newguy wrote:however, not capitalizing the pronoun "I" as it stands alone in a sentence, to refer to myself, does not cause a misunderstanding in the intended message, therefore a small rhetoric mistakes such as capitalization can (in my opinion) be overlooked in some channels of communication.
First, I apologize for my absence. Monday at 3 AM my wife went into labor with our first child. Since then, both she and the child have had complications. All have been resolved at this time, but I've spent most of this week in hospital rooms or driving to and from said hospital. I type this with a 4 day infant in one hand and no sleep in days {and, yes, my grammar is still better than most--if I can, you can). Please don't clutter this thread up with congratulations. When I get time, I'll post a picture for that sort of thing. Thank you, Jester and others, for taking up the baton in my absence.
Your panda story was amusing, but I offer you two other quotes from the same book:
"Proper punctuation is both the sign and the cause of clear thinking."
Is your thinking clear?
“The reason it's worth standing up for punctuation is not that it's an arbitrary system of notation known only to an over-sensitive elite who have attacks of the vapours when they see it misapplied. The reason to stand up for punctuation is that without it there is no reliable way of communicating meaning.”
Using "Eats, shoots, and leaves" as a justification for poor grammar would cause the author to probably shoot themselves, and not with an airsoft gun.
Let me try this another way. You started this thread with questions about airsoft. Instead, it has degenerated into you defending your choice to purposely mangle our written language. So, I ask you one more time--have you, and your poor grammar, effectively communicated? I argue that you have not or we would be talking about airsoft.
A third, or fourth, try. I teach future police officers. I explain to them that proper use of English is important because their written word is what district attorneys, defense attorneys, and judges read. If a person can't take the time to at least clear up even the most basic of grammar, what is to say that that person hasn't taken shortcuts in other avenues of their work? When your written word is all that people see, they interpret you by what you read. Just look at Jester's replies. He thinks you're lying and lazy. That's what you've presented, that's how you're seen because that is HOW YOUR WRITING APPEARS. Do you want to appear as an illiterate idiot or as someone who's opinions we should value?
Welcome to AP! Get some gear and come play some airsoft.
Oh, one final thing. Drunk people can still have some good ideas. Hell, Hemingway wrote most of his work drunk.
