What do you know? Proper English IS important in money-making Hubs!
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wuzup wit u? how u ben? wut u doin 2maro? wna cbr?
Chatspeak is just soooooo attractive, isn't it?
No.
It's not.
It's atrocious.
And yet people use it anyway.
For the life of me, I cannot understand why proper English has died, not only within my own generation, but with the older ones as well. I've seen many a learned man and woman turn to chatspeak and "n00blish" in an attempt to speed up their WPM (word per minute) and get texts out faster, and to seem more at ease with their younger coworkers, family members, and peoples of society.
It's a wasted effort, but they do it anyway.
The problem is, it makes the younger kiddies think that this chatspeak thing is good, and that it's worth typing like 5 year old imbeciles. And it makes the older peers thing it's alright to learn this "hip" new language.
There is nothing hip about it. There is nothing cool about it. There is no worthwhile point in using it or learning it.
So why do people use it on their hubs and websites?
Simple: they think they can attract a bigger audience.
But don't let this erratic train of thought run you down! You don't have to type like a moron to get a higher hub score or more clicks off Google!
THERE IS HOPE, AND IT IS IN THE FORM OF PROPER ENGLISH!
Let me tell you a few ways you can improve your English quickly, write articles that don't hurt others to read, just possibly make a little more moolah on your hubs and websites, and maybe get yourself into college. And if you are in college or have been in college ... Why in the world are you typing like that?!
Okay, bad joke. But still, we're gonna try and reform you anyway. :-D
Spell Check is your friend.
Hell yeah it is! Spell check has got to be the best friend any semi-illiterate fool can have! I know that's a bit harsh, but it's a fact. Even us elite literate nerds use it when we have to.
Microsoft Office & Works word processors have spell checks in them that also come with grammar checks and a thesaurus.
... What do you mean, "What's a thesaurus?"
*sigh*
A thesaurus is kind of like a dictionary. The difference is it'll give you words with the same meaning, or close to the same meaning, as the word you're using. So instead of calling someone "stupid," you can call them "an idiot," "a moron," "an imbecile," "a pathetic excuse for oxygen waste..." Alright, that last one's mine, so don't go and steal it, okay? Point is, it makes the written work more interesting by using a variety of words instead of using the same one over and over and over.
The grammar check is nice, too. It will tell you if you have proper punctuation, syntax, form, and chronological tense (meaning you're not using "has" when you should be using "had").
Basically, spell check is your own personal editor. But you'll still want someone else to go through your work to make sure it flows, as well as checking for fragments (which most spell checks have) and good verbage. We'll talk about flow later.
Watch what you say.
Do all your sentences start with the same word? Do you want to sound like your vocabulary's less than 50? Do you even know you're using the same word for the first word of your sentences?
Depending on your written piece, you want to avoid repeating the same word or word phrase over and over with every sentence. If it's to emphasize a point, sure, that's fine. But if it's every single flippin' sentence, you need to change that. It gets old fast.
This might work well for you if you're going into journalism for the county newspaper, though; the average reading level of an average newspaper is equivalent to 6th grade books, so you won't have to worry too much about big words and fancy sentences.
Also, remember who your audience is. If you're aiming for the teen crowd, stick to their lingo (to an extent). Don't go off on some scientific study verbage if you're writing a children's novel, and vice versa; writing for a very intellectual group of adults should take some intelligence on your part. This is a great place for that thesaurus we talked about earlier.
Don't drag the audience along.
Some people don't have a problem with this; they're able to tell an anecdote and then continue on into their piece. Others go on and on and on with no end in sight, before coming to the point. By then, people have lost interest in whatever it was you wanted to tell them, and only those determined to read your work are going to push themselves to continue.
I know I have one hub where I did this, and I had someone point it out to me. I'm very grateful they did, because I would have never thought someone wouldn't read what I had to say. Then again, I'm extremely full of myself when it comes to my writing (just go ask my mother; she'll completely agree with me here).
If you do drag on and catch it in time, try breaking the section up a bit. You can move a paragraph or two to another section, or you can delete some you find may not be necessary to the article or piece you're writing. Not everyone wants to hear about your Great Aunt Sally.
Go with the flow.
Flow is everything. Literally.
If your work doesn't flow, it's going to be a long and bumpy road for the reader. And not many readers like long and bumpy roads in their reading.
You want the sentences and paragraphs to flow effortlessly. This can take some time to understand and maybe more time to perfect, but once you've got the hang of it, people will line up to read your handiwork. Think about it this way:
Imagine you're telling your best friend a story. You tell her one part, then jump to what seems like a completely irrelevent part, then jump back to the second part, then jump to another part... and it continues until you reach the end of your story. Your friend then asks you a bunch of questions about said story, and you get frustrated and say, "Why didn't you listen to me the first time? I already explained that."
Your friend didn't understand because the story didn't flow.
You have to consider the fact that your reader may not know what it is you're trying to tell them. If you start talking about, say, boat motors, then move to a paragraph about how to pull an intertube behind your boat, then go on to something about boat lights, you're going to confuse your reader. Sporadic train of thought is fun and all, but not when you're trying to convey a point. You must keep your thoughts clear and concise and to the point. A few bits about a hilarious boat trip you had might be nice to add, but consider doing it after you finish the first draft of the article, and put parts of the boat trip story in with parts of the article the story can help explain.
Flow is everything. If you can't make your article flow, you probably need help.
Where can I get more help?
It's a good thing I thought to put this in here.
Most communities have things like Community Education classes anyone can take for a small fee, or even free courses. They can range anywhere from simple animal vet care (such as signs your dog is sick or your horse needs new shoes) to making crafts like candles and homemade furniture, to language courses. They can be through colleges in your area or just average people volunteering to teach others what they know.
Most Comm. Ed. curriculums contain courses on English and writing skill training. They are wonderful classes to consider if you're still having trouble with writing. Some will even have more specific courses oriented towards genres of writing or types of writing, or even writing styles you can learn and use. It's up to you what you want to learn.
If worse comes to worse, there's always online textbooks and help aids.
So, have you abandoned your old ways?
Are you done with that lame chatspeak notion? Have you moved away from the txt talk of today? I really hope so, because if I have to deal with one more idiot telling me to "chillax" or "stfu ur bein a nurd", I'm going to have to commit mass genocide.
... ... It was a joke, people... ...
Point is, proper English does mean a lot in today's world, even though emphasis on it has dwindled to dang near nothing. Please help keep the true English language alive with me, and may your future writings be worthy of Hawthorne himself. :-D
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I agree, excellent and needed hub! Thank you.
Wow... I just noticed a spelling error. >.< Darn it all, I type too fast sometimes.
Yep, that's a good one - and here lies its problem in terms of discussion in comments - nothing to discuss really, you told everything already :P
Do you follow? ;)
Shhh... :-P I didn't say discuss this hub, I said check it out because it rocks. xD You know you can't argue with me; logic bends to my will! >D
LOL I am not arguing, I am pontificating ;)
lol! I suppose you are. Can I be silly and repeat the "logic bends to my will!" for fun?
Sure you can. Not that I will belive it :P
lol Doesn't matter much anyway. It's an awesome quote my best friend said one day in an attempt to explain herself as I laughed my tail off from something else she'd said.
See, what happened was... ... Oh, nevermind, it's not important. :-P I have the recording of her saying it, too, though she said "Logic bends to my will, bitches!" but I didn't think I needed to repeat the last word.
It was hilarious nonetheless. :D
I don't think I can qualify as a bitch. Communist anarchist child molester will be a good substitute, though :D
xD Ah man, you make me giggle. Have you met Hal Licino? He makes me giggle too. lol!
I just love him :)
And you can add loving a man to the list of my sins :D
xD There is nothing wrong with loving a man. ;) Hello, boyfriend of 2+ years, not like I ain't loved him. :-P I'm gonna be quiet for a bit; I'm writing a new hub...
xD There is nothing wrong with loving a man. ;) Hello, boyfriend of 2+ years, not like I ain't loved him. :-P I'm gonna be quiet for a bit; I'm writing a new hub...
Oh, I do love it when you talk dirty:-"a pathetic excuse for oxygen waste..."
Oh, I do think you have raised some very good points!
Hmmmm "logic bends to my will" Hmmmmmmm
It's an insult I love to use when I'm sitting about in chat rooms and some retarded troll comes in and just bashes everybody for no apparent reason. It's fun to watch them sputter when you use big words. ^_^
Thank you for the comment Foxy! ;-P
Is my clock wrong or is it approaching the hour where cinderella must dash off and jump into her pumkin or somethink?
u r onnit. I kinna ken it!
Fotanatlly mi spilling ??'' and i s berygloob
... ... Wait, what? You lost me with the pumpkin bit. Are you implying I should be going to bed soon? :-P
lol Earnest, hello! I have no idea what in the world you're trying to say! ^_^ Me + bad spelling = I don't have the patience to try and decipher it. :D Yay! Thank you for the comment anyway! :-P
No its just that you and chris seem to be the only people awake, in US that is,
but I forgot its Sat night there,right, Its 4pm sunday here.
goodnight sleep tight don't let the bed bugs bite?
lol It's 1:17 AM. Saturday was an hour and 17 minutes ago. :-P I'll go to sleep as soon as I feel my head nodding. Until then, I'll find a way to keep myself occupied. I always do.
Hey, I'm still awake, too - 2:18am - but I'm struggling with calling it quits though :)
Me too. I'm feelin' the nods coming on...
You really are a good writer, and you'll have a big score in no time. When I think of when you first started here and you asked me if I would give you advice. I think you were just pulling my leg. Having a little fun with me.
This a good one, and I haven't read a bad one yet. It's actually very wise too. You are a credit to your age group. Peace!
I'm so with you on this. You know what my main bitch is... it's not with chat speak or repetitive diction.. it's that they aren't being used on purpose.
Chat speak (1337 5p34k) is awesome and amazingly expressive and new and adds so much potential to the language and people being able to get more closely at what it is precisely that they want to say... it gives nuance and control. BUT, it only does so if the writer knows the rest of spelling and grammar too.
It's like a guy who doesn't know how to paint at all picking up a paint brush and sloshing paint around on a canvas and saying, "Hey, this is modern art."
No it's not. It's you being a lazy piece of crap and trying to excuse that abomination you just made by pretending your ignorance is really a show of independent thought. Picasso made lame, weird paintings that looked like crap because you know what? When he was 16 he could already paint more accurately than any photograph. You want to "play with language," learn it first.
I'm not saying that people shouldn't express themselves in the language that they know. I'm just saying that I think your hub exposes a fact that some aren't trying very hard to master the elements of style and craft that would make them into the thing they keep claiming they want to be... writers. Anyone can make letters in a row. Writers have to work.
Whats a draft?
What is this a quiz? OK Answer:- something that comes under a door!
Another quiz. Good my turn.
Whats the difference between "chat speak" and a "Picasso".
Answer:-
Nothing, neither of them make any bloody sense!
Great Hub - enjoyed it!
Chatspeak might make a little more sense to me than Picasso!!!!
Good hub. There's lots to agree with and not a lot to disagree with (except your use of underline for emphasis). Don't worry about my parenthetical addendum - it's only there so my sentence doesn't end in a preposition!
as a member of the "hip" generation
i'll be the first to admit we really don't even know what we are saying half the time
the words being used have little or no relation to the subject
its very hard to understand whether you know what they are saying or not.
Thank you for such a reassuring Hub! There is somebody out there who thinks that good English matters.
As someone who still spells out words in text messages, I really appreciate your point. Thanks for the useful (and well written) information.
Yo bro da curds man wasup. I'm wit ya bro.
Anyone that takes me for a fool's no mug!
“And it makes the older peers thing it's alright to learn this "hip" new language.” I guess you mean think, with a k at the end. Proper English IS important in money-making Hubs ;)
Other than that it’s a good hub, Kika
Great hub! Very interesting.
Yeah, I caught the typo two days ago. I'm not big on fixing little things like that in my hubs; mostly because it makes me seem like less of a robot and more like a human being who does make mistakes occassionally. Though I am kinda mad at myself for making the boo-boo. >.< I should've caught it before I hit Publish... Ah well. Thank you for the comments everyone. :)
occasionally?? :)
I see what your trying to say but, I would have to disagree! I'm sorry but there is no such word as "lol" or "gonna" in the english dictionary! You can not write a hub on "proper english" and use chat slang! Did I miss the point? What is this hub about? The language we use has evolved over many years. The text and chat room slang we currently use, is the perfect example of the evolution that will continue. It's current advantage is the time it saves in writing. Who knows in some years to follow the "proper english" to which you refer could well be a lot more like the chat slang you curse! Only time will tell.
I forgot to add "kinda" that's a new one for my dictionary too!
1) wow i no im lyk omg im kra z 4 u! u r sooooo kool! CILYIMBF? LOL!!!11111!!!1!one!!11
2) Great Hub, Kika! Keep up the good work! Yes, I did laugh my face clean off.
3) Love the new pic! HAWT!
4) Misha is a great guy and a good friend, but if we're talking about "lovin' Hal" you most definitely get first dibs. Isn't the Navy going to send your BF anywhere really far away for the next couple of years??? :)
y u say i kno use lolsp to make $$$?
;-)
Excellent hub - good grammar and spelling should still be important.
E J: The point of the hub was to explain that proper English is important. Which it is. My reasoning for using words like "gonna" and "kinda" is that, if I were to go completely super-English-teacher on everyone's butts, no one would be able to relate. Also; have you been to Minnesota? Those words are used on a daily basis. As far as "lol" goes, it's not the worst I could do. I can do much, much worse. Laughing abbreviations aren't that intolerable, along with BRB and BTW and IMO and FYI. Though BTW does get annoying.
While I will say I have the capacity to write in complete proper English, I tend not to go to the full extreme on my hubs; and why should I? If readers can't relate to the hub you're writing, they're not going to want to continue reading it.
My point is, I've seen way too many hubs with bad spelling, misuse of grammar and punctuation, and horrible sentence structure. I felt the need to vent. Just because I use words that I happen to speak on a daily basis due to where I live doesn't mean they're improper; they're completely proper here. Words used based on accents and regions are proper to the person living with that accent and in that region. The world's a funny place that way.
Hal: We broke up last night. You missed the memo.
¡Ole! ... Thats how I applaud! At Last, here is someone who speaks out against funky English, or "rap" language as I call it.
A collective effort in banning this type of atrocious methods of expression should bring about favorable results I believe, and hope. Rap language should be permitted only within the boundaries of the walls of chat rooms for silly singles and desperate doubles and ... you know what.
Well I certainly would not like to wade into a future where the media like newspapers and other "responsible" publications face the threat of getting infected with this rap language syndrome.
So, that's it! I applaud this hub once again!
I agree with this! I've seen some poorly written things on the internet. I once saw an advertisement for a copywriter that was written in chat speak. How do you tell that person that you would NEVER hire someone who writes like that? lol. I didn't even bother saying anything - it should be obvious!
I wouldn’t want to turn this into a crusade. It all depends on what your objective is with a hub. Generally I would say that you want to get your message across. In many (maybe most) cases you will most likely succeed by using ‘proper’, at least readable English. But there can be cases where rap or chatroom speak is more appropriate. It could even be just one or two expressions, such as *lol* which has taken hold so well that most of your readers understand it. When writing you should take a number of things into consideration: what do you want to express, who is your audience and what will be the most effective way to bring the two together?
I would love to see a hub in the form of a chat-room speak dictionary so that I can understand the messages I get from my daughter. Coming from a family of dyslexics is challenging enough, but coupled with textspeak, it becomes a challenge too far!
Thanks Ananta,
I've taken note.
I couldn't agree more. =)
English is a dynamic language, so change is to be expected. Unfortunately, many folks don't know when chatspeak is appropriate and when it's not!
I guess chatspeak is not appropriate when something serious is being discussed. Am I right?
Very helpful, some stuff I realized and other points made me go back and re-read my work. Thanks!
Good Hub! Chatspeak is going to be here to stay because of the popularity of text messaging.
Maybe so, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. :D
thank you! this is great hub ^^
Superb!
Wonderful hub Kika Rose.
Great to see that you appreciate the importance of words in hubs.
Couldn't agree more, Kika Rose. Best line of all: "Please help keep the true English language alive with me, and may your future writings be worthy of Hawthorne himself."
Here's a thought. If you fear you're slipping into chatspeak (or sloppy grammar, sentence structure or word usage), pause (before pressing "Publish") and ask yourself WWHW (What Would Hawthorne Write)?
Good hub - I have read, however, that a few errors (not huge, repetitive ones) make you seem more human to your readers, and not necessarily bad.
I'd rather ask, "WWBBW."
What Would Bill Buckley Write. The erudite, terse or verbose as appropriate, courteous, tall, strangely accented, tall, New Englandish, stimulating, tall, humorous, cynical, obtuse, tangential, obstreperous, circular, erect, divergent, convergent, tall, dialectically, syntactically, forensically tall Rhodes Scholar; an altitudinally advantaged, perspectively enhanced scribbler.
Thanks for opportunity to consider this subject. Style matters.
Level1diet,
You've captured BB perfectly! Although I must inquire, what, exactly is "forensically tall" and did you mean that BB is forensically tall as a Rhodes Scholar or forensically tall and also a Rhodes Scholar?
Also can't help but see the parallel with another B -- BC (Bill Clinton). Only adjective that needs to change is New Englandish (years at Yale Law didn't change his accent).
Another interesting and great hub.. You put a lot of good stuffs in your hubs. I really love it. :) You always deserve thumbs up from me. Great job!
I hear you Kika Rose! Chat speak drives me quite crazy...and do I really want to try and decipher an alien language at this time of my life? :P
I am totally totally agree with you. Wonderful hub. Nice information was given in this hub. I like this very much.
Thanks for the good ideas. I am new to Hubpages and am trying to get an answer in the forum of how to put an Amazon book product on a hub, but have no luck. When I go to the Amazon Affiliates page they say to copy the HTML code of the desired product and then paste it in 'the code for your website'. I don't see where I can paste it since we can't have access to HTML on our hub. I see you have done this, could you tell me how?? Thanks alot!!!!!!!!!!
It's really easy. When you're editing your hub, look on the right where there's a list of capsules you can add, and under a section called Revenue, there's the eBay capsule and the Amazon capsule. Alls you have to do is add the capsule, then click Edit where the capsule has appeared, then Choose Keywords, then select a couple of words you think would work well with the content of your hub. You can also select the type of product you want (I usually don't play with this bit) and the number of products you would like displayed.
Tada! ^_^
Violet: Here's what you want to know. Forget all that HTML stuff. It's confusing and irrelevant to your needs. When you sign up for Amazon assoc., you'll get a tracking ID number. It looks like this: Hubpag0e3-20. It's also you member number or something, so whatever number you see that looks like that is your number. Write it down. Now, go to your account tab, and click it, then click Affiliate Settings. Put the number in the space for Amazon. That's it. Now do what Kika said to actually put the book on your site. Good Luck! Let me know how it turns out.
I think you missed my point. I wasn't saying you were in the wrong, this is a great hub. I was trying to say that language evolves to serve it's purpose. Like you just said you write the way you do because of your accent and where you come from those words are used frequently. That is evolution of the English language. What a lot of people miss (and this is where your hub is right on the money) is that there are times where slang is appropriate, however there are lots more other times when it's just not! lol
Hi Kika Rose and Christoph Reilly
Thank you so much for your quick and helpful advice on how to put a product from Amazon on my hub. It worked like a charm once I knew how. I do so much appreciate your generous sharing of how to do it, because I had tried from others and gotten nothing that explained it to me clearly. Now I was able to put the book I was recommending on my second hub that I just published. YOU GUYS ARE GREAT! Have a super Sunday...Go Chargers! And Kika Rose, thank you again for the good information in this hub.
You're welcome, Violet! ^_^ I should go and affiliate with Amazon, since I use it so much in my hubs. I guess I'm just a lazy bum. I'm off to get ready for a punk rock show. Yay, punk rock shows!
Also; Go Packers! :D
Hey, have fun!
I always hear people butcher our language, my wife and kids included, and teachers do not make students spell correctly.
They do and they don't. It all depends on the class and the strictness of the teacher. In the school I went to, proper English was extremely valued, though many students didn't know how to use it. Which is why I was generally the Editor in Chief of all my friends' papers. :-P
Love your hub, some great stuff in it... Keep it up :-)
Just perfect!! Thank you!
Good information that everyone can and should use. Thank you.
Thanks. I agree. and as someone who doesn't even understand chat speak English makes writing even understandable.
Claire
ROFLOL luv u gur! Diz hub rocks. I ben thinkan dat 2. bi bi
lol, thanks for the tip... Although I think I got it figured out now, but have always been somewhat of a perfectionist myself. ;)
Kika this was very informative and put together well with the illustrations offering the 'focus' of your paragraph. I have been surfing this site when I first joined, never putting a hub in yet, noe two years later after having lost the site for awhile I am now back with better 'fodder for my hub-cannon' ! Thank you for this hub that educates and guides the writer into better form and good presentation of excellent copy !
I can't stand it when people fail at grammar and spelling. Chatspeak needs to die..
Great hub! I started writing hubpages to improve my English writing skills. I'll keep your information in mind.
Thank you for reminding me about that.I cannot believe that you are just a kid and got such talent.
hi kika, this is an excellent hub, the writing and information to help and encourage others (including me) to type-write properly!
The English language and the way we express ourselves with words is made much easier when the grammer and spellings correct.. If i knew i was going to be writer, i would have spent more time at skool!lol
Great hub! Good grammar and spelling are one of my pet peaves. I knew there were other people somewhere in the world that appreciated not having to figure out the "codes" that people use so much these days!
Thanks
So instead of calling someone "stupid," you can call them "an idiot," "a moron," "an imbecile," "a pathetic excuse for oxygen waste..."
You could also use this line: Were you born stupid or did you take a course? eheh nice hub
Great hub, thanks! While I don't use chatspeak or newblish, there is always room for improvement.
thank you so much, really great post..
Somehow, 50 cent lyrics, your comment got automatically put as spam. I fixed it, though. Dunno how that happened, but it did. o_O Crazy.
Thanks everyone for the wonderful comments. It's funny, I wrote this mostly to amuse myself. xD Glad I could get others to laugh out of my twisted sense of humor, too!
lmoa! i ,love it! Thats your above comment! keep writing as you are amusing yourself at the same time educating us! ;)
When writing Hubs and other things officially, not you shouldn't use it. But I think on forums and some cases in Hubs it shouldn't be looked down upon. Internet chat has bearings of its own. But overall, it is annoying not used properly.
~thranax~
Very Good advice!!
Yep, always use the spell checker in Word and the other tools to help you get across your point
For your FREE MS Office 2010 training book visit
You said, "it makes older people thing". I believe you meant "think". LoL. Other than that, good job!
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Uninvited Writer Level 4 Commenter 3 years ago
Excellent hub. Thank you :)