d00d!! i R an '1337 hax0r!!!!
You know, there's an alarming trend out here in cyberspace. I've noticed it before (how you can be a sentient person and NOT notice it is beyond me), but today it really struck me. "Camel's back? Meet the straw" kind of thing. Suffering a bout of insomnia and lacking the mental prowess to do a whole lot else, I logged onto my usual online hang-out, the MUD Aardwolf, and before long I was contacted by a newbie character inquiring about my clan. Now that in and of itself isn't cause for concern, but at one point, the following conversational cul du sac occurred:
Since when does presenting yourself as a well-read, well-spoken individual have an age bracket? I didn't lie -- when I was 15 I would sooner have shot my computer and then myself for using "ur" instead of "your". "ur" isn't a word, last I checked, and while I make as many typos as the next person, why someone deliberately misspells common words as part of every day communication is a concept I just cannot grasp.
The tender young age of 15 was an important age for me. It's when I bought my first modem, a lightning-fast 2400 baud modem, and Prodigy to go with it. Back in the days when the BBS was king and the Internet a fabled geek-inhabited land of Star Trek and porn. Now I don't want to go on a meandering tirade hip-deep in nostalgia, because frankly, I enjoy the Net of today. I love that it's so open and accessible, and were it not for that modem I bought in 1990 which eventually led me here, it's safe to say that I would be an entirely different person. So that's not the crux of this rant at all.
What gets me is the paradox that has occurred in people. The Internet, a huge information machine, is somehow managing to create stupider people by the hundreds. People who think that it's really spelt "tnx" and "d00d" and that "u" is a perfectly acceptable stand-alone vowel. With the almost limitless ability to become exponentially more informed and intelligent, people are actively choosing to remain be ignorant.
More than that, they're choosing to be idiots.
"when ur 15 that doesn't really matter" she said, and meant. I was 15 once too, and by the gods, it DID matter. In this online arena, what you type is what you speak. And I sure as hell wouldn't walk up to somebody, look them in the eye AND SPEAK TO THEM LIKE THIS. Or even attempt to vocalize some of the atrocities of the English language that appear on my monitor. So why do it online? Honestly, how much time does typing "ur" instead of "your" save? It's two characters, for cryin' out loud, it's the same as abbreviating "road" as "rd." It just doesn't compute, and what's more, the impression your audience is (or should be, if even one of their synapses are active) left with is that you're either stupid or lazy. Or both. And frankly, if the time can't be taken to ensure you're communicating with me properly, why should I take the time to read what you have to say?
It's beyond me, and hopefully, it's beyond you too. I guess the day I start to fully understand that sort of mindset necessary is the day that The Heart of the Flames becomes "jw'z kewl h0us 4 da peeps." At which point, I request immediate termination.
ADDENDUM: I just received an E-mail regarding this rant, containing the following paragraph:
"ok...that makes sense...u use big words....hehehe"
She didn't respond to this and the conversation progressed. She could hold her own fairly well, assuming I wasn't expecting words of many syllables to enter into the fray, but while we were talking, my mind kept coming back to the same thing again and again ... "when ur 15 that doesn't really matter."
"I find a good vocabulary and communication skills imperative."
"hehehe well when ur 15 that doesn't really matter"
"Nonsense. When I was 15, it was equally as important. Whatever your age, your speech, both online and in RL, is integral to your overall persona."In it, you stated that "ur" is used in the place of "your." It is possible, even likely, that it is used in that manner, but in the example given it was replacing "you're" or "you are." Thus, although still evil and bad, it is based on pronouncing the names of the letters and isn't just a result of dropping vowels.
By george, he's right. So yes, much to my surprise, I'm NOT perfect. For my defense, I offer up the sleep-deprived haze in which the rant was written in the first place, but still contend that an honest mistake and blatant laziness are two completely seperate realms of irritating. However, as the writer ended his E-Mail by stating "Even though what appears to be the main reason behind the rant is flawed, I agree wholehartedly with the premis of the rant in question and still worship you as a god," then I can live with being corrected. Although the "-dess" missing from the end of "god" has me mildly concerned ...
