This essay may seem familiar to you, especially if you've ever posted on a forum that I have frequented. I'm infamous for being a stickler regarding the English language, and I've given this lecture countless times to countless people, so I figured for the sake of brevity I may as well shore it all up into a single essay.
I don't understand how people can place such emphasis on offline literacy (if it may be called that, in real life or what have you), and completely ignore such a major influence as the internet, which touches millions, possibly billions of people. Nowadays there are children spending more time online than reading books. This is where their information is coming from...they're getting a skewed perception of the English language. And I for one think that it's terrible, especially when you consider the media they're working with.
The internet is a place where you are judged on your ability to communicate effectively. If you lack that ability (or simply choose to ignore it), then you are contributing to the ongoing illiteracy problem in the country. If you in fact possess perfectly capable English skills, and choose to engage in shorthand, slang, or are just careless with spelling and the like, then well, first off why in heaven's name are you doing this? That's the advantage of the internet...you are given time to respond to replies, fix your wording, correct your mistakes. You can carefully pick and choose what you want to say, see it in black and white font right smack in front of your eyes, and if you don't like what you're saying, you can erase and start over again. Real life does not boast nearly such an advantage. If in fact you do not possess entirely correct English skills, and are a sloppy writer and misspell every other word, or even dyslexic or possess a learning disorder of some sort...then why else do you think spellchecks and the like were invented? I am one of those individuals who (not to brag) possesses highly competent spelling, grammar, and punctuation. This is not the result of hours spent bending over a dictionary or dawdling with a spellcheck...this is 100% authentic perfection. There are many advantages to such an ability, namely the advantage of, when arguing debates with people, being able to avoid seeming like an idiot. It's hard to argue effectively when you misspell every other word...your opinions carry far less weight.
Not to offend those of my gentle readers with learning disabilities, but I have never understood how anyone can simply confuse spelling. I too have a learning disability (in my case, ADD), rather severe at that, and have never had any difficulty with the English language. I understand there is a great deal of difference between ADD and dyslexia or dysphoria and the like, but STILL. Online, such an excuse is...well, inexcusable. That's what spellchecks are for. And the horrid excuse of, "I don't like to read, so I'm not good at spelling and stuff"...eek, how in God's name can that be possible?? I adore reading, always have. It's bliss. If you don't like to read...frankly, why the hell are you on the bloody internet?? Because that's what it IS, is reading! Go listen to your noxious little rap CDs, and don't waste my time. *grumble grumble*
I don't pick on typos. Typos are understandable...everyone does typos. The occasional accidental "slip of the finger" right while you press Enter; the eagerness in typing so quickly that you forget to proofread sentences...we've all done that. But the blatant lack of respect to the English language is what really pisses me off. To quote the fictional Henry Higgins (as I'm so fond of doing), it's "...the language of Shakespeare and Milton and the Bible." It deserves more respect than it's getting.
I know I seem arrogant, little no-nothing me, not even in college, to be lecturing others on their illiteracy, but I firmly believe that if you know something someone else doesn't, it's your duty to tell them, if only for the purpose of widening their scope of knowledge. They don't have to agree, just sit and listen. Anything to further knowledge is good. And the state of furthering knowledge is inevitable. You learn every moment, every nanosecond, simply through existing. But it isn't enough. People should learn more. Just sitting around soaking up your environment via synthesis isn't enough. We're not freaking plants, we're human beings. Active learning is the order of the day. It doesn't have to necessarily be organized learning, ie via a school program or the like, but it should be driven...people should want to learn. It saddens me that so many are content to be in stasis, paralyzed by their lack of ambition in that regard. They aren't aware, because they don't know. When you're not aware of a concept, you're not aware of how grand and glorious the world is capable of being...you're not reaching your potential. The English language, and indeed any language, is the greatest gift we possess. Humans are the only species in the history of the world to possess written language, and we abuse this gift as though it were common, stale, ordinary, instead of realizing it to be the everyday miracle that it truly is.
Instead of thinking of language as being binding, restricted to rules and regulations, I before E except after C ("or when sounding like A, as in neighbor and weigh"), think of it as being the most utter of freedoms. When you master the English language, you have the ability to describe the world around you, to notice its depth and subtleties. Power over words, and especially the written word, is the greatest power one can possess. With a rich, expressive, and articulate vocabulary, you can do quite nearly anything.
I've heard that in languages, if someone doesn't have a word for a concept, they don't grasp the concept itself. Words nail down ideas and act as a sort of butterfly net, allowing you to express yourself and your ideas. This is why people should want to expand their vocabularies...so that they know the whole concept, and have that sort of control over their environment.
For example, I was on a forum that I visited frequently, and someone asked the correct meaning of the word "quite". Another person answered that it means "sort of" or "perhaps". This is wrong, and I gave the following reply:
Technically we're both correct; it does necessitate differentiating between formal vernacular and common parlance, however. "Quite" has come to mean "rather", "sort of", "perhaps" etc, simply through consistent misuse through the years that has been validated by its mere existence. It is common, therefore we think it is correct. It's sort of like "squatter's rights"...if you sit on an unclaimed piece of land for a certain piece of time, sans ownership papers, then you can legally claim it without buying it outright. The meaning has become validated because it's been confused so often, the English language finally gave up and admitted it through sheer popular useage. So it's theoretically correct. However, I wouldn't try using it in an English paper. :)
Admittedly, I do the same thing myself all the time. Difference is, I'm not writing a thesis, and I'm not subject to the same scrutiny as I would be in such a situation. It makes quite the difference. :)
I was very polite and affable (as you can see), and the poster was equable in return. For some reason, I got another reply from a different poster who was under the impression that I was a gay man (??? Because I used correct grammar?), but that is another story.