Dearest Online Community,
I have been a part of you for five great years now, and while you’ve shared much wisdom and experience with me, I do have one humble request.
What I ask for is not riches, world peace, or even honest business practices. I understand that these things are out of your grasp. Nevertheless, I do have a simple wish…
Please stop making up words. To that effect, please stop re-purposing words. The word “killer” is not an adjective, and the word “creative” is not a noun. The word “Web 2.0″ isn’t even a word. Neither is n00b. Words do not contain numbers.
To be honest…such things would not make as big of an impact if you would only consider refining your English grammar. I know it is a hard language to learn, but 80% of readers agree that grammar is important, and although you’ve been blogging “since a few months” now, I’m sure you can take that step towards more legible writing.
I don’t want to be rude, but…even the basic writing skills seem to have fallen to the way side. Run-on sentences run rampant in articles, and capitalization is done without rhyme or reason. Simple articles such as “a” or “the” are lost in the fray of apostrophes mistakenly used to pluralize words.
Formatting is no better. Phrases that need not be bold are indeed bold, entire paragraphs are italicized, and underlines are random and meaningless. Bullets are being used as headings, and headings are being used improperly. Simple right and left aligned images are a rarity nowadays…
I understand. The meaning is more important than the words, but nobody can understand the meaning without a semblance of structure, a hierarchy of formatting, and yes…real, meaningful, actual words. Words not crafted from website names, such as “twitterverse” or “blogosphere.” Words not relating to people such as “creatives” or “noobs.” Words that are found in the dictionary. Words that do not contain numbers.
All I ask is this: please stop making up useless words. Or at least understand how other words work before adding new ones. It is only through knowledge that we can gain power, and create terms that actually mean something.
You are so right, I confess I have especially problems when it comes to consistent formatting on my blog. I change the “look” of my posts too much, thanks for the reminder, SY
Corey you hit the nail right in the head. I got to admit I was guilty a few times before but I’ve learned my lessons. Let me add though, people are always mixing up then and than and you wonder if they really know the meaning of those words.
I’m not going to lie I love making up words when I write; but then again I do it when I talk too. (Did I use that semi colon correctly?)
I awesomficate a lot of words, and runons do become an issue at times; but when I do use real words I spell them correctly (or at least according to my spell checker) and I always try to format posts the right way.
Anyway, nice post, I promise to be g00d!
@Ardit
No, you did not use the semi-colon correctly.