[lindil]

Whoa!

I think the thrust of my last post was missed completely.

I was pointing out the irony of my source of abbrevitis, not justifying it.

As I mentioned, as per Underhill's request [ and a nagging conscience] I really have tried to cut down on abbreviations and edit my posts more carefully.

I actually appreciate alot of the newer folks w/ [oops] with higher [or shall I say normal] standards of written communication.

It is a real challange for me though. I sat reading JRRT and Thoreau in the woods instead of many [ and I mean many] days of high school and really missed out on alot of the grammar and co. that the zealots in this thread take for granted.

So is [ a serious question]
BTW
IMO
AFAIK etc.,

all out?

And at what point do we concede that some abbreviations have become regularized parts of [internet] communication?

Surely p.s., Univ. and the many abbreviations in use 20 years ago [pre-e-speak] elbowed there way in and are now naturalized citizens of english writing.

I do take exception to two points though Susan and that is that

abbreviations are fine in your own personal writings or pretty much any medium other than a message forum, where almost the only things people have to judge your personality is your writing.

While those who have taken the time to learn something 'properly' are easily annoyed [and this applies to me also in areas other than syntax, grammar and such] by those who do not follow the 'rules', one can by exercising a little dis-identification with one's personality and training, see past the superficial and into the essence. Most of us here gladly do that with our much esteemed non-native english speaking posters here. It is only a 1/2 step farther to extend the same mercy to the English speaking natives.

We can if we choose judge someone by the content of the post not the wrapping.

please do not get me wrong I am not advocating sloppiness but I am advocating being able to see past others sloppiness.

If you're willing to take such shortcuts here, then you'd take them in any facet of your life.

I will concede that I do take quite a few short cuts in life, indeed at times my brain seems to sniff them out as a matter of sixth sense, however I also go out of my way to involve myself in various arts [not too mention my religion of conversion] where no real short cuts of any kind are allowed. Tai-Chi Chuan, Orthodox Christianity, The revised Silmarillion, and so on.
So I must disagree w/ the full sweep of your statement. Humans have many different parts of their brain that work in different ways and levels of quality in different people. So not all habits in oneself, will cut across all aspects of the personality.

The absent-minded scientist can be painfuly meticulous in the lab. The artist who can not cope w/ the real world can often navigate his artistic realm with astonishing mastery. Left and right brain development is not often [and I would go so far to say rarely] even within a given individual.

btw I am hereby resolved to bust out Elements of Style and my Bazerman/Wiener Writing Skills Handbook and 'finish' my high school education. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[ October 20, 2002: Message edited by: lindil ]