Phone Etiquette

I may have posted this before:
'Let's eat Grandma!' or 'Let's eat, Grandma!' Punctuation saves lives!

Common sense saves more.

 

1."Let's eat, grandma!"
2. "Let's eat grandma!"

1 you would say to grandma
2 you would say to someone other than grandma

Unless you lived in a cannibal society, if someone thought they heard you say 2, they would question whether they heard you right.

Human beings are not computers who rely on being given the exact code or their programs don't  run.

Human beings are creative, have imagination and can emphathise with other human beings.  They can usually figure out what other people mean based on the context of the conversation.

Yeah... um, it's called a joke. You don't need to get offended on behalf of the entire human race.

I text if I need to say something quickly, and call if it needs to be a conversation.  So, a blend of both.  But always use punctuation!  (It's easy on a blackberry, though). 

Yeah... um, it's called a joke. You don't need to get offended on behalf of the entire human race.

 

I also like :

"A woman without her man is nothing"

which punctuated differently could be -

"A woman, without her man, is nothing."

Or 

"A woman: without her, man is nothing."


Would be quite difficult to work that one out from context, one would think.

I also like :

"A woman without her man is nothing"

which punctuated differently could be -

"A woman, without her man, is nothing."

Or  

"A woman: without her, man is nothing."


Would be quite difficult to work that one out from context, one would think.

That's quite good, I haven't seen that before.  

I don't have one of those fancy smart phones (yet!), so I have to text the old school way with the number pad. I just learned last year (because of hitting the wrong key on my UK mobile!) how to make capital letters within the sentence! It drove me nuts not to be able to do it before then!

I don't send many texts, as a rule.  They tend to annoy me.  However, I always used to be very conscientious about using appropriate punctuation and capitalization.  That was before my boyfriend changed my phone settings to use the rapid-entry (where the phone predicts the word).  It took me a while to get used to it, and I still don't know how to change the suggested word.  Forget about adding capitalizing words!  I do still make an effort to insert punctuation, but only because I just can't bring myself to go without it. 

I'd kind of like to get a real, grown-up phone with a full qwerty keyboard... but given that I so rarely use my phone at all, it seems like a waste of money.

Yeah... um, it's called a joke. You don't need to get offended on behalf of the entire human race.

Yes. But people often use these types of examples to prove their point when nitpicking about other people's punctuation or the lack of it.

They're jokes when someone is using these examples to point out interesting things about English grammar (which is what you and cheesebiscuit were doing).

They're not jokes when someone is using them it to prove that lack of proper punctuation can lead to serious, real-life communication problems.

In other words, if you are whinging, you aren't funny.

BTW, I don't have a phone with a keyboard. I type with a number pad.  Spending money on a new phone isn't a priority for me.

I like "King Charles walked and talked half an hour after his head was cut off"