ForeverBlueSkies - Life, the Universe & Everything - a blog

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Your Both Retards

Your RetardedQuote of the day has to be in this post on a forum from a third party in response to two other forum members having a dispute. It's actually a month old now but I only just spotted it today:

"To funny, Although I think your both retards."

And if you think that's funny you can get a t-shirt in the same vein from bustedtees ;)

Now, if only people could be a little more accurate in there grammar & typing we wouldn't think their retards would we?


wink

Labels:

Blue Skies thinking @ 1/15/2008 12:44:00 PM  

15 Comments:

  • At Tue Jan 15, 05:36:00 PM, Blogger rebekah said…

    ha. the whole "your" "youre" thing is my FAVORITE to edit (because i constantly edit EVERYTHING i see that's written or printed) ... and i actually do think people who make that mistake more than once are, as a general rule, pretty retarded :)

     

  • At Wed Jan 16, 10:20:00 AM, Blogger Lever said…

    Rebekah: Idi Amen. Yeah, me too :) And I will strike down with great anger and furious vengeance those who attempt to poison or destroy my letters!

    I is gonna buy me one o them t-shirts :)

     

  • At Fri Jan 25, 07:17:00 PM, Blogger Tawcan said…

    Does she come with the t-shirt? Me likes. :D

     

  • At Wed Jan 30, 01:07:00 PM, Blogger Lever said…

    Tawcan: LMAO Trust you, dude :) I think she's extra ;)

     

  • At Fri Feb 08, 11:45:00 PM, Anonymous Bulbboy said…

    "there grammar"

    Surely you mean "their grammar"? :D
    I blame the lolcats.


    There an idea for a site somewhere in there. IcanHasRetardz.com anyone?

     

  • At Mon Mar 17, 10:54:00 PM, Blogger keithlightwaver said…

    Shouldn't it be 'Too' funny. Also I get really pissed off with people who can spell, slagging off people who can't. My spelling is pretty poor as a rule.

    I am a proffessional illustrator, but I dont get mad, or start 'piss taking' just beacause most people draw like children!

    To be honest the majority of people, who in the past, have pulled me up on poor spelling, gennerally had the IQ of a door mat!.

    Good spelling is no indicator of mental capacity., just Perdantic obsession.

    Bye Tossers!

    Or is that Tossas?

     

  • At Tue Mar 18, 09:26:00 AM, Blogger Lever said…

    Bulbboy: Oh deer, you found my week spot ;)

    Of course it's "their" grammar and "They're" retards, but it's all part of the fun, innit? :D

    You're idea for a websight is fnu. Do it or be pwned!

    Keithlightwaver: Yes, it should be "Too", but "To" is what they wrote.

    Well done on being a professional illustrator and good job on your tolerance; you say you don't get mad but prior to that say that you do get really pissed off... come on, Keith, which is it to be? Maybe you should have taken my post with the same good humour that everybody else does?

    The difference between illustration and writing is that writing is the overwhelmingly de facto M.O. of everyday communication on the web; we don't speak on the web nor do we, for instance, draw pictures to ask who has the cheapest, most reliable unix servers in the UK...

    You'd think that people would be communicating better, don't you? Ill communication is down to either being unwilling or unable to type or write properly and there's no excuse for either in this day and age where spell checkers do the "hard" work for you.

    And if you're having a sideways swipe at me, Keith, I have an IQ over 140 and I'm actually a rather good illustrator too :) Pipe. Smoke it.

    And just to set the record straight with you, there's no pedantic obsession here, Keith, I'm just demonstrating that skills in the English language are quickly dropping to moronic standards and in a very public arena; that in itself promotes further degeneration of the clarity in communication so we'd all do well to encourage good practice rather than allow the bad, don't you think?

    Your drive-by anonymous flaming is not good netiquette, but I'd be happy to discus with you further, Keith, if you ever pass by here again... I dare you!

     

  • At Wed Mar 19, 10:35:00 PM, Blogger keithlightwaver said…

    Okay .. sorry if I offended, did I touch a nerve?

    The original message you critisised may have been written with poor grammar and spelling, but it still delivered the writer's message with enough clarity that it was completely understood. So if you’re really concerned about communication, why pull this message apart at all? Is the real reason because they don't have the benefit of a wonderful spelling memory ; or even the obvious high level of education you deliver the impression of having?

    If so that's just plain cruel! Hence my original rant regarding pedantic obsession.

    Surely it doesn't matter how something is spelt so long as the meaning is clear?

    It seems we are lucky that people can even write at all, with the literacy rate in the US being below 50% and falling! God knows how bad it’s going to get; there and everywhere else!

    Perhaps those illustration skills you so proudly announced will come in more useful than you ever dreamt in the not so distant future.

    Oh and my IQ is 148 so NAh NAh!

    Basically it seems to me that your quite happy to laff (yes I meant laugh) at other peoples inadequacies (this whole site does that rather well) but you can’t take the same treatment when its directed at you and your pedantic obsession with 'good English'. Maybe you should have taken my post with the same good humour that you expect others to take your's!

    U no wot I meen?
    love
    keef x

    (What with my own name contradicting that stupid “i before e except after c” rule what chance did I have but to start drawing?)

     

  • At Thu Mar 20, 03:19:00 PM, Blogger keithlightwaver said…

    I just noticed:
    "Now, if only people could be a little more accurate in there grammar & typing we wouldn't think their retards would we?"

    That should have been their and they're shouldn't it?

    I remember something about glass houses and stones. What was it again?

     

  • At Thu Mar 27, 01:12:00 PM, Blogger Lever said…

    Keithlightwaver: Look here, Keith, you're the first person who's come to this blog in 4 years and got their knickers in a twist so it's not me whose raw nerve has been touched. As for me being offended by your behaviour, you're not hovering anywhere near my buttons yet.

    Why did I criticise the original message? It was just a bit of fun. Was it a cruel thing to do? Put it this way, Keith, is a teacher cruel to mark a child's work? I'm not a politically correct person as I completely disagree with being so overly sensitive.

    I understand your sentiment that as long as the message has been communicated clearly then what's the problem? Well, the problem is, as you say, falling standards. Is it OK to let standards slip? If we're willing to let standards slip in written language and communication then where do we draw the line? What else suffers from a failure to retain a decent level of standards? I'm trying to conjure up an image of the thin end of the wedge here...

    Please don't accuse me of failing to accept your post in good humour, Keith, when you end your original comment with the line "Bye Tossers!" That's both hypocritical of you and far ruder than my initial critique in the post. Plus, being in the plural, your comment seems to be directed at more than just me...

    The statement of my IQ being over 140 is quite simply that - my IQ is over 140, so for all you know it could be 150, 160 or 180; I'm just letting you know that my own IQ I'm not that of a doormat. I'm glad your IQ is 148, it's genuinely nice to have other intelligent people around. That said, you must surely realise the last line of my post was dripping with irony, or was that you, Keith? ;)

    I enjoy debating with you Keith, maybe we could discuss another of the topics where I laugh at other peoples' inadequacies?

    Have a nice day :)

     

  • At Fri Mar 28, 10:54:00 AM, Blogger keithlightwaver said…

    Hi Lever.

    Okay, you made me think a lot here; can you smell the wood burning?

    I think you are right regarding my raw nerve! I have taken a lot of criticism over the years regarding my poor spelling. And believe me I have spent a lot of time trying to correct that situation (by attempting to learn better spelling), without much success. Thank God for spell checkers.

    I was having a bad day when I placed my original post and so you and your audience got the brunt of it. I apologise for the tone of my post and especially for my closing remark which was completely uncalled for. But at the same time I must point out (in my most pompous sounding tone)I did try to inject some humour and irony in my posts, but that may just be another of my inadequacies.

    As for laughing at other peoples inadequacies (boy that word really put my own personal inadequacy to the test), I think that generally most humour seems to do that anyway, and only the politically correctionist(is that a real word?) lobby would try to change that. God help me if I am headed that way!

    I enjoy this site and find your sense of humour to be very entertaining, so I guess I was also beeing hypocritical.

    All that said I still think that communication is the main goal and so stand by my remark "Surely it doesn't matter how something is spelt so long as the meaning is clear?"

    The language is in a state of constant flux and we must expect these changes (otherwise we'd still be referring to each other as 'Thee' (saying that, they still do in Oldham!)
    Your point about "Is it OK to let standards slip?" of course not, but it is okay to modify standards if the changes do not affect our ability to communicate clearly.

    I'm just waiting for the first novel written entirely in text message abbreviations to be published! I bet you're looking forward to that too.:)

    Thanks for the interaction,
    Keith.

     

  • At Fri Mar 28, 02:44:00 PM, Blogger Lever said…

    Keithlightwaver: Keith, thanks for getting back to me and seriously, thanks for the laughs :)

    Look, no hard feelings aye? I have a theory that people who may be lacking in certain areas more than make up in other disciplines... a bit like the concept of the flawed genius... if your spelling's not "up to scratch" then I bet your illustration is pretty darn good. You're welcome to prove me right with any examples of your work :)

    I agree with you about irony... humour, especially sarcasm (I know, I know, the lowest form of wit) is really difficult to convey without the possibility of maybe upsetting someone, so we're all potentially at fault there, it's an easy line to cross :)

    Yes, communication is constantly changing and, being a stick-in-the-mud, I'm certainly one to try and defend the language as best I can, although it may well be a losing battle... LOL

    BTW I'm such a hypocrite, sporadically peppering my own words with TLAs, emoticons etc...

    And talking of the term "thee", I used the very same term in a text message to a friend this morning. Old-fashioned could well come back into fashion and we'll be the vanguard of style, aye? :D

    I apologise also for poking fun at those who can't spell, but hey, if we can't take the piss, what else can we do? :D

    Thanks for your time, Keith, you're a good egg. I look forward to seeing you around sometime soon :)

     

  • At Fri Mar 28, 03:14:00 PM, Blogger Lever said…

    Keithlightwaver: Oh, and another thing Keith, there *is* a novel purely in txt msgs... it was published in Finnish though, so maybe that could spare us the pain a little...

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16790277/

     

  • At Fri Mar 28, 11:43:00 PM, Blogger keithlightwaver said…

    Hi Lever,
    A novel of text messages in Finnish huh? Now you’re just winding me up, I can’t even cope with English spelling, never mind abbreviations in a foreign language.

    English is ridiculously over complex written language. Let me explain a few of my complaints:

    Things like “know” and “no”, (what the hell is the point of a silent letter?)

    And words like “write”. Why the w? I know it is to differentiate it from “right” but surely context does that anyway! And what the hell is the point of the “gh” in the “right” version? They could both be spelt “rite”! If they were, then how my school years would have been made so much easier!

    Then there are words like “believe”, I mean this is just plain stupid, using an “i “to make the second “e” sound as “ee” when normally we would use the “e” after the “v” to soften it. Unfortunately, in this case it fails because if the “i” before the second “e” is dropped the first “e” is softened too. So we get something sounding like “beeleeve” (or should that be “bealeave”? ). No it is utterly stupid. This word could have been dealt with in a much simpler way .Why not spell it “beleave” as in “be” and “leave”. Now that would make sense!

    Then there is the just plain silly choice between double “e” or using “ea”? Elements like these in written language just don’t follow any consistent logic.

    Finally, to compound it all, we have spoken accents to complicate things. If I were a resident of Bury I would expect to spell bus “buzz” or a Londoner might spell it “Bass” (which always conjures up pictures of people drifting down the old Kent road on giant floating fish for me).

    I could go on all night (why the hell that isn’t spelt “nite” as in “shite” I’ll never know!) but I think I already did. I’m sure my monumentally rambling complaint is boring the trousers off you. And there was another ... why not “trowsers”?

    I think I just may have spotted a primary cause for teenage angst among British children. No wonder they are so disillusioned with the world. Even the written language seems to be set up to make life hard for them!

    Anyway I think “Joseph Priestley” got it right (rite) when he said.

    “The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate.”

    Or perhaps I could just grab a time machine, go back to 1604 and beat the crap out of English schoolteacher Robert Cawdrey as he started the stupid trend of having correct spellings for words.

    Anyway.. I lost track a little there... I meant to say. I haven’t finished this site yet but you can see a little of my work here:

    http://www.keithdraws.com

    So much for my anonymity!

     

  • At Mon Mar 31, 12:39:00 PM, Blogger Lever said…

    Keithlightwaver: Nope, there really is a Finnish txt message novel and they apparently have plans to foist it upon us in English sometime soon :S

    Interesting points you raise on the difference in spellings, Keith; I'd hazard a guess that it was a way to differentiate between knowledge and denial in this particular case, the only thing shooting down my theory being that in bothwritten and spoken language you'd take the word in context, so that can't be right (write?)

    Hehe, and then we move onto write/rite, right? I get this all the time off my girlfriend (she's a Yank) and she says, with colour for instance, that the Americans are only optimising the words (and yet they also still have though, through and rough despite all these words being spelt the same and having very different phonetics.)

    I've heard it said that English is a very difficult language to learn, particularly to write; I can certainly see that, and yet we're pretty damn good at it without thinking. So I think there's a certain element of arrogance in our expectations of writing, I must have been a Victorian general in my last life...

    Dialect is a hilarious addition to this whole subject too... I had my Turkish friend this morning trying to imitate a Gloucestershire/west country/Forest of Deane accent this morning and it was hilarious... he reminded me of Harry Enfield's Kevin & Perry sketch where Perry comes back from the Oasis gig talking like a Manc and Kevin pipes up with a very skewed west country attempt :D

    Keith, don't worry about rambling here, I do enough of it myself... infact, I'd encourage you to just go for it... it's been a bit quiet of late and I need encouragement to continue blogging. Shouldn't that be trowzers?

    I think the kids have been stripping down the language to suit their own needs for some time now... and why do Londoners sound like Jamaicans in the last few years? I can never understand that!

    Ah, tell me about more communication... Skype, txt messaging, mobile... I was happier when there was just a trimphone in the hallway at home... Was Robert Cawdrey just a right royal pain in the rear or a religious zealot?

    OK, I see your site (sight) Keith, very good, let me peruse and come back to you soon, got some more work to catch up on ;)

     

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