Bring Back Punctuation

I make mistakes, but I really try to use correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling. The teacher in me is better at noticing other people's mistakes, but then I can't make corrections and it frustrates me a bit. I have to agree that sometimes it's just impossible to make sense of run on sentences. I agree with JoAnn, it's probably the phones. It's more difficult to period, comma, and capitalize.

Many of us here grew up on a full size keyboard, from the old black manual typewriters, to the electric typewriters, to the computer keyboards. Remember high school typing class? One had to learn to type fast without any mistakes.... well, the younger generation isn't being taught that (along with cursive writing).


Another thing that surprised me, the younger generations are either baffled on how to do internet searches, or they just want someone else to do the research. This shows up over and over on Next Door neighborhood forums. Usually I can find the info they need in a few seconds, and here I am in my late 70's. Got to a point where I now just give the words to use in the search feature, and point them to a Google Machine :)

I noticed one post a few days ago that was one big long run on sentence. After reading a few lines I didn't bother.

dear peggysue,

😉 this is my - seal - of disapproval.
it looks so seally with paragraphs and paragraphs, and no punctuation.
i don't want to seal with it. i don't want to - sea - it.

Stop clubbing, baby seals
Stop clubbing baby seals

Let’s eat kids.
Let’s eat, kids.

Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
Incorrect punctuation
will never be cute.

As a former paid proofreader, the thing that gets me the most is when someone starts every word with a capital letter. My eyes can't take it! I let it go and move on the next post.

Thank you! Very helpful IMHO :-)

https://www.agingcare.com/articles/common-caregiving-abbreviations-and-acronyms-435589.htm

Yes, proper punctuation and spelling are good. As someone who likes to read a lot and loved English in school I have a hard time reading those run on posts that have no punctuation etc.

You’ll be missed, Alva!

Have a wonderful sabbatical!

I also still have problems deciphering everything as simple as DH to incomprehensible FILSOFRYAZ. As in, "my FILSOFRYAZ was admitted to the hospital yesterday and my SILVVV won't visit her."

And paragraphs, generally, if there are none in a long post, I give up mid-stream.

Enjoy your vaca!

Thx cw. You're allowed you know.

I don't worry too much about reading text without commas and paragraphs. I look at the context then usually get most of it. I think the spilling out of stories here is probably therapeutic for the writer, though it is better, in terms of getting good answers, if they are easily legible. Mind you, at times, my grammar nazi does rise up. 😉

You are right Golden, I was wandering off on my own tangent lol

At 74, I cannot do without puncuation and paragraphs. My mind cannot adjust. And a comma used in the wrong place changes the whole meaning of the sentence.

cw - I don't see this as slang, but in time we will know.

Language does change and slang terms go in and out of fashion. I find it amusing (when I'm not being annoyed) that many younger people I encounter on line like to disparage people who aren't writing the same way they are, completely oblivious to the fact that their lingo will go out of fashion too.

Language changes. It always has. The purpose of language is communication. In some ways, how you do it, as long as you can communicate, doesn't matter. In other ways I love our current language and using it according to the rules. I taught a lower level English at the college and it was a joy seeing the students start to grasp the principles.

My dd, who is approaching 60, is very "with it" in terms of technology, gaming etc. She told me that punctuation and spelling don't matter any more as long as the other person gets it. Abbreviations abound and work better on cell phones and ipads.

I'm OK with that as long as I have picked up enough jargon to understand. Mostly it's intuitive, I find. Late - L8. Cya - see you, thx - thanks. I love you - ♥

The new language forms are here to stay. May as well get used to them.

🙂
Why punctuation matters.
Some people find inspiration in cooking their families and their dogs.

LOL! I find it a bit annoying myself and very difficult to follow with no punctuation.
Have a great month off Alva!

Yes.

Back years ago when I was looking for information I found many, many different forums and the thing that made AgingCare stand out was the fact that there were actually long threads with many answers and people were actually having conversations, almost no other forum was/is this way

Honestly, I just don't allow myself to expect that anyone will return to their post anytime soon as I assume many questions are posted in a crisis. If they do return to update, it's so incredibly informative.

Agree Geaton. Yes, they are all new, and I would say 20% of them respond in ANY way to anything said, or ever return again. It is all quite odd and strange, but then I am pleading too old to adjust!

I interpret no punctuation/run-on sentances as written by some having a bipolar or manic episode trying to problem solve something in a panic. Even if one used spoken word-to-text function it would most likely add punctuation. But if you talk too fast it would write garbled nonsense like what we often see.

Also lately new people not putting one thing in their profile. Frustrating.

I have to agree. I think people are on cells. Even so, you need to punctuate and have paragraphs. Proofreading ur question would help. Not writing in 3rd party would help. Not "what if" but my Mom and I have this problem. (Me and Mom is gramatically incorrect)