Why do people put spaces before punctuation and capitalize random words in sentences?

Originally posted by SpearMint
Nothing Is More Annoying Than When People Type Like This Though. I have a lot of pet peeves when it comes to typing, and Facebook really brings them out. Another fairly common one is when people replace all commas or full stops with ellipses, or when people use incorrect phrases like "I could care less". Don't even get me started on "their", "they're", "there", "your", "you're", "they're", "their" and "there".

I'm a very irritable person...

edit on 17-1-2013 by SpearMint because: (no reason given)

Here you go!

"The speaker here is saying, "What little care I do have for this subject -- and trust me it's not a lot! -- I feel so much disdain for it or you that I cannot be bothered to alter that level of care. It's clear from my venomous delivery that I care at least a little, and I could theoretically care less or not at all. I *could* care less, but I don't care enough to care less, and frankly I'm tired of hearing you talk about it, Full Stop."

Grammar Girl

I don't see random capitalization so much... for the most part just common grammatical errors. I'll admit a pet peeve of mine is the misuse of your & you're; they're, there, & their; then & than. I don't think mixing these up invalidates a person's opinion, but it's a good habit to check before posting.

They were never taught proper grammar? I wasn't I had to learn because I own my own business and need to be professional... SORRY I mean "Professional"!

reply to post by Nanocyte


I've come to think that people who capitalize random words in the middle of sentences are schizophrenic. I don't mean People who Do this. I MEAN people who DO this.

The reason I believe this is because they usually talk about reptiles, or an extremist version of whatever God they believe in.

I'm not talking about your average religious person, I'm talking about the really in your face, "you're going to hell" type of religion.

Originally posted by BrokenCircles
reply to post by Nanocyte

 

[color=777777]The following is simply my opinion, with nothing to back it up:


I think that many common errors often become learned behavior mostly due to mimicking.
People are always in a hurry, and just don't have enough time to think for themselves.
The more frequently they see others doing it, the more they're going to believe that it is correct.

Yes, the mimicking is a large aspect of it, especially now with the prevalence of cell phones and text chatting.
A story for anyone interested that may or may not be relevant in some way:
I knew a girl who would very consistently misuse the word "your" in place of "you're". One day I explained to her that she was using this word incorrectly. She continued to do so, so I eventually reminded her. The thing is that she KNEW she was using it improperly and yet refused to correct herself. Why continue to do so? Is this some kind of fad? Is it somehow "cute", like typing "ur"?

It isn't taught very well in the schools. My son's handwriting is terrible and his writing skills are even worse. I am currently working with him to improve these things, but you know there is a problem when a child is putting a capital letter in the middle of a word. It simply isn't something they focus on as much as they used to. I am finding myself watching my own typing to make sure that it is correct in this reply!

I try to not be too picky over these things, but it does sometimes annoy me that people can't seem to put together a proper sentence. I don't even mean the small errors that we all sometimes make, but glaring mistakes that you know should be obvious.

Don't get me started on text and auto correct, what a mess that can be! I am sure I made a few errors in this reply, but please humor me and pretend that I didn't make any!

Originally posted by trollz

Originally posted by BrokenCircles
reply to post by Nanocyte

 

[color=777777]The following is simply my opinion, with nothing to back it up:


I think that many common errors often become learned behavior mostly due to mimicking.
People are always in a hurry, and just don't have enough time to think for themselves.
The more frequently they see others doing it, the more they're going to believe that it is correct.

Yes, the mimicking is a large aspect of it, especially now with the prevalence of cell phones and text chatting.
A story for anyone interested that may or may not be relevant in some way:
I knew a girl who would very consistently misuse the word "your" in place of "you're". One day I explained to her that she was using this word incorrectly. She continued to do so, so I eventually reminded her. The thing is that she KNEW she was using it improperly and yet refused to correct herself. Why continue to do so? Is this some kind of fad? Is it somehow "cute", like typing "ur"?

That behavior sounds more like a combination of stubbornness and stupidity! She is going to do it her way damn it and no one can tell her otherwise!

Originally posted by Mr Headshot
reply to post by Nanocyte

 

I've come to think that people who capitalize random words in the middle of sentences are schizophrenic. I don't mean People who Do this. I MEAN people who DO this.

The reason I believe this is because they usually talk about reptiles, or an extremist version of whatever God they believe in.

I'm not talking about your average religious person, I'm talking about the really in your face, "you're going to hell" type of religion.

That's quite the stretch don't you think? Reptiles, God, and bad grammar...Oh my!!

Originally posted by Cherry0

Originally posted by SpearMint
Nothing Is More Annoying Than When People Type Like This Though. I have a lot of pet peeves when it comes to typing, and Facebook really brings them out. Another fairly common one is when people replace all commas or full stops with ellipses, or when people use incorrect phrases like "I could care less". Don't even get me started on "their", "they're", "there", "your", "you're", "they're", "their" and "there".

I'm a very irritable person...

edit on 17-1-2013 by SpearMint because: (no reason given)

Here you go!

"The speaker here is saying, "What little care I do have for this subject -- and trust me it's not a lot! -- I feel so much disdain for it or you that I cannot be bothered to alter that level of care. It's clear from my venomous delivery that I care at least a little, and I could theoretically care less or not at all. I *could* care less, but I don't care enough to care less, and frankly I'm tired of hearing you talk about it, Full Stop."

Grammar Girl

I'm pretty sure they usually mean "I couldn't care less". Saying "I could care less" doesn't really convey what you just said.

I found this interesting article on bad spelling may equate to excellent password protection. LOL

money.aol.co.uk...

Originally posted by InTheLight
I found this interesting article on bad spelling may equate to excellent password protection. LOL

money.aol.co.uk...

I must resist correcting this sentence!

reply to post by MaMaa


I was in a hurry when composing that sentence; case in point.

Originally posted by SpearMint

Originally posted by Cherry0

Originally posted by SpearMint
Nothing Is More Annoying Than When People Type Like This Though. I have a lot of pet peeves when it comes to typing, and Facebook really brings them out. Another fairly common one is when people replace all commas or full stops with ellipses, or when people use incorrect phrases like "I could care less". Don't even get me started on "their", "they're", "there", "your", "you're", "they're", "their" and "there".

I'm a very irritable person...

edit on 17-1-2013 by SpearMint because: (no reason given)

Here you go!

"The speaker here is saying, "What little care I do have for this subject -- and trust me it's not a lot! -- I feel so much disdain for it or you that I cannot be bothered to alter that level of care. It's clear from my venomous delivery that I care at least a little, and I could theoretically care less or not at all. I *could* care less, but I don't care enough to care less, and frankly I'm tired of hearing you talk about it, Full Stop."

Grammar Girl

I'm pretty sure they usually mean "I couldn't care less". Saying "I could care less" doesn't really convey what you just said.

I was always taught the phrase was "I couldn't care less" Meaning you do not care at all, therefor you couldn't care any less. If you said "I could care less' then it implies that you care at least enough to have the capacity to care less. Like I care at a level 3 and I could care less by 2 points to bring it down to not caring at all, if that makes any sense.

reply to post by MaMaa


No, I don't. I genuinely think it's a symptom. Maybe a precursor to the 'word salad' phenomenon. You go through and look at the threads and posts of people who habitually do THIS to random WORDS in the middle of THEIR sentences. It's been going on for at least ten years, and almost every time it happens, the poster believes something absolutely insane. For example:

"What no one has mentioned yet is DO YOU see an alien/reptilian face or am I onto nothing here?

The face is VERY clear to me. It's so clear that when I was skimming through the magazine it stood out.

You have to remember that each page of advertisement costs OVER $10,000, so why choose an image that LOOKS like a reptilian/alien face?

It makes no sense.

Deny Ignorance."

www.abovetopsecret.com...

"ROYALTY. Power. Class system. Social system. History. Surname. Blood. Acts. Ancestors acts."

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Some others:
www.youtube.com... (to an extent, mostly it's just capitalizing the first letters)
(same guy who posted that video) www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Surely, being mentally ill doesn't mean that you write like this, but I think it's a sign that you're mentally ill if you do write in such a fashion.