Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Books: Reeding maykes yoo briter.

An unintended side-effect of reading a whole bunch is that one soon gains, not only an ear for how words should be arranged, but an eye for how they should look. A typographical error or incorrectly spelled word will interrupt the flow of one's eyes across the page in much the same way that a six-inch deep axle-eating pothole will interrupt the flow of one's car down the road.

In this modern day and age, when everybody and their grandmother has access to a keyboard and the urge to share their thoughts with the universe, one gets constant reminders of the sad state of literacy in America. Pundits have been droning for years that the new popularity of (email / the dialup BBS / internet fora / blogs: pick one) is triggering a renaissance in literacy. They'll compare it to the days of the late 19th Century, when the predominance of dime novels, written journals, letters, newspapers, and telegrams pretty much forced folks to be able to read in order to keep themselves amused in a world devoid of recorded music, talking movies, and broadcast speech & pictures.

Said pundits must not have access to an internet connection.

Fifty-eleven times a day I find myself beating my forehead bloody against the keyboard, yelling "Who let these illiterate morons out without adult supervision?"

Mauser*Girl is more eloquent on the same topic.

3 comments:

Josh said...

Not on my blog, I hope, since I payd fer an Inglish degrey.

Anonymous said...

But Tam, so often the illiterate are downright funny.

The runner up in the humor contest was the guy who said he was studying marital arts in his dojo.

But my very favorite was a fellow who opined that anyone guilty of wreckless driving should have his driver's licence revoked.

*blink*

pax

Anonymous said...

In case you've never seen them, you need to read the Grammar Nazi strips from Queen of Wands.

Grammar Nazi 1
Grammar Nazi 2
Grammar Nazi 3
Grammar Nazi 4

Not to mention my single favorite webcomic of all time:
The stupid people are taking over!

Her version of your "But I'm just a woman, what would I know about this sort of thing?" joke.
Sweetie!

This woman scares me.
Oh. My. God.
*snort*

Other random fun.
Darwin Redux
The secret about us guys.
Kid, relax. I'm a Scotsman, not a cannibal.
Kitties rock!
Undead Santa
Batman
You can't take her anywhere.
Quality Time
Mrrooowwww!
Kitty has a bad day.