Acronyms

The other day I made a comment on another blog about the lack of grammatical / spelling aptitudes in writing today. The writer of the blog had recently read an article by CNN where the author had used bare instead of bear in regards to the recent SCOTUS decision on gun ownership in Washington DC. My view is that people are entirely too dependent on grammar and spell check (especially when using Microsoft office products). These products do have the practical application of correcting basic errors but do nothing in regards to context of the writing.

Naturally, this lead to a discussion of where writing is going in America. My problem is that too many students today, thanks to internet chat speak and a lack of emphasis in the grade/high schools on grammar, do not have a competency in this particular area. Many college writing instructors/writing lab attendants as well people like me who have read papers from incoming freshmen report the necessity to review these basic skills. In addition, there seems to be a prevalence to write in chat speak either in the note taking (and in some cases in assignments). This has lead me to question the beginnings of chat speak, anthropologically speaking.

Some argue that chat speak is a natural progression from the early days of BBSes (and I am assuming that is how BBS would be made into a plural) and the early days of hackers such as Masters of Deception. My question: Is that the true beginning of chat speak or is the military use of acronyms the true harbinger of chat speak. When I was in high school, there were few acronyms used amongst high schoolers although my home life (being a military brat) was filled with acronyms. Words like SitRep, AWOL, SOP, etc. I've also noticed that certain acronyms have made the jump from the military world to the corporate world. For example: SOP has become almost common place to describe the operating procedures of almost any business. Additionally, television shows such as JAG and movies like Renaissance Man and Good Morning Vietnam have all "promoted" (wrong word but I am not sure what the right word is) this shortened writing/speech style of inserting acronyms into sentences.

So any thoughts?

Infixes

This post is probably going to bore the socks off of anyone who reads it but oh, well. As the subject line clearly states this is about infixes and their use in the English Language. The English Language does not use an infix (a word inserted into the middle of a word much like a prefix or suffix) the way other languages like Arabic do. In fact, there is only a few cases where I personally know of an infix being used in English. And all of these cases use some sort of swear word/derogation. In the case of Shinzwani, an infix is inserted to express self reflection. In English we have terms like abso-f*cking-lutely, or abso-bloody-lutely. What does this say about English? Are infixes just not a concern? Or do we only use them to emphasize something? And then why are we only using derogatory infixes?

Hmmm, something to think about. If you have any other infixes, please add them to my comments. I would like also like to hear if those of you who are living in English speaking countries outside of the US have any others as well (Hint, Hint.)