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The youth of today and their lack of language skills


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You know how people are always racking down on kids for being a step down in quality from the generation before them? Well, it seems that today we have reached the level of degeneration when kids cant even express the most simple things in written text. Today I experienced a disturbing lack of basic language skills with two freshmen at the University.

 

The first one was me asking this guy what object it was that casta reflection in the window of a 3D rendering he had made, he replied (trans) "I dont know about the reflections but it is what you see in the window" -Yes, I know that its a reflection, I was asking what the reflected object is.

 

The second one was a guy who wrote about the Worms "the game worms is defiantly a game play." -Its definently a gameplay? What game doesnt have gameplay?

 

 

What is this?!!! When did people lose the ability to make sense? And whose fault is this? Bad parents, bad education or just basic stupidity?

DISCLAIMER: Do not take what I write seriously unless it is clearly and in no uncertain terms, declared by me to be meant in a serious and non-humoristic manner. If there is no clear indication, asume the post is written in jest. This notification is meant very seriously and its purpouse is to avoid misunderstandings and the consequences thereof. Furthermore; I can not be held accountable for anything I write on these forums since the idea of taking serious responsability for my unserious actions, is an oxymoron in itself.

 

Important: as the following sentence contains many naughty words I warn you not to read it under any circumstances; botty, knickers, wee, erogenous zone, psychiatrist, clitoris, stockings, bosom, poetry reading, dentist, fellatio and the department of agriculture.

 

"I suppose outright stupidity and complete lack of taste could also be considered points of view. "

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Good language skills are not required for admittance here, so even borderline-illiterate people can get in. But it seems like it gets worse with every new batch of freshmen.

Edited by Kaftan Barlast

DISCLAIMER: Do not take what I write seriously unless it is clearly and in no uncertain terms, declared by me to be meant in a serious and non-humoristic manner. If there is no clear indication, asume the post is written in jest. This notification is meant very seriously and its purpouse is to avoid misunderstandings and the consequences thereof. Furthermore; I can not be held accountable for anything I write on these forums since the idea of taking serious responsability for my unserious actions, is an oxymoron in itself.

 

Important: as the following sentence contains many naughty words I warn you not to read it under any circumstances; botty, knickers, wee, erogenous zone, psychiatrist, clitoris, stockings, bosom, poetry reading, dentist, fellatio and the department of agriculture.

 

"I suppose outright stupidity and complete lack of taste could also be considered points of view. "

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While young (and old btw) people with language/expression skill deficits are common throughout the whole world, I've never experienced such a thing at an University!

 

 

Shouldn't that be "a" University?

 

Or do you pronounce University differently than I do? ;(

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Im not the only one who hears this retarded "duuuuhh.." voice in my head when I read something thats really poorly written? I get it when I read 'internet-speak' too, when people replace 'you' with u, and so on.

 

 

 

edit: And abbreviations are often transformed from 'an' to 'a' in both swedish and english. Its the correct way to do it. So while you say 'a rocket-propelled grenade' you have to change it to 'an RPG' when you abbreviate it. Swede example: 'ett prickskyttegev

Edited by Kaftan Barlast

DISCLAIMER: Do not take what I write seriously unless it is clearly and in no uncertain terms, declared by me to be meant in a serious and non-humoristic manner. If there is no clear indication, asume the post is written in jest. This notification is meant very seriously and its purpouse is to avoid misunderstandings and the consequences thereof. Furthermore; I can not be held accountable for anything I write on these forums since the idea of taking serious responsability for my unserious actions, is an oxymoron in itself.

 

Important: as the following sentence contains many naughty words I warn you not to read it under any circumstances; botty, knickers, wee, erogenous zone, psychiatrist, clitoris, stockings, bosom, poetry reading, dentist, fellatio and the department of agriculture.

 

"I suppose outright stupidity and complete lack of taste could also be considered points of view. "

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When I read it with the an I found myself naturally reading it as "an Oooniversity" hahaha

Hmm, so there are exceptions. Wondered me why people also say "an RPG". It's because it's spelled AAaaaaarrrr Peeee Geee. Interesting. So, "a" Youniversity, then. ;(

It depends on pronounciation, not spelling:

With the indefinite article, the choice of a or an depends on the sound of the word it precedes. A comes before words with a consonant sound, including /y/, /h/, and /w/, no matter how the word is spelled {a eulogy} {a hotel suite} {a Ouachita tribe member}. An comes before words with a vowel sound {an LSAT exam room} {an X-Files episode} {an hour ago}.

 

"RPG" gets an "an" because it is an initialism rather than an acronym, and the letter "R" is, as you note, pronounced "arr".

When an abbreviation follows an indefinite article, the choice of a or an is determined by the way the abbreviation would be read aloud. Acronyms are read as words and, except when used adjectivally, are rarely preceded by a, an, or the (
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I've been aked a few times to be a bit more "pacific" when asking something. I may know what they mean, but I'm going to be as literalist and annoying as possible.

This particularly rapid, unintelligible patter isn't generally heard, and if it is, it doesn't matter.

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When I read it with the an I found myself naturally reading it as "an Oooniversity" hahaha

Hmm, so there are exceptions. Wondered me why people also say "an RPG". It's because it's spelled AAaaaaarrrr Peeee Geee. Interesting. So, "a" Youniversity, then. :)

 

 

Yup. The crux of it is really the sound the following word makes.

 

 

For instance: "an hour" :)

 

 

EDIT: As someone else pointed out >_<

Edited by alanschu
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When I read it with the an I found myself naturally reading it as "an Oooniversity" hahaha

Hmm, so there are exceptions. Wondered me why people also say "an RPG". It's because it's spelled AAaaaaarrrr Peeee Geee. Interesting. So, "a" Youniversity, then. >_<

It depends on pronounciation, not spelling:

With the indefinite article, the choice of a or an depends on the sound of the word it precedes. A comes before words with a consonant sound, including /y/, /h/, and /w/, no matter how the word is spelled {a eulogy} {a hotel suite} {a Ouachita tribe member}. An comes before words with a vowel sound {an LSAT exam room} {an X-Files episode} {an hour ago}.

 

"RPG" gets an "an" because it is an initialism rather than an acronym, and the letter "R" is, as you note, pronounced "arr".

When an abbreviation follows an indefinite article, the choice of a or an is determined by the way the abbreviation would be read aloud. Acronyms are read as words and, except when used adjectivally, are rarely preceded by a, an, or the (

"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."

 

- Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials

 

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When I read it with the an I found myself naturally reading it as "an Oooniversity" hahaha

Maybe because that is how it is pronounced in German? In Danish too for that matter. Ooni... rather than Youni... a slip that happens for me too on occasion.

“He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice.” - Albert Einstein
 

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Perhaps the Uni needs to raise their standards. I'm studying at a Technical University, and having language skill deficits there means you'll have a huge disadvantage for your future success, both at studying and at work. Well, duh.

 

You can past undergraduate programs in most Western universities and still sound like a retard, especially when you write anything.

 

(I don't imply that non-western are better, I just don't know enough 'bout them.)

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I know only two young people. One is my ex's son, who is about 17. The other is my subordinate, who is about 20. They're both clever buggers. However, in general young people seem pretty deficient in vocabulary. I get quite depressed about this. I think a lot of this is not so much an absence of education as a social imperative to avoid looking clever. Mainly because government schools seem to be a Lord of the Flies style lawless morass (judging by what my friends in teaching tell me). Survival of the most pointless. Which I find terribly sad.

"It wasn't lies. It was just... bull****"."

             -Elwood Blues

 

tarna's dead; processing... complete. Disappointed by Universe. RIP Hades/Sand/etc. Here's hoping your next alt has a harp.

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As long as we're on the subject, I've noticed that a lot of people use the plural form of the verb when talking about company names and the like. Is that right? I seem to remember that company names usually take the singular verb form.

 

'Microsoft have developed' should be 'Microsoft has developed' and so on.

 

As for getting your point across succinctly and effectively, its a hard skill to master.

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Kids just don't read anymore. Up until last week I hadn't read anything, besides the odd chapter in a text book that I didn't even really consciously read, for a good 2 or 3 years. I used to be mildly articulate but now I find myself stumbling through even casual conversations. It's very frightening. Then again I don't think I'd be dumb enough to not know what a reflection is. shazam

There was a time when I questioned the ability for the schizoid to ever experience genuine happiness, at the very least for a prolonged segment of time. I am no closer to finding the answer, however, it has become apparent that contentment is certainly a realizable goal. I find these results to be adequate, if not pleasing. Unfortunately, connection is another subject entirely. When one has sufficiently examined the mind and their emotional constructs, connection can be easily imitated. More data must be gleaned and further collated before a sufficient judgment can be reached.

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Plato complained about those damned kids. Society has been going downhill for thousands of years. Amazing how we really aren't any worse today than we were thousands of years ago. I mean, maybe we're a bad bunch compared to those happy, go lucky ancient Assyrians? The US, when it went into Baghdad, hearkened to the life preserving Roman method and divided the invasion force between one group who surrounded the enemy bastion and the other group who slaughtered every living thing in the way?

 

Now, I'm a complete slob, so I just jot crap down as it pops in my head. I have a lot of patience with others who do the same. ;)

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There's an old hieroglyphic that basically says that society is doomed because kids don't respect their elders, so yeah.

 

 

Having said that, I like to think I am a fairly well spoken individual, if perhaps a bit wordy. I didn't do very much reading though, outside of computer games. I will not dispute that reading helps with that sort of thing, but based on my anecdotal personal experiences, I wonder if there is something else there.

 

 

For probably 10 or so years, the only reading I did was the required reading in school.

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Thinking about it more older types tend to use a terrifying number of cliche'd statements, the worst I use being 'at the end of the day'.

"It wasn't lies. It was just... bull****"."

             -Elwood Blues

 

tarna's dead; processing... complete. Disappointed by Universe. RIP Hades/Sand/etc. Here's hoping your next alt has a harp.

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