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old hand
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OP
old hand
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I suspect this may be an urban legend. Why would a teacher in the Northern hemisphere be setting an essay about the summer holidays in February?
Bingley
Bingley
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Carpal Tunnel
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well, snopes is aware of it, but so far, no other information about it: http://www.snopes.com/info/news/odd.asp
formerly known as etaoin...
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journeyman
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journeyman
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Thanks for the snurl site, on the cryptic coded essay. However, this is really nothing new, way back when I was in school, only those wanting to be a secretary and take dictation used it. It was a status symbol. Although learning the real shorthand was a problem for some, including me, we developed a this form of shorthand omitting vowels and using only the beginning letter of some words. Personally I am glad to see everyone learning this, however, when doing an essay to hand in, it should be in longhand. This type of coded shorthand is really ideal for taking notes on lectures and for reviewing for tests, etc. But I feel the problem comes from students lacking respect for teachers, students lacking some pride in their finished product, and also in some teachers feeling threated by the fact that kids today are a few steps ahead of them.
And then again, perhaps I am wrong---but why can't we all learn from each other and share our wealth of knowledge, for the good of all mankind??
enthusiast
enthusiast
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OP
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Drat! I never thought to check snopes first - I must be slipping in my dotage. Thanks to all who pointed out my gaffe.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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slipping in my dotageewww. sounds messy. 
formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Don't worry sjm it's not in the real snopes. I looked there before I posted and couldn't find anything. But apparently they have a new section with links to stories in the news without any debunking or follow up. At the moment this is the only one in it.
Bingley
Bingley
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...students lacking some pride in their finished product...
Aside from any issue I may have with "pride", I'd be more apt (given this story true) to believe that a sense of pride would create a composition like that... non-conformist (to say the least), of course.
...but why can't we all learn from each other and share our wealth of knowledge, for the good of all mankind??
Because pride has imbedded itself into society so deeply that the *laws say one can "own knowledge".
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Bingley
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old hand
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OP
old hand
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Thanks, Bingley. The Economist appears to to take the story for real.
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Pooh-Bah
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Joined: Jun 2002
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Here's the Economist story:
duz txt msgN mAk U :-) o :-( ?
R U wurEd dat d eng lngwij wil bcum cor^ted & unrEdabl, dat kds wont no how 2 spL? olds got ^set rEsntlE wen a 13-yr-old :o)3 in w scotl& rOt a skul SA in txt. she sed it wz EZer thn writN all d borN lng wrds. it Bgan: “my smmr hols wr a CWOT. B4, we Usd 2go2 NY toC my bro, his GF & thr 3 :- kds FTF. ILNY, it iz a gr8 plc.” d Tcha sed he c% dnt BlEv it, it wz fulla hIrOglifs he c% dnt transl8
bt dnt fret. d sAm sorta shrt& n tLegrams o cAbls (remMbR dem?) didnt dstroi eng. kds txt (nOt d nu verb) Ech uthR cuz itz :) & chEp. 4ling mob fone chRjs & nu typz of mob fones mA mAk vox cmUnik8shn populR agN
txtN wil stil survIv, bt az a ritN dialect, jst az spOkn dialex survIvd Tchaz F4tz 2 frash dem outa :- kds. so cheer ^!
Here's the transl8t decoding of the first few sentences:
does text messaging make you happy or frown question
are you worried that the english language will become corrupted and unreadable, that kids won't no how to spell? oldies got upset recently when a 13-yr-old :o)3 in with Scotland wrote a school say in text. she said it was easier then written all the boring long words.
Damn. Computational linguistics still hasn't got a usable basis ... *sigh*
- Pfranz
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journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Aug 2003
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Snope link includes this gem: Porn Candidate Offers Date to Big Donors
Wed August 20, 2003 01:31 PM ET SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) Porn actress Mary Carey, one of 135 candidates running for California governor, offered on Tuesday to go on a date with anyone offering her a hefty campaign contribution. But that is it, just a date. "As an independent, I don't have a large political party backing me," she said in a statement. "So I have to be creative and develop more unconventional methods of raising money." If she won't sell herself for a vote, what kind of a politician is she going to make? In her old job, at least her "backing" was on camera. Oops! Is this a suitable subject for "AWAD in schools"? 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Oops! Is this a suitable subject for "AWAD in schools"? I assumed you were questioning which sense of "backing" should be taught in schools. 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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If nothing else it answers my unasked question about the obviously inadequate snurl url lengths.
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