10 Things That Will Soon Disappear Forever (And 7 That Refuse to Die)

kombat said:
Regarding cursive, I have heard from some teacher friends and relatives that it's being dropped from numerous curriculums. I wonder, then, how this generation and subsequent ones will know how to sign their name to things?
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Electronic Thumbprints?
 
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I, for one, look forward to the demise of cursive writing. I was never very good at it, and I can never read anyone else's cursive writing. Those old municipal record books, or old deeds and wills, are almost unintelligible to me. And I WAS taught cursive in school!

As for signing one's name, you don't need to. The next time you're asked to "sign" at the register, just make a squiggly line. Nobody cares. Everyone knows you can't really do a proper cursive signature on those little pads anyway.

Don't get me started about the loss of grammar, punctuation and spelling. Beyond a sense of "right" and "wrong", which I admit is highly subjective, I worry that the language is changing so fast that not-so-distant future generations will be totally unable to decipher current writings.

And what about the foundations of our language, like Shakespeare and the Bible? If you can't read those, you miss out on understanding a large percentage of the idiomatic expressions we all use daily.

For the record, I'm trying to get out of the habit of adding two spaces between sentences. I'm not having much luck; it's pretty deeply ingrained.
 
CaptTom said:
For the record, I'm trying to get out of the habit of adding two spaces between sentences. I'm not having much luck; it's pretty deeply ingrained.
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Same here, old habits.... but then again, it doesn't really hurt anything, does it? I'm therefore granting permission to anyone over 30 to double space between sentences. :LOL:
 
W2R's rant about writing and reading got me thinking about something that WON'T be going away:

swearing​

Actually, maybe the art of discourse is going away. On the internet, many discussions just involve swearing at each other.
 
CaptTom said:
...

For the record, I'm trying to get out of the habit of adding two spaces between sentences. I'm not having much luck; it's pretty deeply ingrained.
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Remember the great hue and cry over the supposed unveiling of bitcoin's founder in 2014? One of the "proofs" that they had found him in southern california was that the poor guy (like everyone over the age of 50) used two spaces after the full stop!

In any event, if you are using Word, it is easy to do a global search and replace when finalizing your document--find "two spaces" and replace with one. That is the only way I can ensure consistency, as I automatically want to insert the second space. :facepalm:
 
kombat said:
With all due respect, you're simply saying the same thing I did. "The break between sentences gets lost" is just another way of saying what I said: "[A double space] provided a more readily visible visual cue in breaking up adjacent sentences."
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With all due respect I originally stated that the double space was due to a technical limitation of typewriters and you tried to correct me. I'm done with you. Over and out.
 
Hyperborea said:
With all due respect I originally stated that the double space was due to a technical limitation of typewriters and you tried to correct me. I'm done with you. Over and out.
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Well, at least there wasn't any swearing here. :) (Smiley, I think...)
 
Fedup said:
As one of the 5 females in the whole engineering school, I have to say the odds were good, but the goods were odd.
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I am proud to announce that I had marital relations with 1/3 of the women in my engineering major's graduating class.





And then I married her.
 
I have been on this forum for over ten years, and my observations are that just about all members get annoyed with another member at some time or other. It's human nature and it is not a poor reflection on anybody, IMO.

For the convenience of any of our much valued members who become annoyed with another member, here are directions for using our handy-dandy "ignore" feature. Here's how it works:

1) Click on "User CP" in the horizontal bar above.
2) On the left, under "Settings and Options", click on "Edit Ignore List".
3) In the box that says "Add a member to your list", type the name of the member you wish to ignore.
4) Hit the "OKAY" button.


That's all that is required. Now you will not see posts by the person you ignored.
 
Hyperborea said:
With all due respect I originally stated that the double space was due to a technical limitation of typewriters and you tried to correct me. I'm done with you. Over and out.
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I don't care about double spaces etc.. However "Over and out" is stupid movie blather.:mad:

In fact in proper communications protocol as originated over military radio communications it is either over or out. Never both, Here is why:

Over, means a reply is needed and expected. Out, means the commo is done no reply is expected and nearly always means the radio is being turned off, pronto.

This should go in my pet peeves.:mad:
 
ls99: "10-4, good buddy"

<running and ducking for cover!>
 
kombat said:
Regarding cursive, I have heard from some teacher friends and relatives that it's being dropped from numerous curriculums. I wonder, then, how this generation and subsequent ones will know how to sign their name to things?
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Because your "legal signature" usually only has to be a mark of some sort. You could put an "X" and it would satisfy the requirement for most places.

I think cursive is pretty much dead and I think there are a lot more things kids could be spending valuable learning time on.

And this thread has some 10-30 going on... :)
 
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JoeWras said:
ls99: "10-4, good buddy"

<running and ducking for cover!>
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No need to duck.:LOL:

CB lingo is fine on CB and in CB context, along with all the standard and invented CB phraseology. Air traffic have their own as well.
 
JoeWras said:
W2R's rant about writing and reading got me thinking about something that WON'T be going away:

swearing​

Actually, maybe the art of discourse is going away. On the internet, many discussions just involve swearing at each other.
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Yeah, what is going away is the ability for folks to have a conversation - written or spoken - withOUT the liberal use of swear words. Certainly it's already gone away for those under a certain age.
 
Speaking of CB radios......they are not all gone..yet. I just bought a Cobra to install in my 1971 VW Super Beetle (aka, the "Pregnant rollerskate"), you know, the one with the air cooled engine, no A/C and a MANUAL TRANSMISSION!

10-10....
 
Curmudgeon said:
Yeah, what is going away is the ability for folks to have a conversation - written or spoken - withOUT the liberal use of swear words.
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Nothing against swear words. They can be very useful, especially if used creatively and sparingly. But as you say, the inability to limit their use to appropriate venues would be unhelpful.

I recognize that times change, language and social norms evolve. When everyone swears in movies, on TV, in school, in business, in church, etc. it won't be a big deal anymore.

What I want to know is, what are they going to say when they stub their toe?

I'd think you'd want to reserve SOME words for "special" occasions.
 
ls99 said:
I don't care about double spaces etc.. However "Over and out" is stupid movie blather.:mad:

In fact in proper communications protocol as originated over military radio communications it is either over or out. Never both, Here is why:

Over, means a reply is needed and expected. Out, means the commo is done no reply is expected and nearly always means the radio is being turned off, pronto.

This should go in my pet peeves.:mad:
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I think I already questioned that....post #183 above. ;)
 
W2R said:
That's all that is required. Now you will not see posts by the person you ignored.
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Yup, I did it immediately after writing my post. I don't want to end up like this.



I'm willing to share my knowledge and 25+ years of professional experience in this matter but if it becomes leading a horse to water or pearls before swine then there's no point.

P.S. If you oldsters or non-tech folks haven't caught on yet, you should read xkcd. It's the Dilbert of the millennials.
 
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