# Why do people talk in dialect but post on the Web in pure English? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 1, 2015, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100 "2015-10-01T01:24:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/1 "2015-10-01T01:24:12Z")
What’s up you mf’s? How it hanging? You wants dat article now? You don’t see dialect on the web. We all talk prim and proper like our English teacher is standing over our shoulder. Even a mild curse word is frowned on. Why? Doesn’t it rob us of our personality? Our dialect for better or worse are an integral part of who we are. Mine, when I let it out is peppered with black phrases. I grew up in the South with black classmates and friends. They influenced my dialect. I let the window up. Put on brakes. I stay in southwest Little Rock. “collective nouns” and them all you all John and them going to the store. or All you all better settle down or mamas gonna whup your asses! my favorite is the Hawk is out. Or we’ll say did you feel the hawk today? A cold wind. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/2 "2015-10-01T01:28:23Z")
n07 3v3ry0n3 p0575 1n pur3 3n6l15h. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/3 "2015-10-01T01:29:41Z")
I don’t speak in a dialect at all. I speak the way I write, in standard American English. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/4 "2015-10-01T01:29:56Z")
Do you not read the comments on youtube videos? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/5 "2015-10-01T01:33:27Z")
Here at SDMB we post in pure English because that’s the culture here. At yahoo or some sites you’ll see lots of txtspeak. Plus the breathless stream of consciousness punctuation free prose of uneducated youth. If you found a site full of Mexican-Americans you’d find them posting in … gasp … Spanish. I suppose there’s a site where AAVE [African-American Vernacular English - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American_Vernacular_English) is the language of the dominant culture. Given that our audience here is English speakers around the world, I suggest that the more vernacular you use the fewer members you’ll communicate with. Your choice, bro. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/6 "2015-10-01T01:38:53Z")
I put on the mask just like everybody else at work. Prim and proper English. The sophisticated elegance oozing out my ass. It would be nice having online conversations like real people. Just for the hell of it, I ought to go into a meeting. _Whats up?_ lol ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/7 "2015-10-01T01:41:13Z")
When you speak, you are typically addressing a smaller audience, and you know who they are. When you post on-line, you have a vastly larger and generalized world-wide audience, and you don’t know who they are. But if you post on a special-interest board, then you would have a more limited, and more known, audience. I imagine you’d see more jargon and informal language there, as suitable for the group. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/8 "2015-10-01T01:45:24Z")
Its funny how conditioned we are to write in correct English. I found it difficult in the OP to just talk naturally. It just wouldn’t come out of my fingers. If I was an author. I’d record conversations to get a true feel for how words and sentence structure are used in a particular dialect. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/9 "2015-10-01T02:00:26Z")
“What is pure English?” the dude with the A.B. in Linguistics asks. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/10 "2015-10-01T02:03:01Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > “What is pure English?” the dude with the A.B. in Linguistics asks. Prose grammatically, spelling correct and free of slang? Can be written or spoken and still must be correct. All the stuff the English teacher marked wrong with a red pen when you didn’t follow her rules. I’ve been corrected in class many times for slipping and using slang. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/11 "2015-10-01T02:12:39Z")
It’s true very few straight dope posters would survive a seasoned newspaper editor’s critical eye. None of us are submitting our Master’s thesis on this board. I write a bit more casual here than at work. I’m here to relax and unwind. But still adhere to proper English. Somebody has to pay me, to write college level English. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/12 "2015-10-01T02:34:55Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > You don’t see dialect on the web. We all talk prim and proper like our English teacher is standing over our shoulder. Even a mild curse word is frowned on. Do you go anywhere but here? It constantly irritates the hell out of me how poorly people write on the web. And a mild cuss word is frowned upon? I’m catching the vapors just thinking about it! ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/13 "2015-10-01T02:38:17Z")
The world shrank considerably when TWOP closed. I posted on at least eight forums there. I check in at Yahoo groups occasionally, they tend to use pretty standard English. But each group sets their own culture. iirc TWOP’s software filtered out curse words. Quite a few places’ software either rejects the post or filters out the word. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/14 "2015-10-01T03:30:13Z")
Because if you speak a non-prestige dialect and post in it, people are dicks about it. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/15 "2015-10-01T03:31:36Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Prose grammatically, spelling correct and free of slang? Can be written or spoken and still must be correct. > > All the stuff the English teacher marked wrong with a red pen when you didn’t follow her rules. I’ve been corrected in class many times for slipping and using slang. You got whooshed but good. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/16 "2015-10-01T03:34:57Z")
Irl, I sound like Al Jolson singing “Mammy” ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/17 "2015-10-01T03:43:56Z")
Shit, I really only post here and I gotta keep y’all on yer toes. And I really shoulda taken that left toin at Albuquoique. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/18 "2015-10-01T03:51:42Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > You got whooshed but good. ok, I guess so. I have no idea how unless that degree is the joke? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/19 "2015-10-01T04:16:28Z")
diglossia ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100/20 "2015-10-01T05:26:00Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I put on the mask just like everybody else at work. Prim and proper English. The sophisticated elegance oozing out my ass. I can’t picture it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-talk-in-dialect-but-post-on-the-web-in-pure-english/733100.md?page=2)