I honestly think the internet is making me stoopider
 

I swear, I feel like Charlie from "Flowers For Algernon." Over the past few months I noticed myself making many typos, which I attribute to my never-very-good 1337 typing skills. But in the past few months, I noticed myself making egregious spelling errors of things I know are wrong... upon second look. Things that I never used to do, like misusing their, they're, there, etc. Homonyms are bad enough, but sometimes the errors are astounding, like spelling words (or parts of them) phonetically. I never used to do that. My title here is "El Phonics Monkey" for a reason- my grammar and spelling were perfect when I was in school. Anyways, it's quite honestly getting to the point that it's starting to scare me. My current theory is that my leet skillz eroded because I stopped reading books like I used to, but in the past 6-8 weeks I've read like 10-12 novels. Not always the best way to improve one's writing style, but how often do you find grammar and spelling mistakes in a bestseller. Anwyays, questions, comments, suggestions, or radical drug therapy opinions?

dont bee suck a pizoshwhort.

It took me a decade to figure out the whole their, theyre there thing, and I still dont get it right 100% of the time. My problem is I hardly ever re-read anything after writing it... Even stuff I turned in for grades in college! (Still got A's and B's easily, which amazed me) Like the last paper I wrote for my final serious writing class (modern art history) was one of the few times I sat down and seriously put together an all out cohesive effort to write something decent. Feels good to do something like that every now and then.

I dont think that minor grammar errors are a bad thing, as long as you know you can get it done when you need to.

It's not that I never knew that stuff, it's that I seem to have forgotten. A far graver situation in my mind.

You're an IT nerd. You couldn't spell in high school anyway. :P

Actually, I totally agree with you on this post. I was almost an english major in college, I just figured CS would be better for a job (hah!), so I fancy myself pretty decent in the ways of spelling, gramar, etc. And I didn't really do much chatting on message boards or IM until about a year ago. In this last year, there is a marked decline in my spelling and gramar. I find myself using your a lot when I should use you're.

Bah.

And don't even get me started on how I think computer science has fucked up my thought processes.

tell me about it!

Re: I honestly think the internet is making me stoopider
 

huh huh huh huh huh, you said "homo".

Ha ha, I too used to be grammer & spelling-perfect in school. I've found that for me, the web and technology influences how I write and sometimes even my thought pattern. (Take Scott's code example, you can think out what the language is saying, and then find that your own thought process is following the same pattern -- set lib, set cmds, set classes, chars and buffers, blah blah blah, actually do something, end.) It's structured, but unnatural when used in human language interactions.

And then here's the other problem with this: I started out going somewhere with a point about this, and found I got nowhere. :roll:

That may sum things up in my life perfectly. :lol:

So Debbie, you work in IT?

Your company isn't by any chance looking for a bright young recent college graduate who is a hard worker and technically adept to help solve their mounting technical needs?

If so, I know of just the kid that is looking for a job. ;)

Hey! Get out of my self analysis thread!

Plz hre me. Teh intarweb hs nt mde me stpd. l0lz!!1!

Great! :lol: Go! :lol: Assert yourself! The intarweb is 1derful!

cp this.thread /dev/null

sigh. It's seriously getting worse... I used to make typos. Now I read my own posts in other people's quotes and realize I flame people for writing like I do. Damn I need to go back to college and do some *real* writing, even though I mostly hate it, jsut for the sake of my self image as a reasonably intelligent person. Anybody else remember El Phonics Monkey? :roll:

I thought you traded your El Phonics Monkey for an El Phonics Sloth... Maybe that's the issue... The sloth just can't keep up...

Just quoting something to rub it in :p

Not that I'm error free myself. I hate seeing quoted stuff of mine and realizing that I made a horrid grammar error or typo or something.

You're right, something structured & disciplined which requires you to write, and to meet a deadline, will help. Hold on, let me find my whips & chains ... :lol:

http://www.popmatters.com/film/revie...r-troopers.jpg

"Rabbit, I want you to got over there and cuff her!"

"Now we getting zee kinky, no?"

Apparently this is a widespread problem

bwahahaha! :lol:

I saw it when I was done, and I was like "SEE????!?!?!??!" :lol:

:shock:

Yeah... shit happens... I try to proof-read everyone of my posts, because there's pretty much *always* one or two mistakes. If I don't, well you see what happens.

Don't make me get out my missiles. :P

Why, Tank in the shop again?

It's in the shop gettin more missiles!!

Um, I think tanks fire "shells" while Missile Launchers fire missiles. Perhaps you should get your track filters replaced and check your muffler bearings while they are at it...:twisted: http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/m...row/bukm1a.jpg

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

M2/M3 Bradley fighting vehicle... tracked Armored Personnel Carrier witha 25mm cannon and Stinger missiles. Technically it's a tank. Besides, haven't you played Armored Core? Missiles aren't even expensive to get in that game. :rolleyes: :lol:

APCs are not tanks, they are APCs, but your believing they are tanks was definitely caused by the Internet , thus proving your original assertion. :lol:

Uh, actually, everything I learned about tanks, I learned in the Army, where I was a tank mechanic. :wink: Bradleys have tracks and a pwoerful main gun, therefore it's a tank, because I said so. And it has missiles. So there.

Obligatory speeling error in 3... 2.. oen.

You're getting ahead of yourself already ;)

Dean... *my* tank has missiles, because it's special!

Also, my tank can fly to low earth orbit altitudes, can submerse in up to 2000 ft of water, bake pizzas, act as a wireless file-sharing hub for bit torrent, do my taxes and still fits in a "compact" parking spot.

...it's special.

Sounds like an army transportation version of Calvinball ;)

Kind of like Jerry's kids...

Right you are Ken...

Blast!

What, no bacon?

Bacon.... is.... extra!!!


(nice setup. :lol:)

OMG LOLZERS! I no whut you mean!

Kevin, did you just dig up your own old ass thread about the internet making you stupider?

Yep. Failed attempt at teh funnay during the grammar-bee in the TV wheels thread. :(

We already tarnished one thread with horrible english skills why take this one down with it?!

Because this one went down almost 2 years ago. And like I said, the grammar-fest in that other thread reminded me of this post I made back in the day (and bumped for the same reasons 6 months later).