Case in point:
PETA wishes Obama hadn't swatted that fly.
Video here
Here's the thing, PETA. When you choose to make ANY fuss over something so trivial (not to mention ridiculous), you lose credibility on all fronts, even those where your position is valid.
This, ladies and gentleman, is why you should choose your battles wisely.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Saturday, June 13, 2009
A rising generation of horrible spellers
The benefits of the internet are many, as are the disadvantages; I shan't attempt to number them all. Let me focus your attention on one aspect of this world I dwell in.
The internet is an information superhighway. Ideas can be shared and propagated to the world with the click of a button. Or, a few buttons, actually, because of this keyboard thing. But what if that idea is a bad one? Or rather, what if that idea is a really good one, but the idiot who came up with it used some variation of "there/their/they're" incorrectly. ("Hey guys! Their giving free slurpees at 7-11 this Thursday!!!") Well, now you've got millions of the idiot's friends of friends of friends forwarding this great idea, bad grammar and all. Then all these millions of friends start coming up with their own great ideas, with little regard to how they're using "you're/your."
If you own an email account, you've also probably been forwarded some kind of outrageous tidbit which may or may not be true. The original genius who revealed this newsworthy masterpiece probably described the event as ridiculous. Except he spelled it "rediculous." All the people who receive that email react in indignant outrage, quickly searching for the forward button to let all their friends and family know just how messed up the world is. Before you know it, millions of people have seen this email. They're also gathering around the water cooler talking about how "rediculous" it is.
We are a spoiled and lazy generation. Spoiled because most internet browsers and word processors immediately alert us to misspelled words. Lazy because we apparently don't care enough to right click on that word with the dotted red line under it to see what's wrong.
It's getting so bad that every time I see a correct usage of "you're," I actually do a double-take, instinctively thinking something must be wrong. Then I realize, "Oh, no that's right." I just see it wrong so often that I get confused when people do it right. Another culprit of this embarrassing development is internet and text messaging shortcuts (e.g. "ur"). "Ur" of course can mean one of three things: your, you're, and you are. Once people start using "ur" for everything, they must forget the correct usages of the above terms, and just go with the easiest one ("your").
Even rediculous bloggers who rant about stupid stuff like this are not immune. On rare occasion, I'm ashamed to admit, I've caught myself slipping up and using some simple contraption incorrectly. If purists like myself aren't even safe from this epidemic, then who is? What does our future hold? Will our newspapers someday read like the warning label of a Chinese firecracker?
Here are the most frequently misspelled words that I encounter. In all honesty I think the incorrect spellings/usages may one day oust the correct words from their rightful place.
The internet is an information superhighway. Ideas can be shared and propagated to the world with the click of a button. Or, a few buttons, actually, because of this keyboard thing. But what if that idea is a bad one? Or rather, what if that idea is a really good one, but the idiot who came up with it used some variation of "there/their/they're" incorrectly. ("Hey guys! Their giving free slurpees at 7-11 this Thursday!!!") Well, now you've got millions of the idiot's friends of friends of friends forwarding this great idea, bad grammar and all. Then all these millions of friends start coming up with their own great ideas, with little regard to how they're using "you're/your."
If you own an email account, you've also probably been forwarded some kind of outrageous tidbit which may or may not be true. The original genius who revealed this newsworthy masterpiece probably described the event as ridiculous. Except he spelled it "rediculous." All the people who receive that email react in indignant outrage, quickly searching for the forward button to let all their friends and family know just how messed up the world is. Before you know it, millions of people have seen this email. They're also gathering around the water cooler talking about how "rediculous" it is.
We are a spoiled and lazy generation. Spoiled because most internet browsers and word processors immediately alert us to misspelled words. Lazy because we apparently don't care enough to right click on that word with the dotted red line under it to see what's wrong.
It's getting so bad that every time I see a correct usage of "you're," I actually do a double-take, instinctively thinking something must be wrong. Then I realize, "Oh, no that's right." I just see it wrong so often that I get confused when people do it right. Another culprit of this embarrassing development is internet and text messaging shortcuts (e.g. "ur"). "Ur" of course can mean one of three things: your, you're, and you are. Once people start using "ur" for everything, they must forget the correct usages of the above terms, and just go with the easiest one ("your").
Even rediculous bloggers who rant about stupid stuff like this are not immune. On rare occasion, I'm ashamed to admit, I've caught myself slipping up and using some simple contraption incorrectly. If purists like myself aren't even safe from this epidemic, then who is? What does our future hold? Will our newspapers someday read like the warning label of a Chinese firecracker?
Here are the most frequently misspelled words that I encounter. In all honesty I think the incorrect spellings/usages may one day oust the correct words from their rightful place.
- Rediculous (Correct: "This blog is ridiculous.")
- They're/Their/There (I'm not even going to try. If people can't figure this out, our education system is in worse shape than we can possibly imagine.)
- You're/Your/You are (see above)
- Its/It's (Correct: "It's late; you should go." Also: "The blogger reared its ugly head.")
- Then/Than (Correct: "Then she said, 'You're way more ridiculous than my ex.")
- Lose/Loose
- to/too/two (Maybe not so much that last one, but I wouldn't be surprised.)
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