Adults using ebonics.

hay u guys wats up, i jut wan tel u bout'

The fucking stupid people in Second Life who can't seem to understand even the slightest functions of the english language.
I'm not talking about people who don't actually speak english, that's understandable; I sound like a moron when I speak french.

Tu parle francais un peu, et toi?

However. When I attempt to initiate conversation with someone and they go 'Wat do u want', It makes me suspect they're on the wrong grid. Than I look at their profile; and notice that they have payment info on file. (Which, granted--Isn't a way to tell someone's age because I don't have any payment info on file and I'm 23), but it's lead me to the conclusion that stupidity isn't just in our children.

No, It's spreading to the adults.

Really, I have but one thing to say.

IT'S Y-O-U, YOU STUPID FUCKS!

Yeah see, when your trying to have a converstation in real time and not composing an email where you have unlimited time to compose a response, sometimes people take shortcuts.

Deal with it.

Ridiculous post about how language advances and evolves in 4... 3... 2...

That level of typing isn't indicative of age. I know kids who type very well and adults who I can't even understand. As an english purist it bugs me too, but meh. It's how things roll these days.

That is absolute bullshit. Why would someone want to sound like a complete idiot to save them approximately 1 second per paragraph (as if they would ever write a complete one anyway)? I don't buy this excuse whatsoever.

Replacing words with letters is not advancement. Forgetting how to spell correctly is not evolution. It's nothing but the degeneration of the education system in the western world.

Try using ebonics on your resume and see how far you get. When the potential employer says no, then "deal with it", as a previous post suggested.

[NB: This is not necessarily a response to the quoted post alone, but rather uses it as a hook for the arguement.]

[Edit: Actually, I even quoted the wrong post, but I'll let my error stand, rather than delete it and make someone quoting me look silly.]

First of all, you've made a classificaiton error. The example given isn't "ebonics." It's more AOLspeak than anything else.

Secondly, I hate the term "ebonics", as it trivializes what is a legitimate linguistic phenomenon. african american english is a dialect that has a long history, with a distinct grammatical structure from standard english. It has a complex tense structure, and makes grammatical distinctions where standard english fails to make them, while glossing areas that standard english finds important. It has been argued that AAE mimics certain west african grammatical structure, although that is far from the consensus view.

Someone mocking AAE as "inferior" to standard English isn't different in kind from someone mocking modern standard english because it's a dumbed down form of Anglo-Saxon.

I don't see anything wrong wit it. And I don't think it's "Ebonics" you speak of; Sounds more to me like shorthand. But thanks for showing us all your own intellectual capacity to understand such a concept.

You've obviously haven't run into the newbies I do that type for 30 seconds, thinking your going to get a novel, only to get "Hi there!". I'd rather wait for "How r u?" than fall asleep waiting for those extra 4 letters.

Thank you. Every time there is a thread like this, however, there is invariably a post saying that language changes and evolves. That just blows my mind. Yes, of COURSE it changes and evolves, but people who speak whatever version of English this is will be left behind.

Chaucer couldn't have said it better.

Would you have preferred Latin, or British?

Dude take a chill pill. Use the mute function if you don't like what you read. SL is chat, not a fucking english exam.

Dunno... I mean I find some IM's I get more grating than others.. but nothing so much as to make me bust a braincell over it.

One of my best friends in SL Im's me with 'Sup Mang?' or 'Sup Nig?'

Then theres 'HiHi' and 'KK'

None of these even make me blink....

The semi annoying (only because of its regularity and avoidablility) IM to email 'Hi'....'You on?' --- with no mention of what is about.

And then the sorta annoying overuse of LOL

'LOLOL WHER U SALE UR [insert product] LOL!'
'LOL! I GOT UR [insert product] AND HAVING PROBS LOL! NE WAY U ON? LOL!'

Dunno - kinda grates on me a lil - more so because theres no specifics about what the problem is - meaning I can't just reply with an email - I have to wait till I get home - log in - see if they're on - then find out what the prob is... by which time they've read the instructions and get back to me the NEXT day saying 'LOL WORKD OUT! LOL!!1!'

minor annoyances - nothing that makes me pull my hair and yell...

Mmmm... *pulls Siggy's hair and yells*
Oh, sorry, that probably wasn't what you meant... oops!

I disagree.

Chat is, besides a form of communication, a form of expressing yourself. Hence the use of smileys, etc.
I tend to adapt my chat on mood, company and situation. When I'm having a 'professional' conversation, I am using full words and a different form of chat, than I would use, for instance in a social gathering, where a more 'loose' english is used.

This adaptation of chat, or playing with words and how to express yourself, should not always be seen as a reduction of language, but as an enrichment to the existing language.

The question is not so much, is AOLSpeak/leetspeek a degraded form of language, but much more, do you use it as your single way of communication, or do you use it, in combination with a multitude of other ways (including 'normal english') to chat and express yourself.


On reduction of words as a de-evolution of language. It's fairly common nowadays to write in 'spoken english' instead of 'written english', by replacing large parts of words with apostrophes ("i'm", "you're" etc. This is as much a reduction of words as using 'u' instead of you. It is fairly accepted nowadays though, and a lot of the posters who are agitating against using 'u' or 'r' are doing it themselves. Where is essentially the difference?

And no, i'm not a native english speaker. So, forgive me if i sound like a moron

I encounter these people IRL on an almost hourly basis.

Me 2.

Agreed, however, some forms of reduction, using the apostrophe for instance, are gramatically acceptable and have been for some time. Using the letter "u" for "you" isn't the same thing, but rather it's the substitution of cell-phone shorthand, which, when given the use of a full alphanumeric keyboard, serves no purpose. It also makes communication more difficult since unlike most spelling errors, it doesn't even look like english. I'm all for shorthand, but make it at least readable.

But it's not even "how r u?" anymore... it is "h r u"

I agree with the OP. Utilize all of the keys on your keyboard. It makes getting your point across that much easier, and will most likely help you being regarded as somewhat literate.

While un-necessary shorthand in an online conversation is annoying, I try to take into account that I DONT want to read a whole frickin' paragraph just from someone asking a question. Plus take into account we dont have alot of room to type out longer words. Tho or Though? Welcome Back! OR WB!

Sometimes folks just arent fast readers.
Sometimes folks just arent fast typists- or touch typists.

I'll shorten what I say just so others dont have to keep scrolling through the Chat History to keep up with me.

'Course, I have the regular chat going, IMs going, AND I'm also responding to people on Yahoo IM on my laptop beside me.

I do the same, and add MSN, and ICQ to that mix, and I manage to use complete words in a timely manner.

u gaiz r teh d funneh !

Haiiii sup bro'z?

Though I agree overuse of it can be annoying, I find the tone of the OP a hell of a lot more annoying than any AOL speak I encounter...

by the way... the logic in "stupidity is spreading to adults" is retarded..

Personaly, I don't mind 'u', etc, as long as the person is making sense and not just being plain STUPID.
I try my hardest to type as quickly and accuratly as possible, but sometimes it just doesn't work.
(Oh, BTW, I'm doing a research paper on teh Interwubs and Language, does anyone I refrence this thread/your post?)