# You are not freaking E.E. Cummings. English usage exists for a REASON, damn it! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 16, 2008, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-freaking-e-e-cummings-english-usage-exists-for-a-reason-damn-it/463899 "2008-09-16T21:17:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-freaking-e-e-cummings-english-usage-exists-for-a-reason-damn-it/463899/121 "2008-09-20T18:13:19Z")
> [@djf750](#): > > Oh, this shift key is tricky! This post has been grammaticized by the Grammar Maven. ---
**Author:** ![djf750](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@djf750](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/djf750)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-freaking-e-e-cummings-english-usage-exists-for-a-reason-damn-it/463899/122 "2008-09-20T18:16:16Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > That would have been more amusing had you succeeded in typing in all caps. But alas, as Walpole taught us, life is a comedy to those who think and a tragedy to those who feel, and thus your attempts at humor are defeated by your microcephaly. yeah how do you type in all caps? it wouldnt let me and you think i am amusing, eh? ---
**Author:** ![djf750](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@djf750](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/djf750)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-freaking-e-e-cummings-english-usage-exists-for-a-reason-damn-it/463899/123 "2008-09-20T18:17:19Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > And we will continue to think of you as a whiny little git who should go back to your bridge and stay there. git is a very cool word ---
**Author:** ![djf750](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@djf750](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/djf750)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-freaking-e-e-cummings-english-usage-exists-for-a-reason-damn-it/463899/124 "2008-09-20T18:21:42Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > That would have been more amusing had you succeeded in typing in all caps. But alas, as Walpole taught us, life is a comedy to those who think and a tragedy to those who feel, and thus your attempts at humor are defeated by your microcephaly. hey, you didnt need to bring up my microcephaly i caught that in the nam while i was defending your right to attack me for not capitalizing schmuk! ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-freaking-e-e-cummings-english-usage-exists-for-a-reason-damn-it/463899/125 "2008-09-20T18:23:27Z")
You know, you _do_ have the right to remain silent even if you aren’t under arrest. ---
**Author:** ![djf750](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@djf750](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/djf750)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-freaking-e-e-cummings-english-usage-exists-for-a-reason-damn-it/463899/126 "2008-09-20T18:25:28Z")
truce! i will not post again in this thread if nobody attacks me again for exercising my constitutional right to not capitalize miller my friend: to and too are two different words with different meanings ---
**Author:** ![Hakuna\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hakuna\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hakuna_Matata)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-freaking-e-e-cummings-english-usage-exists-for-a-reason-damn-it/463899/127 "2008-09-20T18:30:41Z")
Edited to add–didn’t see your truce until after I posted 🙂 And I am not attacking you anyways! Since djf750 doesn’t seem to care if people understand him/her I thought I would assist them in their quest to have people ignore their posts. YOU CAN POST IN ALL CAPS LIKE THIS AND MAKE EVERYONE THINK YOU ARE A VERY ANGRY INTERNET OLD MAN!!! or youcanleaveoutallthespacesbetweenthelettersandseeifanyonecanfigureoutyourmessagethatway. or You can post like this (this post has been graped by the grapist!) or Use…too…much…punctutation…so…that…your…message…gets…lost!!! Who used to do that? Nightrabbit I think was her name, but hers was more along the lines of U.s.e…t.o.o.m.u.c.h.p.u.n.c.t.u.a.t.i.o.n. trying to emphasize something or other. or U can write to UR friends like this OMG UR so kool LOL or u (4|| wri73 i|| 13375p34k (you can write in leetspeak) or you can write in only lower case which i personally don’t mind, but i can certainly understand why it bothers people and it does convey a certain lack of intellectual rigor and thus is difficult to take the opinions expressed in this manner too seriously. i do note that you do use ‘,’ and ‘.’ and “?” symbols so you do not seem opposed to all the rules of grammer. look i personally don’t really care how you post, but i do think your continued behavior in this thread doesn’t make you appear as cool as you appear to think it does. wow it is really sort of hard to write this way! don’t you find it more difficult? it almost seems like more work to not use the shift key. interesting. well enjoy your tirade! 😛 or You could try and write in reasonable sentence structures, realizing that it isn’t a proper paper, but that reasonable attempts at spelling, puncutation and other grammer tools does assist your reader in understanding your message. There are some grammer police on this board, I don’t happen to think Miller is one of them. And something that happened five years ago seems a bit ancient to bring up now, but whatever floats your boat I suppose. But when someone makes a reasonable attempt at communicating and they screw up a word, or flip a couple of letters it doesn’t bother me since their base message is coming through. That is the purpose of writing on a message board, to try and convince your audience of your viewpoint isn’t it? Good luck though on your tirade! ---
**Author:** ![Vox\_Imperatoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-freaking-e-e-cummings-english-usage-exists-for-a-reason-damn-it/463899/128 "2008-09-20T18:45:34Z")
Composing good posts takes originality don’t criticize him. 😛 Valete, Vox Imperatoris ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-freaking-e-e-cummings-english-usage-exists-for-a-reason-damn-it/463899/129 "2008-09-20T19:17:16Z")
> [@djf750](#): > > miller my friend: > > to and too are two different words with different meanings Dude, it’s been _five years_. Get a hobby. ---
**Author:** ![djf750](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@djf750](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/djf750)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-freaking-e-e-cummings-english-usage-exists-for-a-reason-damn-it/463899/130 "2008-09-20T19:20:53Z")
> [@Hakuna\_Matata](#): > > Edited to add–didn’t see your truce until after I posted 🙂 And I am not attacking you anyways! > Since djf750 doesn’t seem to care if people understand him/her I thought I would assist them in their quest to have people ignore their posts. > YOU CAN POST IN ALL CAPS LIKE THIS AND MAKE EVERYONE THINK YOU ARE A VERY ANGRY INTERNET OLD MAN!!! > > or > > youcanleaveoutallthespacesbetweenthelettersandseeifanyonecanfigureoutyourmessagethatway. > > or > > You can post like this (this post has been graped by the grapist!) > > or > > Use…too…much…punctutation…so..that…your…message…gets…lost!!! Who used to do that? Nightrabbit I think was her name, but hers was more along the lines of U.s.e..t.o.o.m.u.c.h.p.u.n.c.t.u.a.t.i.o.n. trying to emphasize something or other. > > or > > U can write to UR friends like this OMG UR so kool LOL > > or > > u (4|| wri73 i|| 13375p34k (you can write in leetspeak) > > or > > you can write in only lower case which i personally don’t mind, but i can certainly understand why it bothers people and it does convey a certain lack of intellectual rigor and thus is difficult to take the opinions expressed in this manner too seriously. i do note that you do use ‘,’ and ‘.’ and “?” symbols so you do not seem opposed to all the rules of grammer. look i personally don’t really care how you post, but i do think your continued behavior in this thread doesn’t make you appear as cool as you appear to think it does. wow it is really sort of hard to write this way! don’t you find it more difficult? it almost seems like more work to not use the shift key. interesting. well enjoy your tirade! 😛 > > or > > You could try and write in reasonable sentence structures, realizing that it isn’t a proper paper, but that reasonable attempts at spelling, puncutation and other grammer tools does assist your reader in understanding your message. There are some grammer police on this board, I don’t happen to think Miller is one of them. And something that happened five years ago seems a bit ancient to bring up now, but whatever floats your boat I suppose. But when someone makes a reasonable attempt at communicating and they screw up a word, or flip a couple of letters it doesn’t bother me since their base message is coming through. That is the purpose of writing on a message board, to try and convince your audience of your viewpoint isn’t it? > > Good luck though on your tirade! fine…i tried miller is the barney fife lock up aunt bee and opie for jay walking while andy is in mount pilot for the afternoon biggest grammar asshole busybody on here go back, read the thread i started about a 15 year old girl being raped and all barnyfife-miller could see was my grammar and it happened 5 years ago and here again this week some ahole starts another thread about it by the way, you and cisco both write very well and seem level headed, and neither of you seem bothered by peoples writing styles here it is just barney, gomer, goober, and otis who get so fucking riled by it truce is over ---
**Author:** ![djf750](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@djf750](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/djf750)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-freaking-e-e-cummings-english-usage-exists-for-a-reason-damn-it/463899/131 "2008-09-20T19:25:34Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Dude, it’s been _five years_. Get a hobby. wrong again shakespeare…this thread was started on september 16 i innocently (as usual) responded to it and and you and your idiot lynch mob were back throwing a rope over the branch of the sdmb hangin’ tree to too two ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-freaking-e-e-cummings-english-usage-exists-for-a-reason-damn-it/463899/132 "2008-09-20T19:27:46Z")
> [@djf750](#): > > wrong again shakespeare…this thread was started on september 16 > > i innocently (as usual) responded to it and and you and your idiot lynch mob were back throwing a rope over the branch of the sdmb hangin’ tree > > to too two I started the thread in response to another poster entirely; I didn’t name that poster because I wished to avoid a clusterfuck such as this, and that poster has since not only corrected his/her posting habits but also spoken to me in PM on the issue. Just so you know. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-freaking-e-e-cummings-english-usage-exists-for-a-reason-damn-it/463899/133 "2008-09-20T19:30:26Z")
> [@djf750](#): > > i innocently (as usual) responded to it… Oh, bullshit. You deliberately posted to start a shitstorm, you lying sack of crap. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-freaking-e-e-cummings-english-usage-exists-for-a-reason-damn-it/463899/134 "2008-09-20T19:34:29Z")
> [@Q.E.D](#): > > Oh, bullshit. You deliberately posted to start a shitstorm, you lying sack of crap. Q.E.D., did you not get the memo about the goat shortage? We don’t have nearly enough to be feeding people who live under bridges. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-freaking-e-e-cummings-english-usage-exists-for-a-reason-damn-it/463899/135 "2008-09-20T19:37:53Z")
Pssst… **Hakuna** , it’s “grammar”. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-freaking-e-e-cummings-english-usage-exists-for-a-reason-damn-it/463899/136 "2008-09-20T19:40:30Z")
> [@djf750](#): > > wrong again shakespeare…this thread was started on september 16 > > i innocently (as usual) responded to it and and you and your idiot lynch mob were back throwing a rope over the branch of the sdmb hangin’ tree > > to too two Your persecution complex is immense and multifaceted. I’m honored to have pride of place in it. Who knew that an offhand comment about someone’s formatting skills would have such a profound deformative effect on their psyche? ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-freaking-e-e-cummings-english-usage-exists-for-a-reason-damn-it/463899/137 "2008-09-20T19:45:54Z")
deleted. double post. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-freaking-e-e-cummings-english-usage-exists-for-a-reason-damn-it/463899/138 "2008-09-20T19:48:50Z")
I just wanted everybody who’s engaged in this idiot-against-the-world pissing match to know I have a big di–, uhm diacritical mark, if anybody ever wants to see me use it. ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-freaking-e-e-cummings-english-usage-exists-for-a-reason-damn-it/463899/139 "2008-09-20T19:59:42Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Dude, it’s been _five years_. Get a hobby. I believe your it. ---
**Author:** ![djf750](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@djf750](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/djf750)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-freaking-e-e-cummings-english-usage-exists-for-a-reason-damn-it/463899/140 "2008-09-20T20:04:19Z")
> [@Omegaman](#): > > I believe your it. you believe my it? what the fuck? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-freaking-e-e-cummings-english-usage-exists-for-a-reason-damn-it/463899.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-freaking-e-e-cummings-english-usage-exists-for-a-reason-damn-it/463899.md?page=8)