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Antivirus Software
Nowadays more and more people are using a computer. A lot of them use it at their work place, but an increasing number of computer users have also discovered the need to have a computer at home. At the same time the number of Internet surfers...
Avoiding the Delete Button - How To Make Your Email Campaign Pay Off
Have you noticed? It's becoming harder and harder to get a good response out of email campaigns. Why? The more popular an advertising method becomes, the more overused it gets. When that happens, customers develop an "immunity". They are so...
Email Wiretapping- Don't be a victim
On the face of it, does email wiretapping sound scary? Yes? Yes it is scary and you should now how it's done and how to combat it. A little while ago the known (but not known with a load presence) organisation called "The US based Privacy...
The Advantages of Help Desk Support Software -
Help desk support software is a must-have for any new or existing online business. Even if the majority of your business is off-line, many people prefer online product and service support. Customers want their questions answered quickly and...
Top 7 Reasons You Should Back Up Your Data Online!
How much is your data worth to you? In this modern electronic-age we rely more than ever on our computers to supply us with the information we need. Chances are every piece of data you might ever rely on to make an important decision has been...
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Fight 1337 Speak... Please Help Save Our Language
"OMFG! W00+!!! Dat s0000000 Kewl!!!!1! Dat is teh LOL!!!!" It's happening. The Internet is invading our lives and our minds and corrupting as it progresses. Shorthand is destroying our youths' spelling and grammar. In the worst cases these Internet phrases even are spilling over into every day life. I still shudder with horror remembering the day that someone actually said 'LOL' to me.
I'm not some old crab fighting against the changes of the world. I'm 19 years old and studying software engineering at university. I love computers and use instant messaging programs constantly, but there's a serious problem when I can't even read some of the messages flowing between my younger siblings and their friends. With sentences such as 'OMFG! ROTFLMAO! RTFM N00B!' being thrown around liberally, the state of global communication is in jeopardy!
So, here are some helpful tips to keep your messages legible and English:
- Judicious use of acronyms will save time, but won't obscure the meaning of your sentences. The use of 'LOL' may indeed be an appropriate method to purvey your mirth over a particularly witty comment, but 'OMFG! Dat was teh LOL!' does not make sense (even when you unravel the acronyms into coherent words) and takes a lot longer to write. - 'Teh' is not a word; it is an honest spelling mistake that can easily be made when typing quickly. It should never be deliberately substituted for the original word, 'The', which contains the same three letters and takes just as long to write. - Letters are placed in a very specific order to create words. Permutations of letters create either nonsensical gibberish or another word entirely, one that will often seem contextually out of place if it is born of pure accident. Please keep your letters in an orderly group. - The word 'so' is spelt with just one 'O'. The word 'well' is spelt with just one 'E'. Adding superfluous letters to your words is actually undoing the effect that your gratuitous use of Internet acronyms are supposed to have on your message length. - Contrary to
popular belief, the word 'Cool' is spelled without the use of a 'K', and 'E' or even a 'W'. There is a high probability that you don't even pronounce it in a manner that would infer those letters, so why type them? Typing four different letters is no slower than typing the original four that actually belong to the word. - Exclamation Marks are solitary creatures. They don't like to be herded together into packs. They also take offense to the presence of many other punctuation marks, such as the affable but sometimes irritating Question Mark. Please don't abuse our friend the Exclamation Mark, don't force him/her to share sentence space with other sentence ending punctuation marks. - The letter 'D' is not the phonetic equivalent of 'TH'. The letters 'TH' form a soft sound, but the letter 'D' is a hard sound. Please try not to confuse the two. - The first letter of the first word of a sentence should be capitalized. The first letter of a proper noun should be capitalized. Gratuitous use of capitalization should be avoided and used only as a last resort. - Numbers are not letters. You cannot spell a word with numbers; no matter how hard you try. You can spell a number with letters, but the opposite is not true. Numbers are not as versatile as we have been lead to believe. Punctuation marks behave similarly, and should not be used in the formation of words. - Emoticons are useful tools for showing your emotions. Avoid abusing them and trying to construct entire sentences or stories using the little yellow smiles. It doesn't work.
I know I can't turn the tide of popular opinion, but as someone who actually likes our language I sometimes feel as though I have to try. Languages evolve and change over time to fit the current generation's needs. There's no need or point in stopping this, but I'd prefer that our language continued to contain actual words, not unpronounceable mish-mashes of letters.
About the Author
Daniel Punch M6.Net http://www.m6.net Daniel Punch speaks English real goodly. Hopes does others too will.
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Tucows Downloads - Download Freeware and Shareware Software |
Download freeware, shareware, and demos. Maintains over 45000 software titles that are tested, rated, reviewed and ready to download. |
www.tucows.com |
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Free Software Downloads and Software Reviews - Download.com |
Download shareware, freeware and Demo software for PC, Mac, Linux, and Handhelds categorized into categories, plus software reviews. |
www.download.com |
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Computer software - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
This includes application software such as a word processor, which enables a ... Application software is often purchased separately from computer hardware. ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
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Shareware.com - Search for shareware programs and free software ... |
Search for shareware programs from more than a dozen downloadable software directories. |
www.shareware.com |
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Jumbo: Free & Shareware MP3 files, Games, Screen Savers & Computer ... |
Source of free and shareware computer programs and utilities for PC and Mac. Evaluate software and read product reviews. Download games and screen savers. |
www.jumbo.com |
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Computer Software in the Yahoo! Directory |
Browse categories featuring sites devoted to computer software, including shareware and freeware download sites, operating systems, desktop customization, ... |
dir.yahoo.com |
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IEEE Software |
IEEE Computer Society's magazine covering all aspects of software, including software engineering. |
www.computer.org |
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Free Downloads on ZDNet | Shareware, Trialware, Evaluation Software |
ZDNet's Software Directory is the Web's largest library of software downloads. Covering software for Windows, Mac, and Mobile systems, ZDNet's Software ... |
downloads.zdnet.com |
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FSF - The Free Software Foundation |
Free software is a matter of liberty not price. Think of "free" as in "free speech". |
www.fsf.org |
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Apple - Software |
Software products for your digital life. ... The perfect addition for professional review. QuickTime Broadcaster. Encoding software for live events. ... |
www.apple.com |
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Open Directory - Computers: Software |
In Partnership with AOL Search. about dmoz | report abuse/spam | help. the entire directory, only in Computers/Software. Top: Computers: Software (38471) ... |
dmoz.org |
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freshmeat.net: Welcome to freshmeat.net |
About: The Web browser is probably the most frequently used software today, ... Web professionals can use the software for functional testing and regression ... |
freshmeat.net |
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Software - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF) |
Listing of the GNU software packages. |
www.gnu.org |
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Sun Software |
Get enterprise-class software--Solaris 10 OS, the Java Enterprise System, ... Sun Java StorageTek Software reduces cost and complexity with a single, ... |
www.sun.com |
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Internet Real Estate.com -- owns and operates a portfolio of the ... |
SOFTWARE.COM · SWEEPSTAKES.COM · PHONE.COM PODCAST.COM ... Software.com | Sweepstakes.com | Phone.com | Podcast.com | Shop.com | Safety.com ... |
www.internetrealestate.com |
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Joel on Software |
A weblog by Joel Spolsky, a programmer working in New York City, about software and software companies. |
www.joelonsoftware.com |
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Amazon.com Software: Computer & video games, business, accounting ... |
Online shopping for computer & video games, business & office productivity software, software from Microsoft, Apple, Adobe & more; accounting, antivirus, ... |
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IBM Software - Home Page |
IBM home page for all of its software products, including Lotus and Tivoli, with keyword search, category browse and AZ product names. |
www.ibm.com |
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Opera web browser: Homepage |
Copyright © 2006 Opera Software ASA. All rights reserved. Skip navigation. Opera Software ... Copyright Opera Software ASA . All rights reserved. ... |
www.opera.com |
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Google Directory - Computers > Software |
Search only in Software Search the Web ... Software Categorized by Letter: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z ... |
www.google.com |
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