Hello, Dave! I, too, am very disgruntled with the destruction of one of the most expressive and beautiful languages. My parents taught me that education was very important and a continuous process. They also insisted that I and my siblings speak clearly and with the capacity of intelligent thought (very rare amongst the population, these days). Thinking before one speaks is also a prerequisite for building and expressing intelligent thought and ideas. I was also taught that using vulgarity every other word was a clear sign of a lack of intelligence and imagination. Turns out Dad was right. My favorite quote concerning this is Mark Twain's "Better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." It's bad enough if people think I'm stupid...I don't have to go proving it to them! Anyway, thanks for your rant...it's nice to know I am not alone. Kate

Hi Dave, Exactly!! Television began the murdering of the use of good language. The written word in books and newspapers made the vocabulary at a 3rd grade level so the masses, or everyday man could read. Now the computer has made it even worse. People who can not type or speak can communicate using the keboard and computer. It is heartbreaking to hear people speak poor English but now it gets sent around the world in written shorthand. On the positive side, more people are learning English throught the world. Communication is improving so hopefully mankind can get along better, thru understanding.

Dave? ========== "Don't get me started on this! lol! My opinion of "The Simpsons" is virtually unprintable. It has to be one of the stupidest pieces of media garbage ever produced." ========== Dave? DOH! You know who...!!!

Hello Dave, I totally agree here also. Eveyone who post has hit the nail on the head here. There has been so much destruction through the years and just to see how things have changed since I was a teen is really scary!! My 5th grader was told spelling was not a subject and not required this year because computers have spell check. I about came off my, well you get the picture. Totally repulsed by this. Yes, this came from the school and the teacher. Anyway, thank you for the forum and the rant as well. Your Friend,

Hi Art, Between you and Gary, you make offer great and very humourous examples of where it's going (I hope some of our friends to whom English is a second language can make some sense of it! lol!) Gary gets the prize for the shortest example - oooh Gary - what are they doing using a great surname like yours for such nonsense? Perhaps you should sue.... God bless, Dave