I went to bed at 11 pm last night; I wasn't asleep until sometime past 3am the next morning.
I woke up with 10 minutes to get ready; it took me 15.
I got to my editing lecture 10 minutes late.
But goddamn, I'm happy right now.
Editing
class does that to me. If the language is drugs, grammar is my crack
cocaine: pure and dangerous. I mean, it's the only class where I really
know what I'm doing. It's not like I'm not learning anything—if
anything, I learn more and more each week—but it's the only class where I
sit down and know I'm gonna kick ass in at least some respect.
Substantive editing (editing for tone, consistency, redundancies, point
of view, etc.) isn't the easiest and I'm only just picking it up, but
there's a real buzz out of picking up someone's work and ripping it to
pieces, suggesting better ways to say things, questioning all the
ambiguities—brings out the superiority complex in everyone :P
Line-by-line editing (accidental narcotics pun FTW :D), however, is my
favourite: droppin' punctuation like a boss, correcting the typos even
Word would miss... fucking fun ^_^
I somehow managed to get into a little discussion with the teacher on whether the word 'over' in the title One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest
was a preposition. Without really realising it, I'd come to a stronger
conclusion than she had, being correct in stating that it was indeed a
preposition rather than an adverb (as had been contested). She then
complimented me on my grammatical ability in general—to quote NintendoCapriSun: so happy!
It's just good to know the work I've put in to my technical writing
skills over the years has paid off. On one hand, it's probably a little
ridiculous that such a small compliment can make me feel so proud; but I
know when I've earned my keep, and this is one keep I have fucking
earned. 1 smiley approved for display :)
On the other hand... don't call my grammar good when there's a woman I'm interested in sitting across from me!
You trollin'? Don't fucking troll me now, not with this! I already have
next to no chance—are you gonna rob a poor man? The only thing I like
more than that class is her... and she's in that class... so, not only
am I doing lines, but I've also got a needle sticking out my arm! It
doesn't matter what she wears, how she does her hair, who she's with,
her mood that day... she's beautiful. Every class with her sees my urge
to talk to her grow—and that's seriously the only thing I wanna do with her right now! Well... not the only thing, but the first thing, most certainly! I keep saying to myself 'Goddamn it, seriously, I would kill people just to talk to her. I'd slaughter half the fucking room just to get so much as a five minute conversation! I'll go Virginia Tech level if I have to—I don't care!' ...what the fuck am I talking about? I'll
commit academic genocide, but won't go up to a girl I'm interested in
and say 'Hi!'? These drugs are fucking my sense of logic right up :P
What's unusual is that I don't want to look at her. I actively
prevent myself from doing that. The urge to ogle was stronger today than
it has been for the past few weeks... it's getting harder and harder to
not look :P It's that thing where you want to look at someone, so you
do, and then they look at you perchance, and you instantaneously look
away thinking you've gotten away with it... then you go right back to
looking at the person, they look at you again perchance, and you look
away again—as if that trick's gonna work twice :P She makes me
forget all the shortcomings I usually think of when dreaming of women in
solitude. I'm not even in the picture—it's just her. I don't know if
that's love, and the label doesn't matter to me: all that matters is
that I'm happy when I see her. Maybe I'll talk to her, maybe not—I
really want to—but for now, I just like seeing her. I'll take what
happiness I can get right now: if seeing her makes me happy, so be it.
They're not dirty thoughts, nor intrusive, confusing, ambiguous,
hurtful: just beautiful. Like her innocent smile... and the eyes that
pop out of her head... and her curly hair... and her skin...
Beautiful
like her :)
Showing posts with label spelling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spelling. Show all posts
Tuesday, 15 May 2012
Monday, 7 March 2011
Internet Shorthand: moar thought w/ comment plz? :)
The Internet has, unsurprisingly, developed its own language. What's come about as a result of 10 to 15 years of rapid digital Westernisation and unrivaled physical ineptitude appears to be a very malformed and broken version of English, with a whole tonne of jargon thrown in for good exclusionary measure. Many of the terms we use are text-based alternatives to expressions we can not convey normally through digital means: LOL, ROFL, LMAO and all those emoticons are just a few examples that jump to mind, and this is perfectly understandable, if not extremely beneficial, to us as people. Language itself is a tool that provides a common knowledge base with regards to communications for all to use. It gives us all the same idea of what certain terms mean according to how they are used, and the context of the situation provides one with meaning pertaining to the situation.
This is where the formalities end.
Of all the terms, expressions, pictures and other means of communication we digital residents use on a day-to-day basis, one stands out for me as being the single worst permutation of letters I've yet seen arranged on paper or panels: "plz." Shorthand for "please," the adverb that you stick in to those sentences where you're asking someone for something and want to be polite, as to acknowledge the fact that you are asking this person to sacrifice their own resources for your own gain. If you don't know what the concept of politeness is, please look it up in your nearest dictionary. Even if you're slightly unsure of what I'm on about here, look it up. You will be doing everyone around you a big fucking favour, and learning things is fun!
Let's look at my context for a moment: I've published many a video in my 2 years as a content producer. Some of these videos have been tutorials that aim to assist the viewer in something they would otherwise not be able to themselves, and all of them have been provided 100% free of surplus charge to said viewer. This is why it boggles my mind when some ungrateful cunt comes along and asks me to help them in-game, right before sticking "plz" and their PSN ID on the end of their already malformed "sentence."
The act of asking alone demonstrates an extreme lack of gratitude; I just showed you how to do it! Step by step! Hell, I even talked you through it. Yes, perhaps the video didn't help you as much as I'd hoped, and that's a shame, but the other people saying "Thanks!" and "Great video!" beg to differ as to the video's usefulness. Irrespective of that, I've spent hours putting these videos together, so just why the fuck should I drop everything and schedule to help you do something that everyone else seems to be able to do themselves without any trouble?
Sticking "plz" on the end just tells me you can't even be bothered to type "P" then "L," followed by "E" and "A," right before hitting "S" and returning once more to the "E" to perform the arduous task of typing a 6 letter word. If we were all using mobile phone keypads to communicate over these here interwebs, I wouldn't see this as a reflection of laziness, because I can at least reason with the justification of using shorthand under those circumstances, but face it: most of you fuckers are using keyboards, so feel free to use all the keys. And take a lesson in grace from Jon Graham: "plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz" is just as bad, if not worse, than the "root" form "plz." Its use doesn't demonstrate impoliteness as much as it demonstrates stupidity; the time you spent holding down the "Z" key could have been used pressing the OTHER FUCKING KEYS!
I couldn't give a shit how you speak to your chums and pals, but when you're speaking to someone you don't know and asking them for something, whatever it may be, a little grace goes a long goddamn way. When you fuckers apply for a job, don't be surprised when you get a rejection letter, packaged, to your surprise, with a tattered shred of paper from your resume; you know, the part where you said "I can has job plz?" I'm sure you'll be :( maybe even :'( but maybe you'll learn something. I know it's been a while, but don't fret; it's a good feeling, I assure you.
I can't remember where I read this, but as a quotation, it sums everything up nicely:
"If you type 'plz' instead of 'please' because it's shorter, I'll type 'no' instead of 'yes' because it's shorter."
This is where the formalities end.
Of all the terms, expressions, pictures and other means of communication we digital residents use on a day-to-day basis, one stands out for me as being the single worst permutation of letters I've yet seen arranged on paper or panels: "plz." Shorthand for "please," the adverb that you stick in to those sentences where you're asking someone for something and want to be polite, as to acknowledge the fact that you are asking this person to sacrifice their own resources for your own gain. If you don't know what the concept of politeness is, please look it up in your nearest dictionary. Even if you're slightly unsure of what I'm on about here, look it up. You will be doing everyone around you a big fucking favour, and learning things is fun!
Let's look at my context for a moment: I've published many a video in my 2 years as a content producer. Some of these videos have been tutorials that aim to assist the viewer in something they would otherwise not be able to themselves, and all of them have been provided 100% free of surplus charge to said viewer. This is why it boggles my mind when some ungrateful cunt comes along and asks me to help them in-game, right before sticking "plz" and their PSN ID on the end of their already malformed "sentence."
The act of asking alone demonstrates an extreme lack of gratitude; I just showed you how to do it! Step by step! Hell, I even talked you through it. Yes, perhaps the video didn't help you as much as I'd hoped, and that's a shame, but the other people saying "Thanks!" and "Great video!" beg to differ as to the video's usefulness. Irrespective of that, I've spent hours putting these videos together, so just why the fuck should I drop everything and schedule to help you do something that everyone else seems to be able to do themselves without any trouble?
Sticking "plz" on the end just tells me you can't even be bothered to type "P" then "L," followed by "E" and "A," right before hitting "S" and returning once more to the "E" to perform the arduous task of typing a 6 letter word. If we were all using mobile phone keypads to communicate over these here interwebs, I wouldn't see this as a reflection of laziness, because I can at least reason with the justification of using shorthand under those circumstances, but face it: most of you fuckers are using keyboards, so feel free to use all the keys. And take a lesson in grace from Jon Graham: "plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz" is just as bad, if not worse, than the "root" form "plz." Its use doesn't demonstrate impoliteness as much as it demonstrates stupidity; the time you spent holding down the "Z" key could have been used pressing the OTHER FUCKING KEYS!
I couldn't give a shit how you speak to your chums and pals, but when you're speaking to someone you don't know and asking them for something, whatever it may be, a little grace goes a long goddamn way. When you fuckers apply for a job, don't be surprised when you get a rejection letter, packaged, to your surprise, with a tattered shred of paper from your resume; you know, the part where you said "I can has job plz?" I'm sure you'll be :( maybe even :'( but maybe you'll learn something. I know it's been a while, but don't fret; it's a good feeling, I assure you.
I can't remember where I read this, but as a quotation, it sums everything up nicely:
"If you type 'plz' instead of 'please' because it's shorter, I'll type 'no' instead of 'yes' because it's shorter."
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