Moan, moan, moan----get it off your chest or have a chat

[Lesley Cox]

Well Luit, if you are old-fashioned so am I and happy with it. I truly deplore the rubbishing of the English language. I believe even the Oxford Dictionary finds split infinitives acceptable nowadays, common usage being the only criterion of correctness. To my mind, every time we accept such apparently small or unimportant down-grades, we say, in effect, that the lowest standard is what should be achieved and that a high stand is not worth attaining. If this is so with our language then it is so in every aspect of our lives.

A recent article in our "Listener" magazine was about how New Zealanders in particular have mangled their mother tongue to the extent that even English speakers from outside NZ find us impossible to understand. I'm sure that it all comes down to laziness in the end, and failure to correct bad spelling, grammar and syntax in our school system.

[Maggi Young]

That's it! A SIN TAX for the school system..... the revenue from that could solve the country's fiscal problems at a stroke.    I'll vote for it!

[Michael J Campbell]

Lesley,a teacher told me recently that they are now accepting text message lingo in some schools,but he would not correct any exercise written in text lingo.

[Lesley Cox]

I believe it Michael. It is some years since NZ universities required students to spell sulphur as sulfur or sulfer, apparantly as Americans do. It will be si-ki-atry next! (By the way, what is lingo? )

[Lesley Cox]

I'm all for the sin tax Maggi. So long as I am asked to list the sins. It could apply in all walks of life not just the schools. Of course it wouldn't include the consumption of alcohol, but just about everything else.

[Maggi Young]

(By the way, what is lingo? )

That would be a  vernacular, Lesley, a patois or jargon........


 The Sin Tax was MY idea Lesley, so I get to choose the sins  ......... it's a LONG list, I can tell you 
Naturally, those who use far too many exclamation marks will not be punished under my regime, though other transgressions will be tackled...... then, as time permits, I'll get on to those idiots who use their phones while driving..... and ...... and.......

[Anthony Darby]

.....and the congenital idiots who make my classroom life a misery.

[Lesley Cox]

(By the way, what is lingo? )

That would be a  vernacular, Lesley, a patois or jargon........

I know Maggi, I know (by jingo!)

I don't suppose over indulgence will be on the list will it? couldn't cope with that.

[fermi de Sousa]

A recent article in our "Listener" magazine was about how New Zealanders in particular have mangled their mother tongue to the extent that even English speakers from outside NZ find us impossible to understand. I'm sure that it all comes down to laziness in the end, and failure to correct bad spelling, grammar and syntax in our school system.

I'm not sayin' nuffink!

The Sin Tax was MY idea Lesley, so I get to choose the sins  ......... it's a LONG list, I can tell you 
Naturally, those who use far too many exclamation marks will not be punished under my regime, though other transgressions will be tackled...... then, as time permits, I'll get on to those idiots who use their phones while driving..... and ...... and.......

I always thought that Sin Tax was what you put in the plate in Church!
Thank goodness excessive exclaimers are exempt!  Hopefully Maggi will have more luck catching those idiots using phones while driving as the police only seem to catch them on TV shows!
cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

Well I suppose because so few of us go to church nowadays, that leaves plenty opportunities for Maggi to collect. After all, our various guilt complexes have to have some resolution somewhere.

[gote]

I always thought that Sin Tax was what you put in the plate in Church!
cheers
fermi

You must be very virtuous if a plate is sufficient. In our churches they stick around a bag on a pole 
Göte

[Anthony Darby]

I always thought that Sin Tax was what you put in the plate in Church!
cheers
fermi

You must be very virtuous if a plate is sufficient. In our churches they stick around a bag on a pole 
Göte

Plates in the Cathedral here.

Lesley,a teacher told me recently that they are now accepting text message lingo in some schools, but he would not correct any exercise written in text lingo.

We don't accept text speak at our school, or in the Scottish exam system. Microsoft Word has a lot to answer for adding capital letters to words in documents and correcting spelling. These people are shown up when they move out of 'Word'. I despair.

[gote]

You are not alone Anthony.
In my part of the world it is the accepted wisdom that those who influence the language should always use the most childish and simplified babble possible. The idea is that nobody should "show off" their erudition, thereby intimidating the less fortunate. What these (censored censored) morons do not understand is that they deem the public to be unable to learn and/or think. Only they are intelligent enough but they must (crocodile tears - is there a smily for that?) lower themselves to the level of Profanum Vulgus and simplify. The acceptance of simplifying is the bane of the language.
Most Swedish readers have difficulty in understanding Swedish of the 17th century. Most cannot read a runic stone (11th C) at all. An educated Chinese can read and love poetry that is from the 7th C. (sometimes much older) This is because they did not (until recently) simplify their script. They did simplify their pronounciation to the degree when the word written 'li' in romanizated form in one of the four tones used has over 25 different meanings - each written differently using the Chinese script.
I am old enough to have seen the plural forms of the Swedish verb disappear; so did the conjunctive forms. The imperative forms are only left in old songs and today few realize what they are.
You have lost 'thou' and I assume many other refinements that I as an outsider do not see.
The words meaning 'work' and 'talk' have been replaced by 'job' and 'chat' We used to use different words for talking with a serious meaning and chatting socially - no more. Again for the anti-snobbish reasons. An anti-snob is in fact the worst kind of snob. "I know and understand but you do not so I am gracious enough to lower myself to your level" I think hypocrisy is the word.
 
Göte
 

[Tony Willis]

After I retired I attended college to learn computing,word,etc. which upto that time I had not been involved with.My PA was taking a degree in computer studies and so it was not necessary for me to be able to use the machine.Lazy I know!

At college myself, together with the other oldies on the course used punctuation in our work such as commas and colons. We were told that punctuation  was no longer used apart from a full stop and if we used it in the examination we would be failed as not up to standard.It is not my strongest point but I do still try.

[Carol Shaw]

After I retired I attended college to learn computing,word,etc. which upto that time I had not been involved with.My PA was taking a degree in computer studies and so it was not necessary for me to be able to use the machine.Lazy I know!

At college myself, together with the other oldies on the course used punctuation in our work such as commas and colons. We were told that punctuation  was no longer used apart from a full stop and if we used it in the examination we would be failed as not up to standard.It is not my strongest point but I do still try.

Good grief! I still use proper punctuation and grammar - damn Word for trying to Americanise everything - and on another set of boards had a long rant re. my inability to understand the communications of some posters due to their inability to write English!

A friend's son always maintained he did not need to know how to spell as his computer corrected everything for him. He then went off to Brazil for the better part of a year and used their internet cafés to communicate. Well, guess what, a Brazilian computer can't check English spelling! I used to import his text into a Word doc. and run spell checker on it to make it easier to read... even then the grammar and punctuation was dire