Grammar and Rhetoric

coach wrote: You can use it to perfect your skills; or u cn use it 2 prfct ur skls; it all depends upon your intention(s).

I have to laugh when I think back to the 1970's, working for HFC. They made us learn their "code" to write our notes on the account cards so the customers could not read what we were writing. That code was almost identical to the texting shorthand of today.

Brother Ray, welcome to the forums. How about an introduction post in the http://forum.mastermason.com/forum_topics.asp?FID=4&title=introduce-and-accommodate-visiting-brethren section. I am also a ham as well, KE4RHN. I do very little with it anymore though.

I put the blame on society we allowed these things to happen. We as the people have lost ourselves. What happen to the Martins and Malcomes of these world.  What happen to each on teach one, It takes a nation to raise a child.  We as the people have become so dependent on "It's not my problem".  What we forgot is in the long run as we now are beginning it is our problem. 

Could not agree more, although I'd like to add that proper etiquette is praised everywhere.

Very sad indeed. 

I try to be as clear and concise as possible. I may be getting older, but I find myself more and more annoyed at the increased use slang, all capital letters, etc,. by people. Slang terms get used so often that it actually makes it's way into the dictionary as a legitimate word!

Coach,

I guess it's not that serious to me on an online forum. To each there own I guess.

Communication involves one person transmitting information understood by the receiving party as the sender intended it.

Edited by Caution1010 - May/12/2011 at 2:26pm

I believe the reason for the marked decrease in the written communication skills of our high school graduates is email, internet chatting, and blog sites.  One could also add that many businesses frequently use power point slides which use a bulletized format.   Yes, you are correct, I am writing this message onto an online forum.

I apologise if I do this in any of my posts in advance. I've become rather used to adding in 'text' language into my lecture note taking and sometimes it slips over into my forum posts.  

tm274 wrote: I've noticed a great improvement in the "diction" used by members, of late and haven't really seen anything that warrants a re-issue.

Most members are careful, but  there are still a few offenders that use texting style, slang, and excessive abbreviations.

Absolutely!!!

Apparently LeinY didn't read the posts regarding using proper grammar let alone the forum guidelines.....

AR 25-50 is not meant to be a quick read.  It's purpose is to be a reference guide for the preparation of various Army correspondence and documents.  But, one can certainly read it in its entirety if you want to do so.

http://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/pdf/r25_50.pdf

I believe it is the Army regulation that governs writing style, the preparation of various military documents, i.e., letters, memoranda, decision documents, etc. 

AR 25-50

First, I must apologize in advance as I am a member of a motorcycle forum where we use slang and text type writing in our posts. I will do the best I can in responding to keep that out of here. Here's what really disturbs me. I am a Staff Sergeant in the Army and am a platoon sergeant. I have both squad and team leaders who work for me that are all graduates of high school and some even college, who can't write the simplest things in a formal manner. Something as simple as a monthly review of a Soldier, is spelled incorrectly, grammatically incorrect, and almost impossible to read and/or follow. What is going on with our education system today? I think it's pretty bad when I, a product of the Kentucky education system, have to correct almost all of the writing that the leaders in my unit produce. In my eyes, that is pretty rediculous and dissapoints me greatly. I admit I am not the best writer in the world, but I do take pride in what I do and try to work with them to improve their writing skills, but I figure if a stupid redneck can do it, why can't they?

I'm a moderator on another Masonic site and I recently had someone post on the forum in a block of text that had absolutley no punctuation, and the first letter of every word was capitalized.

Edited by maboot38 - November/15/2010 at 1:55pm

Well put.  You know shows me yet another reason I love the Craft.  On the outside, someone may have been offended by this, but when you put a bunch of brothers together and one of us is trying to keep things square, everyone agrees.  And I agree, it may take a little longer to type it out, however, most of these posts are accessed by google and there are already millions out there that HATE Mason's for no reason at all, why give them something else to look down on.

cemab4y wrote: Check out http://www.rosettastone.com/learn-russian  .  I have never used their program, but they have a good reputation.  You should also look on meetup and see if there is a Russian study group or club in your town.

As they say in German, "danke."

I was taught French and German at school. What is amazing is how the language comes back to you after years and years when you are put in the situation of having to speak it. I had to work for a short while near Dusseldorf in NW Germany. My colleagues all laughed at my German because they said I sounded like a very formal Berliner. I got the last laugh - we had to go to Graz in Austria to meet with some other German speakers. The Dusseldorfers and the Austrians couldn't understand each other because their dialects were so strong. But I could understand both sides and finished up trying to translate. In the end we settled on English.

The Air Force taught me Russian. I later married a Russian. I am not fluent, but I can get by. One benefit of having a Russian wife, is that she can give me a cussing in her language, I don't understand all the words. She feels better, and I am not offended!

Interesting topic. I saw a report on TV, stating that handwriting, especially cursive/script will disappear in a generation. Myself, I cherish the written word, notwithstanding the fact, that my one handwriting is atrocious (my wife calls my handwriting "feet-writing").

I have no problem with text shorthand, in moderation.  (I'm L8 for a meeting. C U 2morrow), in a text message. I am appalled to see this communication creeping into emails and memoranda.

Languages are one of my hobbies. (I speak Russian at home with my wife). English is one of the most difficult languages, to spell. In written documents, prior to the late 18th century, you would often see the same word spelled differently, on the same page! Noah Webster, was one of the first to push for standardized spelling of English. Sadly, young people today are losing the ability to spell English words properly.