Comments on: Peeves About Being Deaf

By: Ben M.

Ben M. — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 23:13:38 +0000

but many deaf people don’t write sloppily on purpose.

and remember this, not every deaf person is as gifted as you nor grew up in a background as fortunate as yours.

By: nunofyabiz

nunofyabiz — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 23:37:37 +0000

“If you can raed tihs, you can raed aynhtnig! The ticrk is to mkae the fsirt and lsat ltetres saty in pacle” I can’t remember this verbatim, but that was a funny email I got once about the English Language. I think it was even a Harvard study.

Also, there was a recent article about starting to spell words the way they sounded. Like dis - how r u dong etc. It was hilarious. I think we all could benefit from inventive spelling! The English language could use some simplification. How does one spell thoroughfare as it sounds? Thofair, maybe? Unfortunately, I’m a bit too “English” to do a good job at inventive spelling. Just use your imagination.

It amazes me that I could learn English as a second language and remember all the spelling rules! I don’t know how I was able to do that.

By: Jaz

Jaz — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 14:30:21 +0000

Now this is the absolute best comment that has been written in this entire Blog!!!

By: S

Thu, 03 Aug 2006 20:05:08 +0000

A written language is a bridge between the oral/aural hearing world and the visual deaf world. Since we are a minority in a large hearing world, we need at least to be able to communicate with them via written language. Just like you won’t respect someone signing sloppily on purpose, you won’t respect someone writing sloppily on purpose either.

By: kate

kate — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 18:57:57 +0000

part of the argument already addressed are coolness and creativity of the language. cropping words for purpose of speed and creativity make sense. also it’s economical for phone text users.

in ireland when i used a mobile phone to communicate with deaf and hearing irish it was mind boggling at first. one deaf irish tended to take out all the vowels and use constonants, a couple others deafies i regularly corresponded with would use english but simplify the words or sentences. can you imagine a 26 letter alphabet on a keypad of the phone with limited space and cost? my thumb became adept punching the number buttons until i got the letter i desired. it does force creativity, especially when you’re bolloxied at a bar.

a dutch friend of mine once borrowed my phone to text someone in holland. when i got my phone back, the words wouldn’t work the way I wanted to. i then found out that my friend had changed the dictionary from english to dutch. so I changed it back on to english. funny how language recognition software works. bit off the point but thought it was funny.

By: MKULTRA

MKULTRA — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 14:24:35 +0000

Never before have I seen such estimable conscience in how one judges others.

By: moi

moi — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 04:44:39 +0000

I gotta agree with Julie. There is a time and place for slang, both signed and written. A blog or one’s written comments to a blog are one’s face to the world, and more “formal than not” English is probably the best way to go most of the time. That said, I LOVE slang and wordplay. I’m constantly verbing words, combining words, and imitating accents. But again, time and place. (just my $0.02)

By: Belle

Belle — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 01:59:57 +0000

See, words are just words, a jumble of scratches. It is the concept a word conveys that is the most important. As long as communication flows, and understanding occurs, I am “fomp” about it all. Not to say that I am conversant in txtng slang!

By: Petra

Petra — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 00:35:28 +0000

Erin, I understand how it feels. I am around hearing people all the time. There are often people, especially in my family who look at me differently than needed be. We cannot hear and that is all, nothing more. I know exactly how you feel.

Yeah, it took me a while to understand some ASL slang, I understand it but I am not used to it. I can see where some of my English writing ability comes from, from knowing two languages well.

By: RLM

RLM — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 12:45:48 +0000

The blog postings are kinda informal. Deaf people generally experience the societal oppression 24/7.

Why we ought to formalize ourselves for the sake of hearies? Many hearing people mangle our precious language - ASL on daily basis. We always put up with those hearies. Did we criticize them in the public about their disrespectful way of communicating in ASL?

I often seen in CODAs and professionals of the deaf! Plz!!

Why don’t the DeafDc’s Central Blog have the vlog submittance as part of equal opporunity communication for everyone?

Robert L. Mason (RLM)