*DESPAIR*

[b_c_draygon]

My cousin just put this as his facebook status: "Sum 1 help me wiv past present n future tense french now...i jst need to knw wat they start wiv"

He is in secondary school, apparently learning another language - and yet he apparently can't even use his own!

That right there is rape of the English Language! It makes me twitch just looking at it.

Comments

[b_c_draygon]

That's true - it could be worse. I feel for you, I truly do. *cringes in sympathy* I really don't understand other people, sometimes ...

Yeah, I'm wondering the same thing about ... well, most of my cousins, actually. Even the non-chavvy ones over-use text-speak. (OK, not to that extreme-and-sickening extent, but still.)

[lipi5_pilivh]

exactly the point when avoiding just consonants and some vowels in between to express myself properly. sometimes people seem to forget text language is only for instant messages. english not really being my native language, i do hope to get help to not embarrass myself when writing or speaking. so feel free to correct me when i mess up with it :)

[b_c_draygon]

The only time I can understand people using text language is when there's a character limit - otherwise it just annoys me. (Even in instant messages, because it doesn't take that much longer to type out the whole word ... But then, I'm strange like that. :P)

I think your English is very good! (It's way better than any foreign language I speak, anyway.) How long have you been learning for?

[lipi5_pilivh]

sorry for the delay in answering this. thank you very much, you are so kind. i took some lessons a long time ago since i always felt passionate about learning english as a second language. at some point in my life i needed to understand at least the basic common phrases and went through a complete two-year course. i'd like to continue my journey with another language, but i do not feel so confident about being successful at it. any hints as to which one should be next in line for someone who's a spanish speaker?

[b_c_draygon]

Don't worry about it - I'm usually bad at replying to comments.

You certainly seem to know more than just the basic phrases now! The course seems to have paid off. :)

Sorry, I can't really offer any hints with what to learn next. :( I'm not that good with languages. Or at least, I'm not modern languages ... dead ones like Latin and Old English - which are no practical use whatsoever - I can handle! LOL!

[hinna_koto]

oh my :o you poor thing /pats you/

[b_c_draygon]

Thanks for the sympathy.

I'm now thinking I may have overreacted a little bit ... but my point still stands.

[siraplowe]

Ah, would that we were cool kids... :P He probably doesn't know the delights of the 'would that' construction...

But yes, claiming you don't want to be related to him just because of his facebook status is perhaps slightly harsh. :P

And, let's face it, our lengthy correctly punctuated sentences did not endear us to the popular group. ;-)

*is now wondering if there should be a comma between 'lengthy' and 'correctly'*

[b_c_draygon]

No, he probably wouldn't. (This is true, and exactly my point. When I told my dad, he said that if he'd seen it he would have replied with, "Never mind French, you need help with English!" -- as I almost did. He meant it, too.)

It's not just the Facebook status - it's the attitude. The lack of please and thank you, and the total disregard for speaking and writing English properly, upsets me. D:

Probably not, but I don't care - I'd rather be a literate loser than a solecistic socialite.

I don't think it does; 'lengthy' is describing the 'correctly punctuated sentences' (which works collectively like a single noun) so there doesn't need to be a comma.
On the other hand, if 'lengthy' and 'correctly punctuated' are taken as two adjectives describing the 'sentences', you would need a comma. (However, that's not how I would automatically take it.)
So, it could go either way, but I would lean towards no comma.