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  • Posted by mccannon01 3 years, 4 months ago
    Yes, I've been seeing grammatical errors or anomalies all the time nowadays. I figured most of it was due to ignorance rather than design. Of course there are typos that sneak into a statement from time to time, but some things are becoming common. Have the people really become systematically dumbed down for some reason? Has editing become a lost art? Here's a few I'm seeing:

    When did the phrase "one of" as in "one of a kind" become "one off"?
    "Then" and "than" are interchanged and misused very often these days.
    Many seem to have lost the difference between "they're", "there", and "their". I'm noticing "they're" is almost gone, replaced by "there".
    I'm seeing "are" being used instead of "our" more often.
    "You" instead of "your" or "you're".

    There are more examples and I'm sure those who read this can think of a few.

    Some things are so badly written they barely pass for English. Is this evidence of ignorant people or could it be an anomaly of speaking into a device while it converts voice to text? In any case these errors can make a serious writer look like a moron.

    Side note: "One off" seems so common now, it is accepted as normal speech and shows up in modern dictionaries and even Wikipedia.
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    • Posted by $ Snezzy 3 years, 4 months ago
      Yes, it's voice-to-text, predictive text, and spelling "correction" in software. Sometimes I think that I could make good money as a copy editor, same thing I used to attempt for my dad's weekly newspaper. Dad didn't appreciate it, though, because the paper had a press deadline. Our time slot on the press was about two in the morning, and I had to drive my '63 Chevy to the printing shop and pick up 2200 copies of the paper. Kind of sagged in the rear end. The car, not me. My dad never any time for fixing bad spelling or grammar.

      Really, I think that almost nobody cares anymore. My dad was simply ahead of the time.
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      • Posted by 3 years, 4 months ago
        Actually, I don't remember seeing "one off" used for "one of". But there is a lot of "as far as" used to mean "as far as _ is concerned", which I find faintly irritating.
        ---But I think that the singular "they" is worse; it started, apparently, as a way of avoiding sexism, but it can work to the detriment of individualism.
        Ayn Rand was quite a fan of Victor Hugo, and I recall reading in "Les Miserables" an account of a convent (fictional or based on truth?) in which the nuns were not supposed to say "me" or "mine";instead of "my shift" [which I assume referred to an undergarment] one was supposed to say "our shift". It has occurred to me that perhaps she got the idea for the mode of speech in "Anthem" from that.
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    • Posted by 3 years, 4 months ago
      What about "go" as substitute for "say"? I think it began with such remarks as " 'Aah--choo!' he went," to express an explosive sound. I have no objection to that, but I do not think that "go" should become a synonym for "say".
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  • Posted by Arthgallo 3 years, 4 months ago
    teenage grandkids don't know how to sign anything. They never learned cursive.
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    • Posted by $ Snezzy 3 years, 4 months ago
      Listening to some young (high-school age) people speak they seem very good at cursive. Just about every word is effin cursive.

      China changed their writing system to be simpler, and I've always thought it was so that nobody can read "old" literature.
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  • Posted by mhubb 3 years, 4 months ago
    wait till the Sun hits us with a massive solar flare
    all electronics will die

    the current generation will be crying into their broken cell phones
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