radical remedy

[Ebony AKA AngieJ]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "marley" <sundancekid at m...> wrote:
> > This is a good thought, but we don't need "training" - we aren't 
> dogs.  Most teens are quite capable of thinking rationally without 
> needing to be shown how to.  And most of the people you're talking 
> about, who do use Netspeak and don't spell things correctly, are 
the 
> younger teens, even 12-year-olds.  

Nope, sorry.  I've seen Netspeak from self-professed posters in the 
16-17 age range.  I could name names that people would recognize.  
Although I do admit that many adults are lacking in the 
spelling/grammar area... but if this becomes a list that requires 
redlining before posting, I'm out of here.  I redline papers for a 
living and am not trying to worry about correcting others' English.

I also want to point out that we have list members for whom English 
is not a first language.  Sometimes their posts are less than 
grammatically correct... but I'd like to see what 90% of those 
howling would post on a Portuguese, Chinese, or Swedish list.  Even 
if you *think* you're fluent, you're still not a native speaker.  
I've found online Spanish speakers to be very helpful when correcting 
me--including quite a few HP fandom folks I've gotten to know.  They 
might tease, but they aren't mean or snippy... I think that's a 
cultural thing though, because I don't think it would occur to them 
to make me feel bad for trying to attain fluency.  I can't imagine 
what these ESL speakers must think of our snobbery.

And nosilla, whatever I said--"teachable", etc.--would have been 
offensive if one was prepared to be offended.  Just trying to defend 
you guys... next time I'll keep my mouth shut.   I work with teens 
and deal with a 17 year old sister on a daily basis... and I know how 
sensitive... ah, never mind.  :-D  Thanks to Jenny for clarifying my 
intent.  

> Sorry if this seems mean, but lately, I've noticed a growing surge 
of anti-teen feeling, both online and off, and it's really annoying.  
> Part of the reason I like the Internet so much is because I can be 
> treated like a reasonable human being and not a degenerate plague 
of society - which is often the case in real life, though I don't do 
> anything to foster that sort of attitude.
> > So, adults out there, please - a little bit of understanding will 
go a long way.
> 

There's been anti-teen feeling ever since the establishment of the 
teen years as a buffer between adulthood and childhood in an 
industrialized society.  *poker face*  This insanity exists because 
adults have sudden amnesia--the second we reach 25 or so, we 
immediately forget what life was like from birth to age 18.  I 
suppose I have one more year left to be sympathetic to the teen 
plight.

> nosilla aka Allison, really tired of being seen as a degenerate 
> plague of society

Take heart!  In a few more years, you'll be an adult and your teen 
years will be such a distant memory that you'll begin harping about 
the degenerate youth yourself.  ;-)

--Ebony AKA AngieJ (who was nosilla's age a mere eight years ago and 
remembers *everything*)