[wasleys]

Ivo,

Originally Posted by Ivo

Michael, I am sorry for saying this in advance, but were you not supposed to address Coolpaggy with a capital "c". It's the first word of your sentence so I presume it would have been appropriate. Apart from that it's Coolpaggy's TM name

The TM name is coolpaggy, which is why I used a small c.

hence by addressing him with a capital "c" you would have shown more respect.

Rubbish. Who ever told you that?

(Btw. to be really precise, you used a small letter for Arjmen too, but not for Knok).

I used a small letter for arjmen because that is the TM name. I used a capital letter for Knok because the person with the TM name knok signs Knok. Had coolpaggy and arjmen signed I might have addressed them differently.

I mean, please have a look at this: "michael, I think you've got a good point". Or: "Michael, I think you've got a good point". Which one do you like better?

Do you really not know the answer to that question?

Admittedly, my comment above is a bit provocative. Yet I believe that the best way of showing others how to write properly on this forum would be by setting a good example ourselves. I am certain you know what I mean.

I quite agree. I am sure I make mistakes through an inadequate knowledge of grammar and spelling and a failure to proof-read properly. However the points you have chosen to point out as errors are, as I have just shown, deliberate use of a certain style rather than carelessness. Just as a newspaper has a stylesheet I try to maintain a consistent style in my posts. Whether or not it is good style is, of course, open to debate.

As to the other issue you've raised: I am not sure whether people who use improper English expressions do so because they are lazy to look them up in the dictionary (or google it, as you say). What if they aren't aware of such misuse in the first place?

I suggest you re-read my posts in this thread, especially those in reply to coolpaggy where I said "I think you have misunderstood me. I'm talking about when people come across a word (eg in A&A), don't know what it means … then appear to guess at a meaning instead of looking it up" and "however my main beef was about not bothering to discover meanings of words not known". To make it quite clear my original post was not about people who misuse words. It was about people who, when faced with a word they have not met before, make no attempt to find out what it means but guess.

On the whole though, I agree with you and others that the level of English used on the forum is sometimes below acceptable. I can't stand the follwoing: "cud u plz msg me, thx". It looks as if one wasn't even worth the time and effort of the writer to use all the letters. Usually, I do not reply to such things.

I'm glad we agree. I, too, am beginning to ignore that type of post.

Maybe it would not do any harm if the TM moderators (or others with accepted authority) once in a while reminded all the TMian community how to write in a proper way. I know Erin has done so on many occassions and I've always appreciated it.

Amen to that.

Michael

EOE