Make the Runescape Community Look Cleverer at Only $11.95!

[DeeKay]

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/misspelling

Simply hang it above your monitors, and behold of the illusion of an increased IQ!

 

Anyhow, this is a discussion about the level of English in the RS community, and especially ingame. I'm one of those people who thinks that those players which have bad grammar and spelling, and do not suffer from a known condition, should rot eternally in hell.

 

More realistically, I believe that in an activity in which communication between players is exclusively text-based, it's crucial to be able to express yourself properly. The first two panels in this comic are an awesome example of how I imagine an other player using leetspeak.

I don't believe that everyone should be boring old gits that construct sentence as if they're in court (seeing as according to this there are around 500k words in English), rather stop making idiots of themselves when talking.

Taking 500 more milliseconds to type like this insted of typing liek dis leaves a much more pleasant impression in my eyes.

 

Opinions, gents.

[yuriqiu]

Lmao. Would certainly make translating 1337sp3ak into english easier.

[Krampell]

I believe the reason people talk with a case of bad grammar here and there is because they are on the internet and not like on a job interview.

Also, people are lazy and don't feel like typing the extra ' in some words.

As for the stupid 1337speak and the childish writing that hardly makes any sense... I dont really understand. Maybe they try to act funny.

Also, a big part of RS community is children from 13-16 who usualy talks like that on the internet.

[Obtaurian]

I ease up on the apostraphes and caps lock when I'm talking to friends, but I'm typically a grammar nazi.

[John Halo Chief]

I personally hate when people say:

Barrow (Not borrow)

U (Not you)

i (Not I)

And the list goes on and on. I ask people why they can't just make an actual sentence, and they respond "it takes to long nub" half the time. Hitting shift or listening to someone say it's spelled wrong takes too long? Loosen up your schedule then, you're probably a bit stressed.

[Krazi]

Ragmar covered a lot of the things that bother me. Another would be people who think that "alot" is a word.

 

Another forum that I frequent has a very strict set of rules that includes proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling. As much as I'd love this to be implemented on every other forum that I visit, I don't see it happening. Is it really that hard to type out "you" instead of "u?" If English is your first language, there is no reason that you can't write at a middle school level just because you're on the internet. Even if you aren't the smartest person in the world, at least put some effort into it. You don't have to be perfect, but if you want others to respect you and bother to read what you've posted, it needs to be halfway decent

 

And remember, "I" is always capitalized when referring to yourself!

[Bows]

Those were hilarious pictures. I especially like the one where the dad wants to eat his son just like he did his obnoxious parakeet. :P

[xpx]

Well i always try to write as well as i can, but the fact that i learned Estonian grammar for 12 years instead of English makes it a bit harder. It also helps if you have the auto-grammar corrector along with firefox, which helps you learn a bit of grammar. As for bad grammar usage, i really, really hate the word ''zerker'' being used. I have yet ot hear anyone go zerk when they get mad... :rolleyes:

[Clan_Chat_Op]

Sorry if I am being a party pooper here but are we really having a grammar discussion on a runescape board? Yes, grammar will make many places better, however, in the gaming community bad grammar and leet speak is common and in fact helps differentiate our communities from others. Personally, I would be sad to see it go.

[Bows]

Sorry if I am being a party pooper here but are we really having a grammar discussion on a runescape board? Yes, grammar will make many places better, however, in the gaming community bad grammar and leet speak is common and in fact helps differentiate our communities from others. Personally, I would be sad to see it go.

 

You would be sad to see constantly misspelled words and obnoxious 53n73nc35 l1k3 d15 g0?

[Krazi]

Sorry if I am being a party pooper here but are we really having a grammar discussion on a runescape board? Yes, grammar will make many places better, however, in the gaming community bad grammar and leet speak is common and in fact helps differentiate our communities from others. Personally, I would be sad to see it go.

Why do we need to be different? In this case, I don't see how being different helps our community.

[Range_This11]

Dude, your an idiot.

[Bows]

Dude, your an idiot.

 

You're.*

 

Yes, I realize this was probably a troll post.

[Range_This11]

:)

[Den]

Not everyone has English as their first language. My first language is kind of mixed since it is my first language, but ive grown up where Norwegian is most used, so I refer to Norwegian as my first.

 

Either way, many i've met dont have English as their first language, so they arent 100% grammar perfect. Not that I am either. :P

 

One thing you can do though is ignore people that talk with leetspeeak or shorten words.

[Obtaurian]

Not everyone has English as their first language. My first language is kind of mixed since it is my first language, but ive grown up where Norwegian is most used, so I refer to Norwegian as my first.

 

Either way, many i've met dont have English as their first language, so they arent 100% grammar perfect. Not that I am either. :P

 

One thing you can do though is ignore people that talk with leetspeeak or shorten words.

 

Yeah, this is a big reason why I don't call people out on their grasp of English, because you really don't know if it's their first, second, third, or fourth language.

[das]

Gotta admit, i'm a huge fan of theoatmeal.

 

And it's true, LOTS of people need help with english, but I don't think it's targeted towards the non-english speakers - some of the dumbest sounding people who post - are from America and other English countries.

[Range_This11]

You can tell if someone is foreign pretty easily, it's just the moronic 14 year olds who refuse to move their fingers an extra inch.

[Bows]

Gotta admit, i'm a huge fan of theoatmeal.

 

And it's true, LOTS of people need help with english, but I don't think it's targeted towards the non-english speakers - some of the dumbest sounding people who post - are from America and other English countries.

 

I totally agree.

[RU_Insane]

Grammar is by no means, a proper tool of measuring someone's intelligence or behavior, as far as when the Internet, being on-line is concerned.

 

 

If you honestly think that, on a place where there are no rules concerning the usage of correct grammar, that people have to use correct grammar/spelling all the time....no. Just no.

 

Using to/too there/they're/their/etc. out of context on the Internet, or shorthand on-line, should not matter. How a person spells on the internet does not reflect their intelligence at all. That is an extremely biased and unfair assumption if you think that gives you leeway to treat people differently by how they talk on the internet, and you think you're so smart and elite because you talk on the Internet the same way you would write an English essay worth 30% of your final mark. It doesn't make you better or more intelligent then someone else, it makes you look like a tool. I mean, if you write solely for that reason, to insult other people that don't write like you do.

 

The Internet is much like any other public place you can hang out or around in. It's casual and relaxed, and no-one is uppity on how someone else presents his or herself, unless, how that person is acting, is grossly disturbing the peace. Otherwise, it's all good. This carries itself onto the online world. All it comes down to, at the end, is the place.

 

As long as you can understand the person in the language they're speaking (Correct me if I'm wrong, but English seems to be the only language that can be used shorthand on-line and still be understood), you should have no problem. On a relaxed place such as here, I don't see any rules strictly forbidding a little lax grammar. People have a good reason to type shorthand too. It's merely convenient and saves time. And if the other person understands, hey, it's all good. And you know why correct grammar shouldn't matter as much also? Because the Internet, is in no way, shape or form, the proper medium to measure a degree of someone's intelligence, or "laziness" just by how they type on it. You cannot base someone's behavior or intelligence just by how they type on the internet.

 

If you do use on-line grammar (where there are no overall explicit rules regarding such use thereof) as a tool to measure someone's worth, and there is no legitimate reason to not type in shorthand, (because there's no law or social norm saying you can't save time, right?) then you do not have any right to scrutinize people who have made their own, personal, choice. Because as far as the Internet goes, this website in particular, well....proper grammar usage, comes down to choice. This site isn't an debate forum discussing real issues where you have to present yourself intelligently for your opponents to take what you say seriously.

 

The OP seems to recognize that "U" is you and "r" is are. What's the problem? As long as you can understand what the person is saying, you don't have any argument. If you also think that, a person must be extremely lazy just because he/she types shorthand/uses grammar out of context where it doesn't matter, you are ohh so wrong. I choose to type in grammatically correct sentences because I think it looks better, but I don't have any qualms against someone using shorthand or placing commonly misspelled words out of context. As long as I can understand them, and they have a point, there's no problem.

 

And for the record, I use shorthand/misspell words very often, for convenience, when I play RuneScape, and people still understand me. On here, I must be at least 95% correct in what I say when it comes to syntax and grammatical convention.

 

Just saying. Grammar isn't by any means, a tool to measure someone else by their behavior (i.e. how lazy they must be) or how intelligent they must be, because it comes down to the place grammar is used, and preference. Does the preference hurt anyone? Absolutely not. If you're choosing to have a problem with how people choose to speak online, then you have bigger problems to face on the road ahead.

 

Oh yes, I forgot, silly me. Immigrants and people who are learning new languages, meeting new people and better opportunities for their future.The post above reminded me. You especially have a problem if you can't cut these people some slack. When it comes to them, it's not so much preference as a learning curve. There's no rule saying you can't use the Internet before mastering a language widely used to communicate on it, i.e. English. For what we know, these people could be using the Internet as a tool to help them improve themselves without the need of meeting harsh scrutiny, or are relaxing after a day of making your day possible.

 

And as well, God bless them, the people with LD's such as dyslexia, dyscalculia...not need come under such harsh scrutiny.

 

Remember that not everyone is like you, having a vast superiority complex just because they use a language so correctly on the ONE place it doesn't matter. Good fight :thumbdown:

[la la la]

The one word that really bugs me is "lieing." I guess "dieing" is bad also.

[Bows]

The one word that really bugs me is "lieing." I guess "dieing" is bad also.

 

"Barrow" when the player means "borrow" doesn't bug you?

[demby123]

The OP seems to recognize that "U" is you and "r" is are. What's the problem? As long as you can understand what the person is saying, you don't have any argument.

=D>

[kimzon]

Personally English is my third language and as you mentioned some people do have these known conditions like dyslexia as myself , I cant even type my native languages properly because of it and it has taken me several years to learn to type English this good.

I also do agree with you that its a bit irritating when some people dont even try to use a decent grammar.

[RU_Insane]

Personally English is my third language and as you mentioned some people do have these known conditions like dyslexia as myself , I cant even type my native languages properly because of it and it has taken me several years to learn to type English this good.

I also do agree with you that its a bit irritating when some people dont even try to use a decent grammar.

 

I salute you. What are your other two languages? I only know two languages fluently myself. I can read, write, and speak English, naturally, but I can read, write some, and understand spoken French. I'd say, on a measure of understanding, 100% English, 60-70% French, 30% Russian, 30% Spanish (I believe my understanding of the Russian and Spanish language would've gone up, as my ancestral roots are Russian and Cuban, if I wasn't put in an ESL for like, the first year of grade school. Ontario's education system is really messed...)