*sigh*
Rant: on
Some folks are so very intent on remaining irritating, illiterate boobs that they’ll even refuse to use a mature browser (or even a semi-mature browser like Firefox) and so continue to post comments on blogs, social networking sites, etc., that are evidence they even refuse to use a spell-checking browser with a decent dictionary.
Sure, even using spell checking won’t make such folks’ blather make any more sense, but at least it might avoid assaulting others with the most obvious misspellings. That’d be a start.
Rant: nah, not turning this off yet.
Worse: “text-speak” or the asinine abbreviations and cryptic comments folks post from their phones to their own blogs, etc. Get a keyboard and some bandwidth. Stop “talking” like 6th-grade “tweens” already!
*sheesh!*
*heh*
Rant: off.
(And, before anyone asks, no, I am NOT going to refuse to be irked by such things. If I could make a living at it, I’d go around giving all such people a swift boot in the ass.)
I fear that “irritating, illiterate boobs” will always be with us. At least, if we can go by the evidence of my comment moderation queue.
Well, Francis, sure they’ll always be with us, but the evidence is now overwhelming that the category is growing. About five years ago, although it was papered over in the “feddle gummint’s” presentation, somehow the actual data from the latest Adult Literacy Survey leaked (What!?! Someone looked at the data?!? What is the world coming to?), and folks noticed that literacy among college grads is on the decline. Nearly 70% of those surveyed didn’t even read at an eighth grade level.
But, of course, that’s no surprise to anyone who’s been involved with education in the last 20 (or 30 or more) years. Heck, I can recall that 30-*mumble* years ago, my Greek prof had to do remedial grammar education in English just to get past some of his students’ stunning lack of basic knowledge… in grad school. And things have certainly not gotten better since that day. In fact, the evidence is clear: it’s getting steadily worse.
We are entering a post-literate age.