Re: suggestion

Charles F. Munat,

You are particularly good with language and I respect your opinion.
There are lots of grammar changes over the years that I have found
annoying. I to do not use those phrases. However, I recognize that a
phrase that starts out as something grammatically incorrect (split
infinitives for example) may become a part of our spoken language and
are becoming accepted as a proper use of the english language.

Perhaps Email is a passing thing and we will jump into Phone mail in the
next 10 years. Then there will be more band width to the information
with out emoticons. But we will still need devices or schemes to include
this information for the hearing impaired.

As I see it the problem is with Email and our culture, not our language.
We are given a technology that is convenient fast and free, while we are
given less time to express our selves. We have less time to consider and
choose our words to express our selves adequately. And some of us have
less incentive to be considerate since we will not have to meet them
face to face and suffer the consequences on a physical level.
Additionally, the art of conversation and to a lesser extent the written
word has suffered because of the environment we are exposed to. I think
that without these pressures we would need and use Emoticons less and
our use of language would change as well.

I'm sure we can come up with a technical solution to the Emoticon
problem. The larger picture of our use of language may be more difficult
to deal with. I will teach my children proper use and Email etiquette as
a start.

Lake

Received on Friday, 15 January 1999 18:45:33 UTC