Is everyone of Tamatalk illiterate?

[iwillfollow]

I like Tamatalk a lot, it's the best forum for tamagotchis that I've come across. However, a lot of the users make no sense when they post. I can't even read what they're saying because they obviously have no grasp of the English language.

Then there are the people who use "u" instead of you and "r" instead of are or our and such. "omg tamagotchis r so kewl" you know who you are.

So...maybe it's just because I'm an English major or I'm too uptight...but please, aren't there any literate people on these forums?

 

[iwillfollow]

Ahh I feel so stupid. I wrote "of" tamatalk instead of "on"

Talk about irony.

 

[dolphin]

No no its not a different languge or anything like that! People just do that cause they dont always wanna say cool they wanna say somthing different like kewl. You know what I mean right?

 

[peanutbutter13]

Im sorry I used to do that so I changed how i type ok.

 

[Rico]

Well, a lot of people here are younger, and younger folks tend to use that kind of shorthand language. I also know a few people here do not speak English as their first language, but I admit that they should at least try a little harder to use correct tense and word choice and such. I personally don't see why anyone who speaks English as their first language would purposely dumb it down so much, though, but I guess it's just one of those things that they'll get over eventually (I hope.)

 

[parkingviolation]

That's something I've noticed as well. It might be 'kewl' to spell everything differently, but you'll have to remember that you can't be spelling things wrong on your term papers in the future. Teachers don't go for that kind of thing. I can understand substituting 'u' for you, or 'r' for are, or 'kewl' or 'ppl' and all that, but I've run across a few that I had absolutely NO CLUE what they were saying! There have been some that I've had to read and reread several times before I figured out what they said. Some were just plain awkward.

For example, here's one I found recently:"Tanks fivin I'm takwul vo mah wamiwee an mah fwends. happi taks fivin everee1!"

If you can decipher what this says, I'll give you... a gold star, I guess? Or maybe just the satisfaction of knowing how to understand Internet Shorthand of the 21st Century.

Whatever.

But if you're going to type in English, please, make an effort to make it understandable to all.

 

[Perfect Entropy]

Yeah, that's one thing that bothers me on all sorts of forums. I've never been able to stand typing like that, not even when I was younger. I can't help but see 16 year olds (people my age) typing "how r u i m kool!!11" and wonder about their intelligence level. Younger people I can understand, but once you're 16 you should have enough grasp of the English language to think that maybe that doesn't sound very smart. And a lot of those people are perfectly literate otherwise, so I don't understand why being online suddenly gives you a free pass to shorthand everything beyond recognition. *shrug*

But oh well, it's life.

 

[iwillfollow]

Well, a lot of people here are younger, and younger folks tend to use that kind of shorthand language. I also know a few people here do not speak English as their first language, but I admit that they should at least try a little harder to use correct tense and word choice and such. I personally don't see why anyone who speaks English as their first language would purposely dumb it down so much, though, but I guess it's just one of those things that they'll get over eventually (I hope.)

Yeah, I was think about that, too. Thanks for your input ^^

 

[Solaniflora]

Well, English is not my mother tongue (Finnish is) but I sincerely hope you can understand what I'm trying to say!!

I've studied English for about 17 years and I also speak, read and write Finnish, Swedish, German, some French, Spanish and Italian. Now I'm studying Latin as a hobby.

I don't mind it if people make mistakes. Besides, it is not just foreign people who make mistakes, many native speakers have trouble spelling the words right etc. Still, it doesn't matter because if you don't write, you never learn!

 

[Perfect Entropy]

Well, English is not my mother tongue (Finnish is) but I sincerely hope you can understand what I'm trying to say!!
I've studied English for about 17 years and I also speak, read and write Finnish, Swedish, German, some French, Spanish and Italian. Now I'm studying Latin as a hobby.

I don't mind it if people make mistakes. Besides, it is not just foreign people who make mistakes, many native speakers have trouble spelling the words right etc. Still, it doesn't matter because if you don't write, you never learn!

Your English is wonderful! And the main problem, as I see it, is not people not being able to spell correctly. It's people purposely spelling things wrong. I don't get all irritated if people don't know English well or are younger and/or bad spellers. It's just when I know people are perfectly capable of spelling, capitalizing, and punctuating correctly and they choose to make "How are you? I'm good today." into "how r u? im gud 2dai!11"

Most people on forums I'm not sure about, but there are people from school and stuff that I know personally that do that, and I can't stand it. Pet peeve of mine, I'm a grammar freak.

 

[cop]

many people do this so they can shorten their sentances and write faster. then again some people just make mistakes

 

[mamethchi_mimitchi132004]

Sometimes I do that, and sometimes I don't. I do it because it saves me time

 

[Laffy_Taffy]

Its called chatspeak, and i do it sometimes wen im in a hurry or feel GOOOOOOOOFY! ^^

 

[catcat]

i've also noticed that. i can understand simple spelling mistakes if you acctually don't know how to spell the word, but if you are just being lazy and you do know how to spell the words, i find that annoying.

 

[Rico]

i've also noticed that. i can understand simple spelling mistakes if you acctually don't know how to spell the word, but if you are just being lazy and you do know how to spell the words, i find that annoying.

Yes, the spelling here is what really gets on my nerves. How can people misspell words like "which" and "when"?

 

[clarinutty]

I understand what you're saying completely.

Contrary to what one or two others said, the people who do NOT speak english as their first language should NOT have to "Try harder" to get the tenses correct. No one who speaks English as their first language can possibly understand how little sense it makes compared to any other language I've come across (and I've studied quite a few).

The "chatspeak" is ridiculous. Anybody who doesnt have time to type "yo" before "u" when those keys are in such close proximity either needs to learn to type properly or needs to grow some sense. Proper keyboard skills make it possible to type any word in a very short amount of time. If anybody in a conversation calls me "u", I feel insulted.

I don't mind the occassional mis-spelling of a word; not everybody is perfect and spelling isn't easy for some. I personally have to keep in mind that many words are spelled differently here (Canada) than in the states (Where a majority of posters are from).

/end rant.