Driving me up a wall

Randman

Randman

HA! HA! HA!
I found this post on another site

i been having this problem for a while... my iPod wun charge!!!! and wat makes it worse is that it happens SOMETIMES and u hav no idea why it doesn't sometimes when u did NOTHING!!!!
I mean... i hav a 20GB iPod which i bought a month ago. For quite a few occasion oredi, when i put it on my dock which is connected to my iMac, it sync with no prob and start showing the 'Charging' indicator. I juz leave it there for like... more than 2 hours while i did work on my iMac and when i pull my ipod off my dock (the iPod still showing the charging idicator before i remov) the batt indicator showed that the iPod has NOT been charged at all!?!?!?!?!?!?!
YET there are times when it will juz charge like normal!!!!!
Watz going on!??! i read from the menu tt it takes 1 hour for the iPod to get 3/4 charged but... it been 2 hours n it din even show that itz charged!!! there are times when i left it overnite and it STILL din charge!!!
it there something wrong with my iPod?!?!?
SOMEBODY HELP!!!!
thanks in advance!!!
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Egads, it absolutely baffles me. Not what it says but how poorly it's written. I can understand writing casually and using slang, but OMFG! I just wanted to reach out and slap the poster when I read this.
Is it me? Is it a generational thing? Is it laziness? What the ::evil:: is going on?
 
Oh, and this is the modified post. The poster actually went back into it and changed something. Maybe it was a correctly spelled word.
 
That's the net for you...<G>. Maybe we could create a slapper program for those people?!?

Sounds like that guy paid too much attention to TV during his childhood, and not enough attention to his English teachers.
 
I think it would be wrong for me to criticize such ppl since I ain't any better in grammar and spelling. ;)
But at least I am trying my best which seems to be complete opposite for those ppl. It's very funny to see even german young ppl write this way. They barely know english but it has to be this chat-language or slang or whatever you call it..
What I am asking myself is, how will such ppl write applications later when they are older and in need of a job (assuming these are mostly young users)??
And on the other hand, what if the employers will talk the same way and the writing of ppl like you and me is called classical?? :( Will we get any jobs in the future or do we have to adjust?
 
.. it drives me crazy when I see people of any age writing that way in Italian .. they use the chatty language and cahtty spell so that q > k, ch > k, gli > ji, and so on. (Italian does not have j, or k, or many of the letters these typoers use).

A job application written on that language (of the first post) could look very ... interesting. :D
 
I understand that on a recent November IGCSE (International General Certificate for Secondary Education), the Cambridge University program that is the international equivalent of British high-school, a candidate wrote the entire exam in Literature in SMS slang text. u r rite 2 b shockt.

In their infinite wisdom, the examiners accepted the scripts and marked for content. The candidate passed. An illiterate passing of a Literature exam...
 
Well, as a "literary phenomenon" SMS language is quite interesting. The internet and SMS have brought back a culture of writing as opposed to a culture of speaking and many new kinds of phenomena are developing. In the middle ages paper was expensive, so the famous copy-monks used tons of abbreviations, ligatures and other nearly incomprehensible signs to save space. Currently likewise limitations of time and space have spawned similar artifices. It is very interesting, notwithstanding possible negative effects on grammar and spelling.
 
While I have to agree with Randman, it is annoying, I must give Kudos to CAT for pointing out the larger picture of what it 'might' mean on a larger social level. I appreciate it when people analyze things on a larger scope...makes things much more interesting.

That said, just because I find something more interesting doesn't bar it from also being extremely annoying on another level.

This is a great forum!

Later,
Eddie
 
I have no problems with shortcuts, or sms-textease once in a while. But for a post that long, I can't see it saving any time as far as typing. IMHO (see :D), it's just plain laziness.
After commenting on the poor literacy (and not hearing from the original poster, this was my response...

I can understand being in a hurry. But if you notice, the post was edited. Friendly forum, yes? But I would think someone would get more responses posted in something slightly more than sms speak. Especially since auto-spell can be automatically toggled on in Safari.
* I tried to read the post to offer up an easy answer but it was so difficult to read that it made it not worth my time initially.
* And there's a big difference in speaking (and writing) English well and just being understandable.

That said: If you'd rather have your (third-generation only) iPod display an actual value for its battery state (instead of the disappearing battery bar graph), just open the Terminal (with the iPod docked and available as a hard drive) and type:
* touch /Volumes/your_iPod's_name/iPod_Control/Device/_show_voltage

Replace your_iPod's_name with the name of the iPod as shown in the Finder. Now eject, disconnect, and restart your iPod, and you should see a number in the top right corner of the screen -- on a full charge; I believe the maximum is 500.
* I had the naming convention as Rand's iPod and Terminal didn't like that. I changed it to iPod, applied the Terminal hack and then went back and renamed it.
* At about 200, it'll need a charge, but it's a good way to gauge the strength of the charge.
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If u rather ave ur (tird-gen only) iPod desplay a actual valu 4 its batry state (stead of da despearing bar graf!!!!), jus open da Termeenal (with da iPed dokd and availeble as a harddddd drive) and tipe:
* touch /Volumes/your_iPod's_name/iPod_Control/Device/_show_voltage

Replace your_iPod's_name with that name of that iPod in da Finder!!!!!!!!!! Now EJECT, disconnect, and restart da Ipod, and u should C a #### in the top rite Korner of de screen!!!!!!! -- on a ful charge; I believe;,: that MAX is 500?????!!!!!!!
 
I really don't think that is is the generation (that i happen to belong to) but just the kind of environment that people are used to writing in on-line. I will use simple abbreviations on AIM like: U Y wut BTW WTF etc. But in forums where i prefer people to take me more seriously i try not to use many simple abbreviations. But most teens/kids are typing like that around their peers so they could care less if it slips in to other places. I admit, i am a horrible speller (there have already been 9 things that I have changed with the spell check) but it really bugs me when they sart using that format of writing for essays and on test 0,<
 
I'd say it comes down to appropriateness for the forum. We all take the time to write more or less complete sentences here, because we have the time, and we have a full keyboard to type on.

SMS, I understand wanting to minimize the typing - it's an analog to what you said, Cat - as paper was very expensive, so screen real estate is very short on a cell phone, and you have only a dozen or so keys to fit a whole alphabet into.

Similarly with instant messages, chat rooms and so on. You want to get things out as close as you can to your thinking speed, so you can converse more naturally. In that sort of case I use some abbreviations too - AFK, BRB, IIRC. Maybe it's generational but I'm still stumped by half the abbreviations I see though...
 
Many abbreviations and acronyms have become such commonplace that they are even used in voice conversations, like ASAP. This is not only true for English, where most computer related jargon originated, but also for e.g. Dutch (ZSM, TZT and AUB) and other languages. It is a common trend really. Acronyms have been around for centuries and (like memes) when they are successful they persist and spread to other media. I don't really see it as pollution, language changes constantly and adapts itself to the environment of its users. If you need to communicate with little time or space to do it, you adapt your language to the medium. In a forum like this normally you use normal language, but abbreviations like BTW, IIRC, AFAIK or IANAL are quite common and acceptable. When they are pronounceable, they spread to speech. Of course schools must teach the traditional, conservative language and grammar and everybody should learn it as it is the standard now and further evolutions are variations on the standard. Somewhen they will become the new standard eventually and nobody will complain anymore. Think about all the changes in English of the last 200 years, or of all the new words and concepts of the last 50 years. It's impressive.
 
FYI: Acronym is a series of letters that form its own word. Fubar and Nasa are acronyms. FYI, RTFM, BTW, FBI and others are not. :D
 
Oh?

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03):

acronym

<jargon> An identifier formed from some of the letters (often
the initials) of a phrase and used as an abbreviation.
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ac·ro·nym ** *P***Pronunciation Key**(kr-nm)
n.
A word formed from the initial letters of a name, such as WAC for Women's Army Corps, or by combining initial letters or parts of a series of words, such as radar for radio detecting and ranging.

dictionary.reference

Main Entry: ac·ro·nym
Pronunciation: 'a-kr&-"nim
Function: noun
Etymology: acr- + -onym
: a word (as NATO, radar, or snafu) formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term

; also : an abbreviation (as FBI) formed from initial letters : INITIALISM

Merriam & Webster

acronym **[Show phonetics]
noun [C]
an abbreviation consisting of the first letters of each word in the name of something, pronounced as a word:
AIDS is an acronym for 'Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome'.

Cambridge
 
An acronym forms a word. BRB, FYI are simply abbreviations. If people started saying Berb for be right back or foyin for for your information, they would be using an acronym.

I think that it is disturbing to see that some people do not understand which kinds of communication are appropriate where. I use SMS slang when text messaging but I would never use it in business correspondence . That being said, language is always evolving and changing. I have noticed that some people find that some abbreviations are acceptable even in formal letters. My general rule is to only use abbreviations with people who have first used them in correspondence with me. I strive to write as professionally as I can. But in some cases where I have noticed others using abbreviations I have adjusted my style to accommodate them. I look at it as socialization. I am sure there are some people who do not use abbreviations in correspondence with me because that is how they think I want them to communicate. What will be acceptable in a fifty years?

Clearly the post that started this thread was written very poorly. Clearly the individual has not concept of what is normal or acceptable in this forum. I read many posts here before I posted for the first time. A good rule in life is to listen first and speak when you have something to offer. You listen to learn and to understand the situation. Then you make a judgment about wether you have something to offer in addition to what has already been said. By this time you should know what is appropriate for a given situation or forum. If you have something to offer or a question for clarification, then you communicate in a manner appropriate to the situation or forum.
 
I'm not sure about that acronym/abreviation buisness ... what would you call things like "abbrv.", "etc." or "pers. pron."? I'd call those abbreviations and the 'words' formed by initials acronyms. *shrug* ... anyway ...

Considering formal communications and abbreviations/acronyms, many of those are used on the highest levels of formal written communication, like titles (Prof. Dr. PhD. MD. etc.), in business jargon (like ROI) or the numbers and codes in juridical texts. It is just an efficient way of communicating. Of course some contexts are more appropriate than others and some contexts don't mix well, but the phenomenon per sé isn't really limited just to informal chat.
 
I tend to be a but more forgiving on this issue... but I can relate. I'd be mistyping a lot more if it weren't for Safari's spellchecking. ;)
 
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