Was everyone under 30 born without little fingers, or are they all e.e. cummings fans?
They can all type like demons, but they can't hit the shift key or reach the punctuation keys.
Sorry, that's a rhetorical question. They want to learn a new language, but they're too lazy to capitalize or punctuate. Danged whippersnappers. They'd better keep off my lawn.
9 Answers
Danged whippersnappers. They'd better keep off my lawn.
This is very funny Kevin. For some reason I pictured you as a high school student. I guess I was wrong. 
It is a sign of the times. It is probably a bad sign, but a sign none the less. I guess twelve years of being corrected by nuns was all for nothing in this brave new world of lower case letters, which is the same world where punctuation is banned. 
Was everyone under 30 born without little fingers, or are they all e.e. cummings fans?
They can all type like demons, but they can't hit the shift key or reach the punctuation keys.
You just made my night. I think I am going to go ahead and call it a night on that high note. Before I go, though. Did you ever think though that maybe its just that some of those young whippersnapper's fingers are just too short to reach those keys?
It bugs me too. Even though it is sort of allowed in the comments I still find myself correcting my typos there, now that, Kevin, is anal.
Oh my, what time is it where you are Kevin? Haha. Anyway I can tell you that from my personal experience texting (for almost two whole years) on one of those little motorola type phones I became very accustomed at typing in lower case. It is astounding how fast one becomes used to really bad habits and I suspect that is the cause of all the short cuts we see.... I recently got a lovely phone with a full keyboard and my how my typing has improved. My daughter even commented - Mom your texts are so nice now!
I find this particularly funny as a few moments before reading this I was looking at a friends comment on Facebook. A guy I know had replied to a friend of his who had been called out for not spelling correctly. His friend said "who cares about spelling?" To which my friend replied, in a long blah blah I'm so much better than you rant like he always does "i care about spelling...(insert self righteous B.S. here)"
He cares about spelling but doesn't care about basic punctuation I suppose. If I had the ability I would have yelled "learn to capitalize before correcting others!"
I know he probably just missed putting in a shift key somewhere, but at the same time he is getting prissy over another person who equally didn't care because he was on facebook.
But indeed, here on the site you ought to use punctuation ALWAYS. ¡SIEMPRE! I find it terribly difficult to type the accent marks though, I always remember with estar, but when it comes to the subtlety between mas and más I'm a fool.
The problem with punctuation,is not short fingers, but greasy ones. Here's the accompanying items at the computer station of most under thirty typists
I was just thinking this the other day. I don't think the wording of my thoughts was quite so creative though. More like: Grrrrrr....for heaven's sake capitalize the freakin' "I".
I must admit that I had not previously considered your second hypothesis as being the solution to this particular conundrum, Kevin, so you have certainly provided food for thought.
Supposing that they are indeed E.E. Cummings fans, it is probably reasonable to expect that a substantial number of them will eventually discover other poets such as Yeats, Keats, Byron, Milton, Shakespeare or John Donne. Apart from the possible impact on punctuation usage, just imagine rap music and grafitti turning to the metaphysical! I think that I just might like that world a little better.
