Re: Like I mean: "Grammar Stinks."

["Jo Francis Byrd" <jbyrd -at- byrdwrites -dot- com>]

Teachers can go a long way in stifling "Instant Messenger Speak" in papers
by informing students up front that formal papers MUST be written in
correct, grammatical <language of whatever country it is> and coming down
hard when grading if the students use Instant Messenger Speak.

Sorta like (she added with a sly snicker at using "like") when my kids were
little; took me forEVER to eradicate "gots" from their vocabularies. About
the time I'd think I'd finally succeeded it would rear its ugly head again,
but the day came when they FINALLY stopped using "gots"! Guess they got
tired of me saying, "excuse me?" every time they did and making they phrase
the sentence correctly.

Jo Byrd

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dick Margulis " <margulis -at- mail -dot- fiam -dot- net>
Subject: Like I mean: "Grammar Stinks."

I heard Muffy whatshername interviewed on NPR yesterday about her article on
"like."

In response to a question she acknowledged that the usage is pretty much
confined to an age range and that adults use the construction only in
limited circumstances. (And I remember using "like" the same way when I was
a teen mumblety years ago.)

I suspect instant message speak will be with us for a while but that it,
too, will remain confined to a particular subculture and age group rather
than having a major influence on the way adults speak and write. Sure, there
will be effects at the margins: advertisers will pick up particular
spellings or locutions and they will creep into general usage. But I don't
think standard usage is going away anytime soon.




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