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Mini Language Rant
May. 26th, 2008 09:15 pmOk, so I have gradually accepted the fact that no one seems to be able to spell 'definitely' and will come up with any number of variations depending on their own dialect and ear. Even though it's directly related to the words 'finite' and 'definition', so should be relatively simple, I understand that not everyone thinks about words as obsessively as I do. And I may someday stop cringing when I see the word 'defiantly' inexplicably used in its place - is MS Word's autocorrect function doing its best with what it's given? (Can we blame Bill Gates for this? Please?)
But my overload vent finally went off tonight. Why? Well, I'm glad you asked. My rant will now be presented in four parts. Thank you.
a) Mini Rant. In a story I was just reading, the word 'definitely' (spelled perfectly correctly) was actually used where 'defiantly' was meant. What the fuck??? How have these two words become interchangeable??? They have NOTHING TO DO WITH EACH OTHER. ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH.
and
b) Slightly longer rant. This incident brought me flashing back to a clothes-shopping incident from last summer that I'd thought I'd finally managed to block out. While I was out looking for some cheap summer-weight jammies from Target, two girls approached a nearby rack and after some sliding of hangers, one exclaimed "That is defiantly not it." ACK! It's gone verbal! It is possible that it was being used in all irony, and was some longstanding joke between the friends though there was no irony in her tone (or maybe it's just that everything she said was delivered in that same faux-ironic ennui-filled mocking tone that's worse than squeaking chalk boards). But even if they were joking, VERBAL, people! It's escaped the page and emerged into the spoken language! Holy Shit.
c) Analysis. The verbalization of the 'teh' phenomenon is annoying enough, and 'pwn' is, well, kind of amusing to me, actually, but these are new words created from the fabric of social interaction. Fine. That's how language works and all that. But this just ticks me off, because it's two well-established words being blatantly switched around. And it derails my reading pleasure when I'm minding my own business enjoying a story and then whammo! I have to stop and reread the sentence to figure out why there is suddenly conflict between characters where there was none a second ago, or vice versa.
d) Conclusion. I know not everyone is the best speller in the world, and that doesn't make people bad writers, so I'm not trying to get up on some elitist high horse. I just wish people could take an extra second with this word, since it is so frequently misused. Overall, I am pretty flexible and accepting in the world of online spelling, but He glared at Roy definitely just doesn't make any sense, goddammit.
Okay, sorry. I'll shut up now. Please don't flame me!
(Oh, and I can't believe it's been 7 weeks since I've posted anything. Writer's block continues unabated. Sigh. May need to eliminate sugar/carbs from my diet. Panic. Only have one chapter of thesis written. Groan. Am currently watching the movie trailer awards. Hangs head in shame.)
But my overload vent finally went off tonight. Why? Well, I'm glad you asked. My rant will now be presented in four parts. Thank you.
a) Mini Rant. In a story I was just reading, the word 'definitely' (spelled perfectly correctly) was actually used where 'defiantly' was meant. What the fuck??? How have these two words become interchangeable??? They have NOTHING TO DO WITH EACH OTHER. ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH.
and
b) Slightly longer rant. This incident brought me flashing back to a clothes-shopping incident from last summer that I'd thought I'd finally managed to block out. While I was out looking for some cheap summer-weight jammies from Target, two girls approached a nearby rack and after some sliding of hangers, one exclaimed "That is defiantly not it." ACK! It's gone verbal! It is possible that it was being used in all irony, and was some longstanding joke between the friends though there was no irony in her tone (or maybe it's just that everything she said was delivered in that same faux-ironic ennui-filled mocking tone that's worse than squeaking chalk boards). But even if they were joking, VERBAL, people! It's escaped the page and emerged into the spoken language! Holy Shit.
c) Analysis. The verbalization of the 'teh' phenomenon is annoying enough, and 'pwn' is, well, kind of amusing to me, actually, but these are new words created from the fabric of social interaction. Fine. That's how language works and all that. But this just ticks me off, because it's two well-established words being blatantly switched around. And it derails my reading pleasure when I'm minding my own business enjoying a story and then whammo! I have to stop and reread the sentence to figure out why there is suddenly conflict between characters where there was none a second ago, or vice versa.
d) Conclusion. I know not everyone is the best speller in the world, and that doesn't make people bad writers, so I'm not trying to get up on some elitist high horse. I just wish people could take an extra second with this word, since it is so frequently misused. Overall, I am pretty flexible and accepting in the world of online spelling, but He glared at Roy definitely just doesn't make any sense, goddammit.
Okay, sorry. I'll shut up now. Please don't flame me!
(Oh, and I can't believe it's been 7 weeks since I've posted anything. Writer's block continues unabated. Sigh. May need to eliminate sugar/carbs from my diet. Panic. Only have one chapter of thesis written. Groan. Am currently watching the movie trailer awards. Hangs head in shame.)
