Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for December 18, 2019

I think there are a lot of us like that, Janis.

Good for Arlo. My grammar/spelling OCD tingles on most of the texts I receive.

Same boat here which explains why my responses take so long.

I don’t type with my tongue out though.

How did we survive before we were able to be apprised by our SO’s where they were and what they were doing every single second of their lives?

I always use properly spelled words and grammar… I tried using these shortened words, and they just make me feel… dumb. :-P

I had to reread Arlo’s texts to see what was wrong with them till I reread Janis’ saying they were correct, not incorrect. Guess Arlo is wrong when he is right and can’t win.

It’’s a curse!

The man even used a comma to separate two independent clauses that were joined by a conjunction! That took Johnson-smarts, too . .

Poor man? Perfect grammar is a good thing.

The first text I get from someone which e.g. uses the letter U for the pronoun you, is when I stop reading their texts. It’s not cute. It’s not hip. It makes you sound like a moron.

Me 2!

Although all my texts are perfect, that dang COMMENT button always deletes of my words.

Not only that, but I’m using a flip phone so I have to press each button multiple times.

Perfect, even to the extent of using the Oxford comma. (Which I refuse to use in any context.)

“ never underestimate the Oxford comma.” https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/underestimate-the-oxford-comma-at-your-peril/article625870/

Interesting, amusing, and informative.

I feel his pain . . .

Got me in one.

Also – Sorry, but the Oxford comma rules!

It’s probably sad, but I find myself judging people by text grammar, misused yours and theirs, and using abbreviations and numbers for words. Doesn’t seem like it happened this much in the days of hand-written notes.

For the younger folks, Arlo said:

Market done hardware next then home

I usually go to the hardware store first so the cold stuff from the grocery doesn’t get warm.

It is not an Oxford comma, as @DJJG explained, but a comma separating two independent clauses. The Oxford comma (or serial comma) is the final comma in a list. For example: Please bring me a pencil, an eraser, and a notebook.

And Janis thinks that he is to be pitied because…?

I’m sure there is the usual generational mark in using “text-speak” but the roots may be in cyber interfaces. (I guess “cyber” is a stand-alone word by now.) Google doesn’t care if we capitalize, even if we want it to only accept an upper or lower case form. It also is broadened so the vaguest references still work. The truly sad thing is that linguistic adaptability is as close as we get to genuine artificial intelligence.

Congratulations to all the commenters above who didn’t give in to the urge to text, but actually wrote in English! I pity the few who thought it would be funny not to do that.

IMHO, Texting is ruining grammar and spelling.

Voice to text, Arlo. Just read before sending to anyone without a sense of humor.

I have the same propensity.

I am guilty of that also, the grammar part that is.

Yeah, some of us old folks just don’t get it.

I remember a Benny Hill sketch where there was a game show where the little bald guy played a contestant against a computer.. the question was “What is the shortest possible contraction of ‘William of Nottingham’?”

The computer came up with – Will Nott

The man’s answer?

Won’t

Yea Arlo!

we all have our flaws…even if mine is being too perfect.

Is this a dig at the world’s most notoriously illiterate texter?

Me too

And the problem is…. ?

I have that same issue, Arlo. I feel for you.

Mine, too. It’s harder and takes longer to figure out the abbreviation than to just type it.

I do that (or at least try).

Never met one who could…or cared.

If it’s not worth doing correctly, it’s not worth doing

Mine are too. Why is that so bad?? Quite frankly, not much irks me more than grown people using teenage text-speak!

My texts tend to be grammatically correct. It really bothers me to knowingly type an error or misspelling. I know I do make mistakes, I’m not perfect, but I try my best to always use correct grammar and spelling.

Janis, he KNOWS he are getting daffy and wants to keep the communication going clearly.

Hey! I do this, too. What are you implying, Janis?

Maybe his texts are perfect, but his shopping skills are not. Did he not buy any groceries that need to be frozen or refrigerated? Hardware first!

Good for him! If it’s true that language shapes thought, then think what 50 years of “omg lol” is going to do to us!

Mine, too.

My texts, their the same, to.

Husband has limited calling minutes and unlimited text so we started corresponding by text for things. I have trouble typing without a physical keyboard (I really want to be able to use my Palm Centro again – or even my Blackberry that came after it) and get frustrated. He told me to just do the best I can and he will figure it out. Our texts are generally things such as where we are in a store to meet up when I lose him there for a couple of minutes alone or dinner is ready or a TV show coming on that he likes and such. I also have to text him when I get to the garage I park in for work on the one day a month I go out and then again when I get back to same on the way home.

Early on we were in Costco and he texted to me to find out where I was to meet to up to leave (no purchases of course). I was near the front registers and I texted same to him – but I don’t remember what actually went out. I stood and watched him look up and down every row in the store looking for me and looking down at his phone. I even waved to him when he looked in my direction. He finally ended up in the front. Can figure it out – my aunt Fanny! And since I am almost always waiting for him at the registers to leave I am not sure why it is a problem. Not like when we got separated once in the 1980s pre cell phones and it took us about an hour to find each other in the one room small store at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.