I want to know

[gnuyork]

^^^
'Raza' in cursive won't have a lower-case 'r'.

Oh. Right.

[Raza]

So Raza in cursive... Which "r do you write? Or do you just scribble your signature? That's what I do.

I normally don’t use my middle name or initial in my signature, but if I do, it’s usually just a capital R.

[wschofield3]

The "r" in the 1st chart is what I learned to write with cursive. The chart, below, is how I write it in print even though is says, "cursive".

[Strange]

What I want to know is why [some] Millennials are rewriting written English. I saw a post on Instagram from a young woman that featured a dog in the driver's seat of the car and she typed "ubers here" - cute, but doesn't make sense. Of course, I knew what she meant, but that's not the point. I messaged her and asked her if it was a typo or if "Millennials are re-inventing the English language."

Her response was "I think we just don't care joe"

Which infuriates me for some reason. Just a little, nothing heart attack inducing... The same thing with a young woman in my neighborhood - on her passenger side door to her car there is a sticker that reads "get in loser"


I get that there can be typos (and I'm surely guilty of that), but I really feel like this generation just doesn't comprehend real English or they just don't give a shit. Which is annoying. They will be our leaders one day.

I was raised by parents who were highly literate and who used language with precision and economy. They were witheringly disdainful of those who were lazy and imprecise in speech and writing. Whenever I asked about a word they’d used that I didn’t know they’d cock an eyebrow and point me to the dictionary. They were unsparing in reviewing my writing, but not in a mean-spirited way; they simply expected better of me. And if I ever misused a word, used sloppy diction, or relied on hackneyed phrases they’d do a face palm and comically ask “Where have we failed you?” It was good natured ribbing but the implications were dead serious. They valued precise expression of thought and simply expected it of anyone who wished to be taken seriously.

I very much inherited their expectations, though my scorn for those who fail to meet them is considerably more vehement than theirs was. I made my living as a writer for 25yrs and am endlessly thankful to them for imbuing me with a reverence for effective use of language. It pains and depresses me that succeeding generations not only don’t share that reverence but actively scorn it.

[hayday]

What I want to know is why [some] Millennials are rewriting written English. I saw a post on Instagram from a young woman that featured a dog in the driver's seat of the car and she typed "ubers here" - cute, but doesn't make sense. Of course, I knew what she meant, but that's not the point. I messaged her and asked her if it was a typo or if "Millennials are re-inventing the English language."

Her response was "I think we just don't care joe"

Which infuriates me for some reason. Just a little, nothing heart attack inducing... The same thing with a young woman in my neighborhood - on her passenger side door to her car there is a sticker that reads "get in loser"


I get that there can be typos (and I'm surely guilty of that), but I really feel like this generation just doesn't comprehend real English or they just don't give a shit. Which is annoying. They will be our leaders one day.

I don't know what mark this generation will make on the history books but I do know this: it will be misspelled, lack punctuation, and include atrocious grammar.

[Samanator]

Only the first version was the way I was taught in school. The second would be considered printed to me. In fact, I've never heard it called cursive until my nephew said it when I was in my fourties. It was either written or printed. I will note my writing in either manner has gone down quite a bit. Being an old school engineer where you had to letter drawings and schematics before CAD systems took that away. When in the military after college my logs on the ship most people thought I typed them until they would see me writing them by hand.

I think texting and instant messaging is killing writing. No one puts any thought into things. They just blurt things out and try to create acronyms that for me I have to stare at a long time trying to figure out what they are saying? I remember the first time someone sent me LOL. Luckily I had some team members 10 years my junior. I seriously doubt I ever really laughed out loud that much unless I watched a comedy movie or show. So it surprised me that this was the first abbreviation I saw in text. I spell most things out today since in my world these days I'm dealing with multiple groups in a 10,000 person company who generally speak something other that English as a first language. Engineers are the worst acronym offenders. They would write entire sentences with abbreviations if they could. Hardly no one practices spelling it out the first time you use an acronym before you use it in the rest of the document. Add that acronyms can have dozens of meanings. In every presentation I do I start with four pages of terms to get everyone I'm speaking to on the same terminology.

Don't get me started in emoji and memes. Other than smiley faces I don't get either. Someone mentioned dictionary. Look up memes and even the definition makes no sense. I think I've only used one in my life and even now I'm not really certain it was one.

[rodia77]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round_hand

[tribe125]

Nothing wrong with that - if you’re Queen Elizabeth I.

[is that my watch]

Think a big problem in the 70's and eighty's was the lack of proper training in some teacher in certain areas special inner city I was not confirmed dyslexic until my mid 20's apart from one librarian who gave me Terry pratchett the colour of magic saying it would help never knew if she meant keep me quiet for library hour or in general, but from then on thought books was not stupid teacher still was, but then 25 to 30 pupils per class what they going to do some will fall through the cracks actually most will. Least it was how it was at mine so think had a Good school experience makes you want to do more. bad hmm get a job at sixteen then get stuck in Manuel labour for life so who needs it then sad but true.

[Matt]

It's worth remembering that this complaint has been levelled at young folk throughout history. For example, up to the sixties, splitting the infinitive was seen as a sign that English was finished. Yet now we all like to boldly go and to go boldly is just archaic. Language changes and we change right along with it.