I've been looking for a new to me car, and craigslist is the end all be all for any item you need, so that's where I've begun to look. I love craigslist; it's simple, effective and usually yields the product you want for a decent price.
One thing that drives me nuts is the complete abomination of the English language. It really is absurd. In car ads its usually the word 'conditions'. As in 'the car is in good conditions'. At first I thought it might just be a typo then I saw it in at least 20% of the total ads and 80% of the ads where conditions or condition was used. The ridiculous thing is that I think I understand what the goal of the sentence is. The goal is to say that all of the parts are in good condition, however, this is a poor way of putting it. When you say the car is in good overall condition, that works, you don't need to drop an S at the end of it.
I'm fine with poor punctuation because this language has so many rules and exceptions to said rules that it's hard to keep up. I've taken it upon myself to figure out how to use a semicolon, but I don't expect the average person does or even should care as it's used so infrequently. That brings me to a side note: I highly suggest that if you don't know something, google it. Expansion of knowledge will never hurt you. Anyway, back to the point. Things like it's and its are fine and dandy, but if you can't figure out out to use you're and your in context you're an ass hat. Apostrophes are the third element of punctuation you learn in school after the period and comma, FIGURE IT OUT.
Spelling is whole 'nother beast. If you're allowed to drive you should know how to spell 'brake' in reference to stopping, yet constantly people use break instead. I just don't understand it. Now some of you might be thinking this is just people who use English as a second language. I would tend to agree normally. If I were to agree with that in this instance, I'd say that a good 90% of craigslist users are not from this country. A fact I would doubt highly. Considering how easy it is to add a spell checker to your browser of choice, there should be no reason to spell like a 4 yr old. You see, Google Chrome has this neat little feature where, if you misspell a word, a little squiggly red line appears under the word; you right click it and BOOM, you're presented with many options to correct your mistake.
I know, you're saying 'its a craigslist ad fuckin' chill'. I'm all for informal grammar in craigslist ads, but when you type like a jackass, you're inviting people who are jackasses respond to your ad. Then again, craigslist will invite jackasses regardless. That's why I always overprice my item according to how much I think I'm going to get lowballed.
That's another post for another time however.
Cliffs:
Google how to use grammar.
Don't be a retard, download a proper browser with spell check.
Overprice your items on craigslist to counter lowballers.
I accept your premise. However, one would also think that if you're going to insult those who use the English language improperly; you wouldn't use it improperly yourself when doing so. You leave out commas, as well as an apostrophe here and there. You also have a fragment. Just a heads up if you want to seem like any sort of credible source at all.
ReplyDeleteI guess we can learn here that perhaps we all have our faults and we are no better than the next guy, no matter how highly we seem to think of ourselves.
I do not have perfect punctuation; however, I've pointed out that perfect punctuation is not an easy thing to obtain. As stated, I'm ok with that. It's spelling and proper use of contractions are what drive me insane. I am not an English major, nor do I claim to be one. I do feel that the small things we have been taught in school, such as the correct use of "your" and "you're" are things we should know.
ReplyDeleteI don't think of myself as better than anyone. I just think that we should all learn to expand our own knowledge any way we can.
Perhaps I should have gone about my post in a less ranting, raving sort of way.
That's convenient....its ok not to know this but you shouldn't be a "retard" (a completely inappropriate and offensive term BTW...you might want to expand your knowledge in that respect)
ReplyDeleteAh PC, gotta love it. People are too uptight. I would suggest you not visit back, you won't like a lot of what I say.
ReplyDeleteIt's not really a matter of being PC, it's a matter of respect for those that have to face challenges that we don't experience, because of the stigma that is placed over them from the use of these types of words. I'm sorry you live in a world where you don't look past your own selfish actions and refuse to examine the effects of what you say or do. That isn't a matter of being uptight. Imagine if we all thought the way you did, we'd be a whole different society. There is a time and place if you must use those words, use it in your personal matters but to broadcast it over here is not appropriate. But something tells me that with the attitude you have, a lot of people won't enjoy coming back to read your posts.
ReplyDeleteI like your argument. I have respect for people that have mental disabilities. They have to deal with far more problems then we do.
ReplyDeleteYou are taking it much further then what was intended. It was a passive statement that came to mind. However, I do understand and respect your view. As stated in my word of caution, I am willing to admit my mistakes, and here, clearly I've made one.
As long as we can admit mistakes that's all that matters. Thank you.
ReplyDelete