patrick.net

I think abbreviations have their place, but they don't need to be used everywhere. This makes you wonder if the person could even write out the word if necessary.

Did you read that story somewhere online?

Y? B/c it's EZ.

I think with all the texting we do, abbreviations will become even more prevalent as they are a convenient time saver. But, how I do love to read well written text. Think of bygone eras where people took the time necessary to really compose a letter for their audience. In Ken Burn's documentary, The Civil War, they showcased some letters that ordinary soldiers sent home to their farms, families and lovers - those letters were marked by a rhetorical eloquence. Contrast letters from that time period with the quality of letters that are probably coming home from our soldiers today.

OK. All 4 now. Out.

English has no equivalent to the French Culture Ministry which aims to keep the language pure.

English is a bastard language, a mashup, and a mess. English didn't just borrow from other languages, it followed them down alleys, knocked them over the head and went through their pockets for loose grammar.

I would expect English to mutate over time. I just wish Ben Franklin and company had done a more thorough job of cleaning up the spelling back when they did some revisions on it. We ended up stuck partway through that job with lots of problems still remaining. "Dough" and "Enough" why do these 2 simple words have the same ending yet different pronunciations? Did you know that Italians don't have spelling bees? Because words are spelled in most languages according to more consistent rules and there just isn't the mass of weird and inconsistent spellings that exist in English.

OK now let me "axe" you a question..... perhaps you only read the Civil War letters that were "bestest"? There are plenty of examples that are not so eloquent:

Nathan Bedford Forrest from May 23, 1862 to a D.C. Trader of Memphis. from "Burke Davis's The Civil War: Strange & Fascinating Facts"

NB Forrest
"

I think its mostly written in a kind of corporate 'group-speak'... The person has just totally internalized the group-think of their previous corporate world, and after getting laid off they're probably a bit more inclined to want it back... Good luck to them but I agree, I hate that stuff too. Poor little puppy.

Ever read Orwell's "Politics and the English language"? Its a fun read...
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm

Also, there's a funny bit of graffiti I read once in a photo in translation, lamenting 'kids these days' all going to hell, not what they used to be, etc etc. It was written on a wall in Pompeii. :-) But yeah,Scan through the comments on youtube sometime, its a truly depressing experience.

Vicente says

Suns of Biches

Maybe you're right. They might be as bad as the "fiters" today!

People bitching about how English changes over time. News at 11.

Relevant: http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/

Kevin, that graph...well, this is a better link:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/find-out-whats-in-word-or-five-with.html

How is a link to a blog post better than a link to the actual tool?

The blog provides an explanation as well as a link to the tool. It's user friendly, so to speak.

He also. Speaks in short sentences. They don't make sense. And it doesn't flow. But he worked. For a mortgage company. They had short attention spans. Only cared as long as the sale was in progress.

sux.

Vicente says

“bestest”?

Shoot I know people that say...
"Its the lastest of the last'ns."
When they grab the last beer.

ha.

We talk funny here, with pseudo southern accents. You can tell someone from southern Utah 'cause we don't go directly anywhere. We go "over to" or "up to." For example, I'm going uptown later, then I'm going over to the Walmarts.

It's funny, especially when I catch myself doing the same.