Re: OT-ish: txt - Could it replace Standard Written English?

Isaac Penzev scripsit:

> <friendly sarcasm> You guys are indeed barbarians there in the West! Long
> live prescriptivism! </friendly sarcasm>.
My dear Snakie, don't forget who we are:

        ... your tired, your poor,
        Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
        The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
                --Emma Lazarus, _The New Colossus_

The fact that some of us purport to stand on our hind legs and spout
learning of any sort is nothing short of amazing.

(The full poem, which is inscribed on the Statue of Liberty in New York
Harbor, is at http://www.soros.org/emma/html/colossus.html ; the
"twin cities" mentioned are New York and Brooklyn, which at the time were
separate.)

--
John Cowan           http://www.ccil.org/~cowan              cowan@ccil.org
To say that Bilbo's breath was taken away is no description at all.  There
are no words left to express his staggerment, since Men changed the language
that they learned of elves in the days when all the world was wonderful.
        --_The Hobbit_

Reply