Written Word Woes
Friends! Disciples! Minions! Lend me your Eyes!
With tonight's monoblogue I want to point out a few things very important to this new medium. To start, the written word should be treated as almost a sacred entity. It is, after all, the record by which we have learned of the past, and how the future shall learn of us. The written word is the accepted form of manual/visual communication the world over. The written word is at times the most powerful tool mankind has. The written word is law in man's world.
unfortunately, today we have to deal with a new generation that disregards the order of the written word and short-hand's just about everything. It's bad enough that the art of cursive hand writing is all but gone. If it wasn't for the need to "sign" your name on legal documents, cursive would be as extinct as the Pterosaur.
And now we have to deal with the almighty, all-controlling keyboard. Children today know how to type their names long before they learn to write them. I know first hand. In this easier-and-easier world we've made, the keyboard is a whole lot easier to master than hand writing for a three-year-old.
Teens now-a-days have created their own short-hand for "instant messaging" and "e-mailing" and "text-messaging". Creative, you could say, but haven't secretaries been doing this for hundreds of years? I guess kids today think they invented short-hand! Yeah, right, kids. Wrong again! Jessica didn't write "These Boots..." either.
A few weeks ago, as an example, my step-daughter got into trouble at school. Once home, I demanded she write out her point of view of the incident. When it was done, I was disgusted to see that there was little to no punctuation, numbers inserted to replace words, intentionally misspelled words, no sentence or paragraph structure, and a whole lot of slang. I was pissed and had her rewrite the whole thing, using correct form. She was mad as hell, but managed to pull it off. It only took her about three times as long, though.
My point here is that kids, teens thru the twenty-something-or-another's, don't seem to know when to turn off the B-S shorthand/AIM/Text crap and turn on the proper written word. Does this go to show the lack of intelligence of this young generation or the lack of respect they seem intent on displaying at all times?
I fear that eventually the properly written word will begin to fade away. And when it does, future generations may not have a "hard-copy" record of us. Our existence would vanish as quickly as somebody deletes our information, or turns off the electricity. It is IMPOSSIBLE to do anything on this planet any more without electricity...except write with a pen onto paper. Try it sometime. A lot of you may have to practice to get the hang of it. And I'll bet not a one of you over-25-year-olds out there could write every letter of the alphabet, in cursive, both capitol and lower case. Go ahead, I know you'll mess it up!
I know I am right, because I am the Center of the Universe!
It's what I (don't) get paid for!
Good night, Earth.
With tonight's monoblogue I want to point out a few things very important to this new medium. To start, the written word should be treated as almost a sacred entity. It is, after all, the record by which we have learned of the past, and how the future shall learn of us. The written word is the accepted form of manual/visual communication the world over. The written word is at times the most powerful tool mankind has. The written word is law in man's world.
unfortunately, today we have to deal with a new generation that disregards the order of the written word and short-hand's just about everything. It's bad enough that the art of cursive hand writing is all but gone. If it wasn't for the need to "sign" your name on legal documents, cursive would be as extinct as the Pterosaur.
And now we have to deal with the almighty, all-controlling keyboard. Children today know how to type their names long before they learn to write them. I know first hand. In this easier-and-easier world we've made, the keyboard is a whole lot easier to master than hand writing for a three-year-old.
Teens now-a-days have created their own short-hand for "instant messaging" and "e-mailing" and "text-messaging". Creative, you could say, but haven't secretaries been doing this for hundreds of years? I guess kids today think they invented short-hand! Yeah, right, kids. Wrong again! Jessica didn't write "These Boots..." either.
A few weeks ago, as an example, my step-daughter got into trouble at school. Once home, I demanded she write out her point of view of the incident. When it was done, I was disgusted to see that there was little to no punctuation, numbers inserted to replace words, intentionally misspelled words, no sentence or paragraph structure, and a whole lot of slang. I was pissed and had her rewrite the whole thing, using correct form. She was mad as hell, but managed to pull it off. It only took her about three times as long, though.
My point here is that kids, teens thru the twenty-something-or-another's, don't seem to know when to turn off the B-S shorthand/AIM/Text crap and turn on the proper written word. Does this go to show the lack of intelligence of this young generation or the lack of respect they seem intent on displaying at all times?
I fear that eventually the properly written word will begin to fade away. And when it does, future generations may not have a "hard-copy" record of us. Our existence would vanish as quickly as somebody deletes our information, or turns off the electricity. It is IMPOSSIBLE to do anything on this planet any more without electricity...except write with a pen onto paper. Try it sometime. A lot of you may have to practice to get the hang of it. And I'll bet not a one of you over-25-year-olds out there could write every letter of the alphabet, in cursive, both capitol and lower case. Go ahead, I know you'll mess it up!
I know I am right, because I am the Center of the Universe!
It's what I (don't) get paid for!
Good night, Earth.
posted by B.R.Dailey | 10:45 PM
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