On Sat, 31 Aug 2002 11:24:55 +0100, Cotty wrote: > >How did we understand things (such as in satirical letters, or humorous > >letters-to-the-editor) before the internet smiley face? And how did we so > >suddenly lose this ability? > > [...] I won't try and answer it in full, except > to say that because of this method of communication, the demands are > greater on peoples' ability to string a few words together. [...]
I'd argue that it has a lot more to do, in the US at least, with two primary factors. First, people (in the US) are terribly over sensitive compared to even the fairly recent past. They seem to be going about with a chip on their shoulder, looking out for anything that might possibly, in the wildest manner, be construed as a slight, against anyone, so they can take immediate and radical offense to it. Second, education and communication skills are in the dumper (in the US). Compare the letters US Civil War soldiers wrote home to what passes for written communications these days. Many of those soldiers had no schooling beyond three or four years in a one-room schoolhouse. Their command of the language and its usage, however, is leagues ahead of all but the best writing you see today. TTYL, DougF KG4LMZ
