How does my vocabulary make me look uneducated?

[Jess]

Someone sent me a private message with this question among other things: How does my vocabulary make me look uneducated?

The question of the century, ha ha. I'm tempted to answer this in so many ways, but I'll answer it in an educated way and others can voice their educated opinion ;-)

You as a person is represented by the way you look, the way you dress, the way you smell, the way you talk, the way you walk, and the way you behave, etc, etc...

Because no one is seeing you or smelling you etc, thru the internet, you are obviously only represented by the way you post. The way you post represents your all, it indicates to all who you are. Therefore it is not a not so serious thing in the internet, unless of course you recycle your identity on a regular basis and pretend you're someone else all the time. But even that won't hide who you really are, you are who you are and your character will reflect it.

Therefore if you come and talk smack on this forum or any other place, you most definitely will come across as an uneducated, ignorant, son of a beast... capiche !!

Few months back there was talk on the news of people who were fired from their work place for their posts on Myspace and Facebook, others have gotten divorced because of their use of these same sites. I can't tell you what the specifics of their situation was because I personally don't know or care to know. But what I do know is that whatever they said had obvious consequences. Therefore again, it is not a not so serious thing in the internet. Rather it is a serious thing.

[Junkmale]

I have a sneaking suspision as to who you got the email from Jess

In general it's easy on the internet and on internet forums to say whatever you want, in whatever way you want to anyone.

The whole annonimity of it leads to that, unfortunately. Another forum i belong to is full of abuse, sarcasm and ignorance. People can get away with it and i think it's a very sad thing?

I've always thought and believe that this forum is different. In all my time here i've only had a slight 'fall out' with one person (and it was resolved in a friendly manner). It's a fantastic forum.

Everyone should act and speak here like they (should) do in real life with a bit of respect for everyone, even if you don't agree with what someone else has stated.

Generally, i think we do?

[TheBarrett]

Originally Posted by Junkmale

The whole annonimity of it leads to that, unfortunately. Another forum i belong to is full of abuse, sarcasm and ignorance. People can get away with it and i think it's a very sad thing?

Generally most of online internet forums, or something involving a virtual social contact between three or more people, are of the "abuse, sarcasm..." and generally something that can make a few or many people uncomfortable.

Although the idea of identity masking in order to conceal the physical but unleash the mental is fine with me. As certain people who reveal too much online may have received many consequences, or are just plain annoying.

[Junkmale]

Originally Posted by TheBarrett

Generally most of online internet forums, or something involving a virtual social contact between three or more people, are of the "abuse, sarcasm..." and generally something that can make a few or many people uncomfortable.

Although the idea of identity masking in order to conceal the physical but unleash the mental is fine with me. As certain people who reveal too much online may have received many consequences, or are just plain annoying.

You are right, Barrett.
But there are certain individuals who simply go online with the deliberate intention to abuse, i think.
It shows that there is something seriously lacking in their personal lives that the only 'pleasure' they get is from abusing a complete stranger on a Internet forum?
I'm guilty of revealing too much from time to time. It's something i'm trying to stop, but i do think that it shows how comfortable one can feel in the presence of other like minded individuals? Is that such a bad thing, i wonder?

[Chuck]

Originally Posted by TheBarrett

Generally most of online internet forums, or something involving a virtual social contact between three or more people, are of the "abuse, sarcasm..." and generally something that can make a few or many people uncomfortable.

Although the idea of identity masking in order to conceal the physical but unleash the mental is fine with me. As certain people who reveal too much online may have received many consequences, or are just plain annoying.

Originally Posted by Junkmale

You are right, Barrett.
But there are certain individuals who simply go online with the deliberate intention to abuse, i think.
It shows that there is something seriously lacking in their personal lives that the only 'pleasure' they get is from abusing a complete stranger on a Internet forum?
I'm guilty of revealing too much from time to time. It's something i'm trying to stop, but i do think that it shows how comfortable one can feel in the presence of other like minded individuals? Is that such a bad thing, i wonder?

Hey guys: Jess, Barrett, Junkmale - Three of my favorite online correspondents here - how could I not jump in and opine?

Anyway, yes, what we say online does matter. Even if we're "anonymous" while posting, somebody will recognize you, somehow. And even if they don't, I believe in karma and holistics (and all that bs), meaning: if you're an a-hole online, you're probably a sad, lonely a-hole in the real world, too.

Whoahhh. Weird. Sorry, I just got back from a party.

Anyway, vocabulary, speech, and diction in real life say a lot about all of us. Right? No arguments there. But when it's online, and faceless and even (sometimes) nameless, it's easy to think that those things don't matter. Well, surprise, they do, and even more. Even more because A) now spelling counts, too; and B) now it's written down, it's public, and it's going to be lasting there for years.

In other words, if we're ignorant (or even totally illiterate) in the real world, we can still get by. It's easy to pass, especially here in the U.S. But you start trying to write things down here on the internet, and it's really easy to look really stupid. (Like this post, for example!) (no, what I mean is, I've posted some really stupid things, with absolutely no difficulty whatsoever.) (no, that's not what I --- oh, never mind )

But here's what I've really found: If people are writing, and spelling, and contributing, that's WAAYYY beter than if they're not. At least we're all keeping in practice. Use it or you lose it, right? That actually applies to everything, even language skills! I've said how my French has been coming back since joining this forum. I haven't said this here before, but the truth is that even my English has been getting better in recent months. Thanks, everyone!

As far as what Jess was saying about people getting fired or divorced because of their Facebook or Myspace posts - I hadn't heard that, but it doesn't surprise me at all. Like I said above, if someone's an a-whole online, they're almost always an a-whole in real life. Only now they're leaving their own written trails of evidence for all the online communities to see.

But that brings me around to what I really wanted to say: having recently joined facebook, I now appreciate this forum even more than ever. Even the youngest of us here on AAm seems to be at least twice as smart as the average Facebooker, and even the rudest of us here is ten times as courteous. Yes, AlizéeduSiècle, Barrett, Jalen, Jung, Rachel, Deep, Junk, Karla, Lefty, Jess -- ALL OF YOU IN HERE -- you guys and gals IMPRESS ME. YOU IMPRESS MY SOCKS RIGHT OFF.

Wasabi, Fall0, Alex, Beaner, Roman, nahhh, sorry. (JUST KIDDING!!!! YOU GUYS IMPRESS ME, TOO.)

Ben, good goin. Rawdg, never quit. Scruff, Edcog, F.R.A., Edguy, C4, and everyone- THANKS FOR MAKING THIS FORUM SO SPECIAL. (Jung, don`t be so spooky, we still need you here, dudester!) And I wish I could go on and on.... but dammit - GOB LESS THISH FORUM. (hic)

Okay. I was saying it's better that we write than not to write? I may have just proven that wrong already. Ahhh, what th' hell.

Love to all o' y'all. Hugely. (In a late-Saturday-night kinda way.) Just thankful to have found this place, and its intelligence, its wisdom, its sanity, and its incredibly beautiful, talented, and smokin'-hot source of inspiration.

[Criss_pl]

Originally Posted by Chuck

I haven't said this here before, but the truth is that even my English has been getting better in recent months. Thanks, everyone!

I second that. I learned here a lot. I know that I can learn from books, but there isn't anything better for learning English than a contact with people, who use it naturally, in everyday life. Thanks to you I actually know how to communicate with others, what is the 'useful' side of English, so besides reading some-very-sophisticated-medical-article, I can also hold a conversation with native speaker. The second part if this issue is the international community, who don't use English as mother language. It's inspiring, when people try to communicate

Originally Posted by Chuck

Just thankful to have found this place, and its intelligence, its wisdom, its sanity, and its incredibly beautiful, talented, and smokin'-hot source of inspiration.

Brilliant words man. I found here a lot of intelligent people, who share their ideas, wisdom, and life experience, which is the most important thing for me. Reading all your posts make me proud to be a member of this great community. One can think, that it's only an average forum about some French gal, so nothing interesting could happen here. Wrong, it's living community, Alizée is only an excuse for discussions about everything

And my vocabulary make me look uneducated But I'm still learning.

[Fèvier]

Originally Posted by Criss_pl

And my vocabulary make me look uneducated But I'm still learning.

hey I'm trying to learn french (because of Alizée ) and I only have a 20 word vocabulary. Also trying to learn german, but I have a 10 word vocabulary there.

Don't think yourself uneducated because most people are so ignorant to not even speak proper english, and all they know is english! I don't know how many languages you know but just having at least a basic vocabulary in two or more languages would say to me that you're pretty well educated. But this is only my opinion which I am sure most people here agree with too

[Brent]

I believe you can tell a little about one's personality through the way they type and how they react to your words.

I also believe way too many people take the internet way too serious.

[Jess]

Wow !! Very good points guys... I must admit I too have learned a lot in this and other communities.

[Señor Villa]

I think everyone here is friendly to each other and displays respect. For me as a person what you see is what you get online or real life. Jess, btw you mispelled Paradise, Florida (just kidding).