is silly). But Standard English is so engrained here that people who come along with their lols, wuts, and tl;drs either (somewhat) conform or vanish. (And if they're around long enough, they will pick up the forum's written dialect. If they don't, they're doing it intentionally, or else not reading the posts here.)

Words and their proper uses are important to me. I've occasionally had to resort to text-speak-like abbreviations on Twitter and it makes me cringe.