I am astonished at how many college students lack a sense of
writing and/or good writing skills. I
often partake of peer reviews which includes editing papers for mechanics and grammar, and as doing as such, I am mostly met with moments of: “SMH!”
In today’s social media, hashtag e-world, we
all know that SMH is the acronym for: “Shaking My Head”. Heck, some millennials not only lack the
ability to write well, or at all, but some are impacted with a lackadaisical
disability which severely impacts their sense to write words in their entirety. Possibly that is why they revert to using
acronyms. Perhaps their time is much too
important to spend on writing out every single solitary word. But, no, I disagree. I realize and accept why words are cut short;
texting. Texting has to be done so quick
that one has to short-cut many words to send a quick text or reply to a text.
I accept that justification (of short-cutting words) when it pertains
to texting, and I have come to the realization and acceptance of why one must
short-cut words via social media as well...short-cutting via the likes of Facebook might not always be done due to time-constraints, but to
be cool. However, unless one is "tweeting" and only has 140 characters with which to get
one’s point across, then a person's purpose for posting updates with acronyms is shamefully to appear cool. Those who subscribe to the idea of short-cutting words through acronyms and such might
think that they appear cool (and uncaring because uncaring is cool these days), but in reality, they appear hindered from living in the real world, quizzas!
IMO (there I go with an acronym, but it is justified here)...millennials short-cutting words and phrases to appear cool is okay - if that is how they will fit into today's society (or lack of society), then more power to the millennials. But to add, I do not really wish to know what
someone was trying to convey in a silly, short-cut phrase via social
media. Instead, maybe stay clear of social media, or for certain, just keep your post to yourself,
because I am not going to read it. Take
that (acronym) “ROTFLMAO” and shove it!
If one is on another social media site other than Twitter, one should
really not short-cut one’s words. When
you think about it, short-cutting one’s own words is under-cutting one’s own
ideas and views. It becomes self-stifling.
If we do not want others to undermine our ability to write and express
our opinions (i.e. rights given Americans via The First Amendment) then why
would we allow ourselves to self-edit what we have to say! If one is going to write on a social media
site or perchance on a blog, then would it not be more correct and proper to
translate word-for-word what one has to say instead of using acronyms and such
for which others might not know the meaning.
Writing well not only includes: proper sentence structure, mechanics, and
grammar, but it
also includes the ability to express one’s intended purpose(s); to explain! What the story/post/update means is up to the
writer to translate properly in order for the reader to understand. If a reader has to look up a word, and
decides to go with the incorrect definition of a word (or acronym), then most
likely he or she will lose the meaning of the entire piece. I.E. the piece gets lost in translation.
A good writer will properly and thoroughly interject
his or her views onto a piece of writing and leave little chance of losing the
audience or having his or her ideas get muddled. One must define one’s writing as one defines oneself. Perhaps the lack of
translating what one has to write onto paper stems from one’s lack of knowing
himself or herself...the lack of not having fully and properly defined oneself.
Anyway, if a person is hell-bent with his or her
purpose to keep short-cutting words and using acronyms while texting or via social media sites, at least try to improve on one’s grammatical skills. Most importantly, if one is going to write a
paper for school and such or to blog, be mindful of one’s audience and remember
that one must put one’s best foot forward.
Write, read, rewrite, reread, and be mindful which people are
reading the piece; one's audience could include fellow students and writers, or professional readers and writers, professors, or someone waiting to discover the next J.K. Rowling. Write eloquently, be
respectful, and be professional.
Refer to and please remember the post I wrote on this very blog not long ago:
“Contractions are for Pregnant Women…” and also refrain from using contractions and such.
Rereading is another rule in English 101, if one rereads a piece he or she
just wrote, and if the piece does not sound or read well or fails to convey the message for which it was intended, then
chances will favor the odds that others will not be able to understand or comprehend
the piece either.
For certain, find, correct and omit the
misspelled words. My pet peeve;
simple spelling errors that go uncorrected.
People who spell badly despite the fact that everyone has equal access
to programs that will check one’s spelling (and grammar – a fragment is for software
developers and for math - not for English), and do not correct the errors,
well, they irk me.
When reading other people's updates, stories, or blog posts, the moment I get to a misspelled word or to a badly structured
sentence, I lose interest and move on to something else. If I do not read your essays, updates,
tweets, or posts, it is your fault – not mine!
