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BlooInBloo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-11-09 07:14 PM
Original message
"How To Write Like A Wanker"...
Too precious to not share. Much more at the link.

http://www.guidenet.net/resources/wanker.html

No matter what Flash-blinded web monkeys would have us believe, the Internet is a text-based medium: especially its major discussion forums (IRC and Usenet) where people from all over the world can interact and share information. A popular misconception about text messages on the Internet is that, to be an effective communicator and earn the respect and admiration of your peers, you must be able to write lucid prose; that your messages, articles, posts and pages must be easy to understand and pleasant to read.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Popular sites filled with cutting-edge Internet cognoscenti (such as Slashdot and ShackNews) give the lie to this harmful and destructive myth: they are brimming with horrific grammar, atrocious spelling, gratuitous abbreviation and childish, arrogant attitude. To be "in" on the net, you must write like a wanker.

1. Structure.
Just as every house needs a foundation, every brilliantly immature net text is built on a strong structure of ignorance, sloth, and mindless misguided belligerence. You cannot afford to ignore this section.

Don't capitalize.
Hey, if it made e.e. cummings look like a visionary, surely it'll do the same for you, right? Wrong. It makes you look like a lazy fuckwit. (Unless you demonstrate that you can use the shift key: for instance, by using characters that demand it, like double quotes. Then it makes you look like a pretentious fuckwit.) Even if you somehow manage to pull off the no-caps style with grace and flair, the best impression you will make is that of a fuckwit admirer of e.e. cummings. That puts you one up on ninety-eight percent of the Internet, but you're still a fuckwit.

Don't punctuate.
Sorry, that should be "Dont punctuate". Skipping out on important punctuation---apostrophes especially---is an effective way of letting the reader know that you can't be arsed to write properly. This gives you an opportunity to annoy your reader with poorly emphasized, amorphous run-on sentences. If you want to write like a wanker, you must take every chance to annoy your reader.

Apostrophes are fairly easy to deal with---just skip them entirely--- but hyphens are problematic. You might use spaces instead ("African-American" becomes "African American"), but this runs the risk of correctness (many people would accept "African American" as proper usage). Unfortunately, you run the same risk by simply omitting the hyphen ("e-mail" becomes "email"). Unless you're trying to come across as a pretentious wanker (see "Don't capitalize", above), you're probably better off avoiding hyphenated words, and going with whatever looks least intelligent ("africanamerican", "e mail") when it's unavoidable.

Mispunctuate.
Fucking up your punctuation is a conservative but effective way of exposing yourself as a retard in front of the Internet.

1. Pluralize with Apostrophes.
"Pluralize with Apostrophe's." This one small tactic is guaranteed to annoy anyone with even a passing knowledge of proper grammar. With a single keystroke, you demonstrate that you're completely incapable of handling the simplest rule of the English language, and reduce your more capable comrades to fits of mute frustration at your wilful idiocy.

2. Overuse Mutated Ellipses.
Never use a comma, a dash, a (semi)colon, or a period. If you absolutely must punctuate---to end what would otherwise pass for a sentence, for instance---toss in either two, or four (or more) dots as an "ellipsis". This will come across as lazy, gutless, and flippant all at once: pure wanker.

3. Overuse Exclamation and Question Marks.
Nothing shows your reader how serious you are better than five or six exclamation marks at the end of a sentence. Nothing will make your TA answer your question more quickly than a string of question marks. Bonus points for mixing the two in a question you really want answered. Extra bonus points for stuffing three or four exclamation marks into the middle of a sentence. If anything that should have been an exclamation mark actually comes out as the numeral '1', you can be sure that your reader thinks you are a wanker.

4. Star Out Offensive Language.
Because calling her a 'cunt' would be rude, but calling her a 'c*nt' is perfectly acceptable.
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MineralMan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-11-09 07:23 PM
Response to Original message
1. How To Wank Like A Writer
No, I won't go there...but it did suggest itself.
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BlooInBloo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-11-09 07:24 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. hahahaha! Can't believe I didn't think of that myself. Must have been too busy.....
writing.

:P
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mix Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-11-09 07:24 PM
Response to Original message
3. guilty as the day is long n/t
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MADem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-11-09 07:26 PM
Response to Original message
4. omg!!!!! that is.....so.... f*cking funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!! isnt it??????? you guy's???? nt
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Mari333 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-11-09 07:27 PM
Response to Original message
5. i am a lazy former english major. nt
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MineralMan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-11-09 07:29 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. Aren't we all?
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rrneck Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-11-09 07:31 PM
Response to Original message
7. Heh.
Busted as hell.

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annabanana Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-11-09 07:32 PM
Response to Original message
8. probly me. . n/t
Edited on Sat Apr-11-09 07:33 PM by annabanana
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BlooInBloo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-11-09 07:34 PM
Response to Reply #8
9. srsly right?
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ixion Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-11-09 09:57 PM
Response to Original message
10. "Nothing shows your reader how serious you are
better than five or six exclamation marks at the end of a sentence."


That's so true!!!!!! I'm SERIES!111!1

:rofl:
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