Fingers, now with 68% more Finging action!
This is a short list. It is untitled and the items on this list are completely unrelated. It is less a list than a trio of arbitrarily numerated sequiturs.
1. I tore a hole in my jeans today. This instantly flings them over a threshold from which there is no return. They have gone from being my beloved, comfortable working pants to my disgusting and torn work pants.
No, the hole is not at my bum. You cannot see my rocketship underpants. Stop asking.
27. I was moderately enraged this evening when this guy pointed out to me a comment made to this guy. That comment and a few more can be found here. I should admit up front that it is entirely possible that the comment made at this guy's expense is some sort of inside joke that hurts nobody... but I doubt it.
My irritation stems from a dislike of people who unfoundedly think themselves better than others and blossoms into a more potent anger when I see it manifested so blatantly and anonymously on the Internet. The ability to hide yourself while taking shots at someone else does not make you a better person. It makes you obnoxious. Web forums and blog comment sections are filling up with more and more people who feel free to nitpick the way other people communicate. It may be couched as constructive criticism, as it was in this instance, but I submit that perhaps it is not as constructive as you think it is. Is it example time? Yes, that might help illustrate my point.
Dudewhoisawesomerthanyou54 says: Ur righting sucks. U are boring and u talk too long about boring stuf. My gramma rights better than u. ROFL!!!11! PS - U R A Looser! LOL!!
That was mean and unhelpful, wasn't it? Is this any better?
Idonthavetotellyoumyname says: think i should be the one to tell you that you need to spend a little more time on your writing. Your grammer skills are not very polished, and you really ought to speak more to the point ... maybe you should take a creative writing course
No. It is not better. It reads as slightly kinder, but in essence it says the exact same thing. It picks out poor writing skills and offers unhelpful and unsolicited advice. Sounding like a high school guidance counselor does not make your unkindness more appropriate. Granted, the Internet and blogs are public and completely open to criticism of every sort, but I wonder how necessary this sort of pointed unkindness is. Are any of us better people because Idonthavetotellyoumyname pointed out someone else's shortcomings in the entirely minor category of proper grammar usage? Absolutely not. It only serves to cause hurt, and it discourages people from sharing any more. The Internet is already full to bursting with arrogant people who feel the need to prove themselves better than the next guy they'll never meet. Why not take a moment to evaluate if what you're about to criticise really needs your input? It probably doesn't. If you simply cannot abide the abundant dangling participles and rambling tangent-following style of one blog, perhaps you should just give it a pass and head on over to Little Suzy's bright pink emporium of things that are cute. She may subject you to gallingly disturbing content, but at least she is a meticulous sentence structurer.
An addendum: If you must pick on someone whom you believe to be a poor writer, you may want to avoid these things: spelling a word wrong, forgetting how capitalisation works, forgetting how to use periods, using sentence fragments, misusing an ellipsis, or declining to use a name or even some sort of avatar to identify yourself. All of these sins were included in my reason for posting tonight, and each one takes an already obnoxious and mean-spirited comment, and makes its author out to be a boorish neanderthal.
3.14 Wednesday was Pi day. I feel like a nerd for getting a little excited, and a loser for getting a little hungry.
1. I tore a hole in my jeans today. This instantly flings them over a threshold from which there is no return. They have gone from being my beloved, comfortable working pants to my disgusting and torn work pants.
No, the hole is not at my bum. You cannot see my rocketship underpants. Stop asking.
27. I was moderately enraged this evening when this guy pointed out to me a comment made to this guy. That comment and a few more can be found here. I should admit up front that it is entirely possible that the comment made at this guy's expense is some sort of inside joke that hurts nobody... but I doubt it.
My irritation stems from a dislike of people who unfoundedly think themselves better than others and blossoms into a more potent anger when I see it manifested so blatantly and anonymously on the Internet. The ability to hide yourself while taking shots at someone else does not make you a better person. It makes you obnoxious. Web forums and blog comment sections are filling up with more and more people who feel free to nitpick the way other people communicate. It may be couched as constructive criticism, as it was in this instance, but I submit that perhaps it is not as constructive as you think it is. Is it example time? Yes, that might help illustrate my point.
Dudewhoisawesomerthanyou54 says: Ur righting sucks. U are boring and u talk too long about boring stuf. My gramma rights better than u. ROFL!!!11! PS - U R A Looser! LOL!!
That was mean and unhelpful, wasn't it? Is this any better?
Idonthavetotellyoumyname says: think i should be the one to tell you that you need to spend a little more time on your writing. Your grammer skills are not very polished, and you really ought to speak more to the point ... maybe you should take a creative writing course
No. It is not better. It reads as slightly kinder, but in essence it says the exact same thing. It picks out poor writing skills and offers unhelpful and unsolicited advice. Sounding like a high school guidance counselor does not make your unkindness more appropriate. Granted, the Internet and blogs are public and completely open to criticism of every sort, but I wonder how necessary this sort of pointed unkindness is. Are any of us better people because Idonthavetotellyoumyname pointed out someone else's shortcomings in the entirely minor category of proper grammar usage? Absolutely not. It only serves to cause hurt, and it discourages people from sharing any more. The Internet is already full to bursting with arrogant people who feel the need to prove themselves better than the next guy they'll never meet. Why not take a moment to evaluate if what you're about to criticise really needs your input? It probably doesn't. If you simply cannot abide the abundant dangling participles and rambling tangent-following style of one blog, perhaps you should just give it a pass and head on over to Little Suzy's bright pink emporium of things that are cute. She may subject you to gallingly disturbing content, but at least she is a meticulous sentence structurer.
An addendum: If you must pick on someone whom you believe to be a poor writer, you may want to avoid these things: spelling a word wrong, forgetting how capitalisation works, forgetting how to use periods, using sentence fragments, misusing an ellipsis, or declining to use a name or even some sort of avatar to identify yourself. All of these sins were included in my reason for posting tonight, and each one takes an already obnoxious and mean-spirited comment, and makes its author out to be a boorish neanderthal.
3.14 Wednesday was Pi day. I feel like a nerd for getting a little excited, and a loser for getting a little hungry.
posted by Sam at 12:42 AM
1 Comments:
You know, if Anonymous would have posted his/her comment in the way you paraphrased said comment, I wouldn't have been nearly as incensed about it. Your rewrite seems to me to be worded more tastefully and generally more constructive. The anonymous comment was a lot more like the writer was a part of the Grammar Brigade, about to shut down any site that doesn't adhere to the Brigade's strict code of conduct. I mean the phrase "you should really work on those grammer and writing skills" is pretty derogatory, in my opinion. Especially from an anonymous contributor.
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