Making rumors
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Hey, Startrader!
So, Anyway…
StarTrader wrote:
What happened to Proper GRAMMAR?And what happened to proper grammar?
The “Hooked on Phonics” generation, that’s what happened!
Plus the fact that the Internet is a global community and most of the users learned English as a second language.
Great Britain has, what? 60 million people? That is less than one percent of the world population. Add America and you still have less than 5 percent of the world speaking English as their first language.
Add Australia and Canada and you have no significant change from the above. And I don’t even want to mention South Africa, but they don’t make much difference to the numbers, anyway.
So consider yourself lucky if you read a message on the Internet that uses proper English grammar… it is an increasingly uncommon event.
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As someone whose second language is English, I’d rather not be thrown in that basket, Bullwinkle. Not all people botch the languages they learn. Not all people are still at the barely functional level of understanding.
Yes, most people speaking English do so as their second language, but that does not automatically mean they will have a lesser mastery of it as a result.
I’d blame the advent of instant messaging and SMS as well as a general slacking up of the education system in many countries before getting started on what you’ve described. I’ve seen many English people with a horrible understanding of their own language.
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Me personally… I’m dyslexic but have a rather good education of my own language, I just get bored typing everything out in proper English… especially when most of it gets misread anyway, or not read at all (lol)
But back to the subject… oki this is how a simple rumour works… but what about the wreck/base/jumphole ones for custom systems… I’ve never been quite able to decipher what the hell is going on there to make new ones of that type… nor find anything on the matter.
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Yes it’s a lazyness on the part of natives, and it rubs on to second-language speakers because that is what they see or read.
I don’t think it hurts to mention the correct forms of speech, at my age I believe it is actually our responsibility - older people tried to give us the same guidance when we were young.
More on rumours, maintaining the topic intention (rofl!)…
As you suggest though, on population percentages, this world’s natural language has to be Chinese, no?!
And as they are now buying up businesses like there’s no tomorrow, they are the next Gaian Empire today.
When Mr Clinton tried to get them to sign up to (was it the “GATT” talks?) buying US goods a few years ago and loudly banged his drum and threatened sanctions before his visit, he suddenly went very very quiet as soon as he got there - rumour had it that the Chinese premier had said something like “Sanctions, Mr Crinton? China can lose over 1 mirrion tloops each day! How many can the Gleat US lose per day Mr Crinton?”
- forgive the accent, I don’t speak Cantonese velly werr but there are a lot of Chinese takeaways around me!
The agreement was signed, but - suddenly the US had to agree to buy Chinese goods instead! Like everyone else. The Brits still think the sun shines out of the US’s backside, and follow meekly, not realising the sun has always shone from the East.
To broaden this for second - people in Europe are so dumb. We have a European Community and European Market that was set up to support each others products and industry, exclusively.
That was the intention of Charles de Gaulle, and even as a non-Frenchman I understood and supported that principle as a young kid. He saw the danger of extending it and resisted England and others becoming members. After all even I could see that a club of limited members buying only from each other is exclusive, supportive, and can work well for its members - a club that everyone is a member of is no longer functional nor useful.
Even so, it would work if its principles were maintained - but what have we done with it? Killed every European industry by buying Chinese instead of from each other exclusively. And what do we export? Not much. There are even rumours of import-restamp-re-export at a higher price! Well, OK, that can be considered “trade”.
But what do we have as a result? A “global” recession? No, it is limited to Europe and the US - the largest purchasers of Chinese goods. What does China have? Wealth, huge exports, dispensible labour, huge industry, space capability, nuclear threat, a vast army, cannon fodder…
And as it happens Chinese goods are of the poorest quality I have ever seen, and unlike the influx of Japanese and Taiwanese products that we saw in previous decades which improved rapidly in quality, the Chinks don’t give a damn and turn out the same crap year after year. Even down to “Posidriv” screws that don’t fit Posidriv screwdrivers! Brand tools like Bosch, Black & Decker, and many others are made for them in China of the same poor crap quality. Drills that don’t! I have had them bend as soon as I tried to use the darn things! The amount of stuff that I have bought and didn’t work from new or broke shortly after purchase and had to be thrown away because there is nothing available of better quality even when I look for it, is amazing. Quality products and tools have disappeared off the shelves.
And yet we still buy the crap! And now - we let them buy our businesses too. Wait until they own and are managing all mega business here, then you will tear your hair out more. Miclosoft? Melcedes? Appu Computa? Blitish Terecom? Olacre? Sherr Petloreum?
Resist? Can anyone else afford to lose 1 million troops per day?
Does anyone else here remember the 3-day invasion of Cambodia by China with over 1,000 tanks? They lost a few, over 100 if I remember - 10% only, but still withdrew, it was just a test?Not only, it was a demo too.
Should never have visited China, Mr Clinton. Should have pondered more carefully and longer over that cigar of yours and stayed at home instead, as I would have done - even I worked out (mathematically of course) over 40 years ago that poking a hornet’s nest is not a good idea.
All rumours, still on topic, Arch!
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^^
you’ve damn right !
economy can’t function longer like that
Europe could have be a huge “macro market” test
but our leaders doesn’t care about protect industry and employment … otherwise they would set up customs barriers
when a tv will cost 3 times more expensive to manufacture in China than in Europe
trust me, they will build factories in our countries and then we will choose the manufacturing qualityanother time … that’s just … a view of the mind … rumors … :roll:
ps : you will have soon a french pm to read
for your training :lol: -
Merci mon ami, je l’attends!
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The one thing that could doom China, however, is the quality of life. As the country develops, more and more people will want to have a quality of life that’s better than what’s currently theirs. That’ll mean higher salaries, more security, etc. Thus, the sole thing that gives China its edge (cheap labor) will slowly wither. At that point manufacturing will obviously transfer to the next poorest country (be it India or somewhere in Africa).
I don’t think the Chinese situation can keep on for long. It’s just too dependent on a status quo to be able to survive.
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I agree. It’s just a matter of time before the China bubble bursts, they’re full of dirty tricks though, deliberately under valuing their economy to keep their exports cheaper etc, so might take a while.
ST, they may be able to lose 1 mirrion tloops a day, but that’s not the key, the key is how many factory workers they can afford to have jumping off of roofs and out of windows each day. Each time it happens the world takes notice, working conditions have to change, wages increase, working hours are cut and extra shifts are hired, the whole process becomes more expensive and India looks like a much better investment than China.
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the world takes notice ?
we discuss with leaders of china from decades
and from my point of view we talk with tyrants, not less
shame on all peoples who have gone in china without any cares of the law and democraty to make moneythese people have sold our economies for short-term profits
and these are the same people who made moral lessons to usi’m sorry but we should not have a geometry variable morality …
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FriendlyFire wrote:
As someone whose second language is English, I’d rather not be thrown in that basket, Bullwinkle. Not all people botch the languages they learn. Not all people are still at the barely functional level of understanding.Yes, most people speaking English do so as their second language, but that does not automatically mean they will have a lesser mastery of it as a result.
I’d blame the advent of instant messaging and SMS as well as a general slacking up of the education system in many countries before getting started on what you’ve described. I’ve seen many English people with a horrible understanding of their own language.
Agreed on all counts, FriendlyFire. I was just trying to make a tongue-in-cheek comment about general slacking, including the decay of language skills among native English-speakers.
Another reason for slacking on grammar and spelling is lack of typing skills. Not everyone types as a reflex. Heck, some web devices don’t even have real keyboards anymore (ex: iPhone), which tends to de-emphasize the importance of proper spelling and grammar.
Just wait until voice replaces text… then it will be even more difficult to understand all of the variations!
