How Important is Semantics?

i have had this argument many times playing online games ,if you annoy someone and the argument gets heated
more often than not the grammar nazi is unleashed ,i dont pretend to know punctuation as well as i should
and to be honest feel like a faker using it.

being a take the path of least resistance sort of person ive always thought it as obvious and unnecassery unless
technical accuracy is required ,in which case it is words that need adding not squiggly lines.

let's eat, grandma

let's eat, grandma!
a little bit of common sense ,and keeping things in context with the subject matter is obviously to hard for some people and they need their hand held through every sentence!

i put it to the grammar police it is there deficiancy not mine.

ps as stated earlier i am not good with punctuation and have probably made many mistakes so please dont point them out lol



edited as i thought i may have got the wrong end of the stick ,apparently i did punctuation comes under syntax not semantics .my bad

reply to post by apophasis


No I agree. People need to be called on their knowledge (or lack thereof) of the language—in most cases the only language—they use. In an environment such as the internet where any joe blow has a voice, vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, and semantics are very important. A firm grasp of these shows intelligence; it is intelligence.

Language is the limit of the mind and knowledge. Language is the vehicle for our expression. It is how we share and navigate thoughts and ideas. One wouldn't navigate the seas in a vessel not fit for the task.

I would urge readers here to not throw their own language on the back-burner. It should be a constant work in progress. Keep thinking. Keep writing. Keep reading. Keep expressing.

Semantics usually turns into pedantry.

Yes, semantics can play their part in a debate... But it seems that a lot of people don't know the difference between the two and misuse both. Which ultimately ends up taking away from the overall context of the original subject under discussion/debate.

It seems to be a common occurrence, particularly with online forum threads.

By the time you hit the 3rd or 4th page, barely any of the original topic is under discussion anymore and, instead, it ends up becoming a debate over circular semantics laced in pedantry.