A CT thread for those that aren't Critical Thinkers

[Laharl]

I have a question to pose to people that use any form of alternate spellings on common words, such as abbreviating the words "you" and "are" as "u" and "r" respectively, or for some reason, add the letter z to the end of everything or use multiple punctuation marks at the end of a particular sentence. (hey u guyz whatz up??)

Why do you do it?

Is the nanoseconds you save knocking out a whole whopping two letters from the word "you" worth appearing like a complete and total moron to the rest of the internet? If so, why? What in the hell is the appeal of the letter z? Do you really think that adding extra unnecessary punctuation marks somehow gets the point across better or... geez, I don't even know why you would want to use more than one question mark or exclamation point at the end of a sentence to even guess at your motives.

I don't understand the phenomenon of internet speech. I don't get the appeal of "lol" when it's just as easy to type "haha" which is an actual laugh pattern. Some of the common acronyms, I can understand, like "imo" or "iirc" or pretty much any of the ones that stand for something a person might actually say. (Who says "I'm rolling on the floor laughing!" anyways? No one would actually ever say what "rofl" stands for in normal speech.) I plain do NOT understand why people insist on using ridiculous spelling of words (u r such a tewl, lololol). If it's used as sarcasm poking fun at people who actually type that way, then I get it. Other than that, it's just behind me.

[Doug31]

Re: A CT thread for those that aren't Critical Thinkers

When I was a really slow typer, it would save me some time to use u, rather than you, and it still saves me time when I'm taking notes during class, but I don't use in on computers anymore, and maybe some people never got out of the habit, or they think it's cool, or maybe they are just doing it to draw more attention to themselves.

[thyraxicmole]

Re: A CT thread for those that aren't Critical Thinkers

cause its cool. i dont do it though. only sometimez. LOL get it?

[Laharl]

Re: A CT thread for those that aren't Critical Thinkers

So looking like a complete and total buffoon is cool?

K. Gotcha.

[thyraxicmole]

Re: A CT thread for those that aren't Critical Thinkers

yes actually. cause in todays society stupid means cool.

[duhh_]

Re: A CT thread for those that aren't Critical Thinkers

i type extremly slow. If i try to be gramatically correct then it doubles the time it takes for me to type.

[RandomPscho]

Re: A CT thread for those that aren't Critical Thinkers

I too used to use "u" "urs" etc. when I was a slow typer, but I have slowly gotten better and don't find the need to use them anymore. The only one that i cannot drop is "lol."

[GuidoHunter]

Re: A CT thread for those that aren't Critical Thinkers

Recall, those to whom this thread is addressed (and everyone else), that this is still CT, and the rules on proper orthography should still be followed.

thyrax and duhh, pressing the shift key canNOT delay you for any significant amount of time, if at all.

EDIT: That aside, I've always wondered why people do that. "You" is such a commonly used combination of keystrokes that I can't fathom why it doesn't flow off people's fingers in the first place, and at the cost of looking like a total moron (to many people, not everybody, I admit) I can't understand why people wouldn't do that.

It saddens me to see my adult friends do that too, though with considerably less frequency. Just look at people's FFR profiles to see how prevalent it is in youths.

yes actually. cause in todays society stupid means cool.

I refuse to acknowledge that "society" thinks stupid equates to cool. Maybe it has become numbed to stupid, and thus accepts using "u" for "you" in certain circles, but stupid will still earn you your idiot's badge in society.

--Guido

http://andy.mikee385.com

[duhh_]

Re: A CT thread for those that aren't Critical Thinkers

thyrax and duhh, pressing the shift key canNOT delay you for any significant amount of time, if at all.





I refuse to acknowledge that "society" thinks stupid equates to cool. Maybe it has become numbed to stupid, and thus accepts using "u" for "you" in certain circles, but stupid will still earn you your idiot's badge in society.

--Guido

...

You don't type for me. How are you to tell me how long it tkes to type something?

lol.

I refuse to acknowledge that "society" thinks stupid equates to cool. Maybe it has become numbed to stupid, and thus accepts using "u" for "you" in certain circles, but stupid will still earn you your idiot's badge in society.

I was going to say something simillar to that.

Edit: Making this post (for the most part) gramatically correct
has added 2 minutes to the time it took me to type. When i say i type slow, i mean it.

[Squeek]

Re: A CT thread for those that aren't Critical Thinkers

The general notion is "o it savez me tyme"

There was a really old AIM conversation with LD and some other person, and it eventually led to this. He asked "why do you type like that? You sound retarded" and she replies "itz faster" Sometimes she even changed words to make them longer, like 'ie' instead of 'y' and so on. To which LD replied "how is adding more letters onto your words faster?"

Kids these days just assume the only way to be cool is to act like their peers. Thankfully, if you want to do that on FFR, you have to type correctly.

You know my opinion of this. If I see it, I automatically assume the person is retarded and not worth listening to. If they can change, so be it. Until they do, I ignore whatever they say.

PS - If you can't type fast enough without shorthand, learn how to type properly.

There will come a time when you have to write a ten page paper in a day. Without being able to type correctly, you aren't going to finish. Whereas I can probably spit it out in three hours.

[MixMasterLar]

Re: A CT thread for those that aren't Critical Thinkers

me and keyboads dont mix very well (this is my first forum,remember?) so I use some of thoses to save time.

By the way *gives hand a rest* thanks for telling me what 'rolf' means.

[Shashakiro]

Re: A CT thread for those that aren't Critical Thinkers

"lol" and "rofl" really have their own meanings nowadays, and essentially no one uses them to actually say "laugh out loud" or "roll on floor laughing" anymore. "lol" is more like "heh", and "rofl" is more like "hahaha", although it's not exactly the same. I can understand why those are used.

But I really don't understand some internet-speak, especially the "z" thing, since it clearly doesn't make anything faster and just makes you sound dumber.

[thyraxicmole]

Re: A CT thread for those that aren't Critical Thinkers

wtf guido its the word stupid has double meaning like bitch can mean female dog or ........... a bitchass ho lol

[Laharl]

Re: A CT thread for those that aren't Critical Thinkers

I can understand not using capitalization. I get that. That doesn't bother me. To an extent, I can understand not using punctuation when using an instant messenger program because a single sentence + the enter key = people can follow what you're saying.

On a forum, hells no. Run-on sentences make my eyes and nose bleed. Seriously. Post a sentence remotely like the first sentence of Tale of Two Cities and when I start to bleed, I'll post a picture so you guys can see I'm not kidding.

I can even understand being a slow typer. However, you're not going to get over that by using shorthand. If anything, that will keep your ability to type slow. I plan on being an English major; it's something that appeals to me. Always has. When I first started to use the internet, I always used proper, well... everything. Because of that, it's second nature to me to capitalize at the beginning of a sentence, put commas where appropriate, spell things correctly, etc.

I've kind of lost track where I was going with that, but basically, DON'T GIVE IN TO MEDIA PRESSURE.

[Grandiagod]

Re: A CT thread for those that aren't Critical Thinkers

I can understand being lax on grammar and punctuation on IMs. There, it's about typing fast, and while I try to type with a semblance of coherence while IMing, I do frequently make mistakes. But, I never abbreviate "u" and use dumbass spellings on purpose. Using dumbass shortcuts on forums is ridiculous though. It's not like you're in a race, you have plenty of time to type.