Celestina, I don't mean to be a jerk, but . . .

Don’t expect this to be one of those pittings in which goats are felched or curses invoked to bring the wrath of the Babylonian deities on the pittee.

But Celestina, could you stop with the typing in dialect, please?

I’m not one of those people who judges folks on the way they speak. In fact, I’ve studied linguistics enough that I now take it as a given that regional dialects, sociolects, and the like don’t have any inherent, objective good or bad quality to them. If I met you in real life, it wouldn’t bother me a bit.

But when it’s typed, it’s really cutesy and annoying. Really cutesy. Really annoying. There’s more or less a standard way of writing English, and it gets me out of my groove when I find myself stumbling over deliberate, unnecessary, and distracting writing. I mean, such things have their place - threads devoted to casual joking around in various ways. But I didn’t run into you until the recent “Ask A Muslim Woman” and Angua’s sequel thread. They were not appropriate places to call attention to yourself with language.

It’s cutesy and affected. I don’t doubt that you talk like that in real life - except for the "I declare"s; they’re a little bit of a stretch. But I don’t think you want to be known around here as the “girl who types funny” rather than for your own unique knowledge and personality. It’s like a high school kid going to England for two weeks and coming back with an accent - sorry, but it’s unbelievable, and silly. It’s a distracting affectation. It makes it really hard to take your statements seriously.

I hate to be the one that says it…

Cite?

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=5789843&postcount=64

I like it, it’s readable, amusing & just short of over-the-top.

Or this post. Some examples:

I’ve read quite a few of celestina’s posts lately, thanks to following the Muslim threads. I didn’t even notice the dialect .

Do I need to work on my observational skills, or is this something that only happens in some posts, not all?

Ehhhhhhhh. Extremely minor. Everybody writes with their own ‘voice’. Let her find her own.

I don’t care for the chopped-off ing endings, but I don’t mind the casual tone. I use y’all all the time IRL and don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t be used on the boards.

It’s like a cross between Ali G and a deep southern accent…

It’s something I find irrationally annoying, like changing fonts or colors or TyPiNg LiKe ThIs. So… well… I don’t read it.

Another vote for extremely minor.

I GOT BLISTERS ON ME FINGERS!

This makes my eyes scream.

What’s the point of that? I’m much rather read a post like celestina’s than read anything that messes with the visual flow of a post (all the stuff you mentioned).

Yall are racist for disrespecting the sister’s down home language. :wally You think black folks haven’t earned the right to do their own thing in this country by now? The HELL they haven’t!

I can tell none of yall ever read any Zora Neale Hurston. And you talk about your “written” English. Hpmh.

It’s lame, affected and annoying but not worth a pitting.

Haj

To me, nonstandard grammar DOES break up the visual (or at least mental) flow of the post. It makes me stop reading, go “Huh?”, and back up to squint carefully at the word or phrasing.

You’re fucking kidding me.

Hey, I didn’t even know she’s black until you said so but knowing that doesn’t make it any less annoying and it sure as fuck doesn’t make me, or anyone else in this thread, racist. Fuck you for even bringing race into this.

Watch this extremely mild pit thread turn into a multi-page trainwreck. :rolleyes:

Yeah, I get it. I agree, too. But I really hate giant, bright words, or multi-colored posts that scream, “Look at me, I know how to change colors!!1111” Yellow is the worst I’ve seen so far; completely unreadable and freakin’ bright. So if I were held down and forced to choose, I’d still pick celestina’s posts over anything with colors and big font, and I certainly don’t think it’s irrational. That’s mostly what I was getting at.

I’m guessing, and hoping, this it was a whoosh.

My personal vernacular involves using “this” in place of “that.”