Rick yer neither dumb nor a red-neck. Well, not that I've ever actually seen your neck. But anyway, yer as intelligent as anyone here and one of the most level headed folks to grace this forum.

As you implied, education doesn’t make one a better person. It only provides tools, and for some, a sense of personal fulfillment. How one uses the tools taught in school are far more a reflection of the nature of the person than of the quality of, or depth of their education....

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...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"

Thanks,Tracy.
I agree with what ya say, though. It's not really the level of education in the big picture. I'm all for getting all you can, but I've gotten along just fine without a collage degree. Only thing I may have gained was a faster start in life, and a little more $$ now. I actually had a chance, though. My dad always told me he'd pay for any and all collage I wanted to take, but dinked around too much and didn't take advantage of it. I went to a few classes over the span of a couple years, but never finished. I don't think he ever forgave me for that. I do plan on someday going back, whenever I can get my cost of living down far enough, ect, ect.

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past MB rides:
'68 220D
'68 220D(another one)
'67 230
'84 SD
Current rides:
'06 Lexus RX330
'93 Ford F-250
'96 Corvette
'99 Polaris 700 RMK sled
2011 Polaris Assault
'86 Yamaha TT350(good 'ol thumper)

Whatever answer you give, it's not provable, so any answer is correct. I say 99.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

...wow, on the radio you say? Well then it must be true, especially if unhappy listeners are calling in to AM radio to vent their true stories Liberal abuse and academic malfeasance. Good lord, we may just have an epidemic on our hands.

I know I shouldn't be responding to this dinosaur and thereby hijacking the thread, my apologies to the forum.

The fact that you put so much of an emphasis on what others perceive you to be sickens me. I don't care what your first impression of me is (will be) because it does not change who I am. You were brought up in an archaic authoritarian era where everyone had to be "the same only better" than everyone else. Give me a break. I have friends who didn't graduate from high school and can barely write at all, let alone well, that are the best at what they do.

Grammar does not equal intelligence, and does not have a bearing on who you are. Nor does math, botany, politics, religion........

Paul X.
Spell checked for your approval

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Pxland

2001 Honda Accord

1995 Jeep Cherokee

1973 MB 280SEL 4.5

Well, I told myself I would bow out, but now I am really intriqued, by this last post.

"You were brought up in an archaic authoritarian era where everyone had to be "the same only better" than everyone else. " Huh?

I guess you are assuming that I am like 75 years old. Ever heard of the 60's and 70's, as in Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll? Hardly what I would call authoritarian, more like anti-authoritarian. It's a generational thing.
When you are 16 - 25, you know everything. The older people are screwed up and you will never end up like them. "Hey Man" and "Cool" have now become "Wazzup Dude" and "Ya Know What I'm Sayin".

Eventually, however, you will, hopefully, start to realize that some of the pleasures in life require money. You have to decide where you want to be on the economic scale. No high school diploma? Can't write a sentence? If that's the choice, then welcome to being poor. Of course there are exceptions, but generally income increases with education.

So if you are correct, and nothing really matters but who you are, then how exactly do you explain all of the things you take for granted. For instance, do you think your Mercedes was conceived and manufactured by people that couldn't do mathematics or read and write? When you stop in a McDonald's for lunch, do you think their system of running their restaurants is a just dumb luck? Did that airliner overhead just appear by magic, or did a bunch of very smart educated people accomplish that? Are you aware that many companies test applicants for mathematics and computer skills?

Some posters to this thread, have concluded that I am an arrogant holier than thou' old fart that made critical comments to feather his own nest. Remember that the guy going back to school, specifically asked for advice. I gave my honest advice. If he doesn't like the advice, it should be no big deal.
It was not personal. I'm a businessman. Business is not personal.

Finally, I can't resist explaining that I often work on the Factory floor, with people that have difficulty writing numbers,writing words, and often don't speaking very much English. Rather late in life, I taught myself database programming. I developed, and market a software application that runs manufacturing plants. I take great satisfaction in helping people overcome their fear of computers and learning how to use my system. This often means hours of handle holding ( not literally ), showing people that they can do it. After they get it, their chests sort of puff out and they are proud. There's nothing better than seeing them conquer their fear.



Steve

since feeling is first - e.e. cummings

first off, steve, I really should thank you for your input, which is much appreciated. however, I must say I did not appreciate your judgement. (notice that I did not say advice.) my retort was merely an attempt to clarify rather than done out of spite. okay, having said that, what the heck are you talking about? what is this thing about life, jobs, handshakes, paychecks, laziness, about first impressions?

I think many of us here, including myself, understand the importance of first impressions as they relate to job prospecting, professional networking, and being taken seriously. but come on, you are going off on a tangent; we are talking about communication in a casual online forum. I don't think I need to be lectured on the lessons of life, although that is appreciated and thoughtful of you. really, you are talking about a topic that is irrelevant to what I've said, remotely related at best. my casual use of the english language and my laxed application of proper capitalization has nothing to do with me not caring or being lazy, or not knowing what is right and proper. you missed the whole point of my argument.

no one ever said poor grammar was acceptable or excusable (in certain situations). proper grammar is and will always be important, same goes for punctuation and capitalization.

tkamiya, you are making a gross generalization here about english-speaking people talking lowly of foreigners. and I think you may also have misunderstood me. I was not talking about real-world situations; the focus was more on online communication and other forms of casual discourse online and in real life. I don't make any judgements on anyone just by how they type online--that's preposterous. I dunno who said that.

one last thing. this talk about "dumbing down" things and this mention of math. I've heard this comparison before, and it's not a good one. math and language are very different. the study of math lies in the search for absolutes, solutions that do not and cannot change. well, maybe there are some areas of math that don't have absolute answers, but you get the idea. language, on the other hand, is not as rigid as math mainly because language will always change. what is deemed correct today may be considered incorrect and unacceptable by a later generation. math is a completely different concept; a x b will always equal c, nothing will ever change that. so, no, 2 x 4 can never equal whatever we want it to be. on the other hand, the expressions "wazzzup, " "'sup, " "what's up, " and "hello, what have you been up to lately" all mean pretty much the same thing. whichever we choose to say depends on what discourse community we are in. "wazzzzup" is not by any means proper english or good spelling, but just because we wouldn't say it to our boss doesn't mean it's wrong as a means of communication (and personal expression), or dumb for that matter. its meaning is clear to those who understand it. the equation 2 x 4 =5 is wrong and will never be okay just because math is grounded on rigid principles and rules. language is very flexible. please do not apply this to some "getting a job" situation because I understand the importance of what not to say and what to say and how to say it when the situatuion calls for it.

)

You sure you need to go back to school Frosty? Y'all sound purty durn smart t'us hicks.

I went back to school as a hobby a couple of years ago due to the fact that the company I worked for was paying for it. I learned that things have changed a little. As I have stated in another thread "discussion" type classes are all the rage nowadays. Don't expect to be able to sit in a class and learn from a teacher as these sorts of things just aren't done anymore. These classes infuriated me, you may like them. They seem to always degenerate into whiny liberals *****ing about "the system".

Good luck, tell Betty-no-shave I said hi.

Paul X.

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Pxland

2001 Honda Accord

1995 Jeep Cherokee

1973 MB 280SEL 4.5

Are you sure about this? My drycleaner is pretty f'ing ugly but he still charges me $2.00 to clean my shirt.

I've never heard you speak but you write very well. Maybe the fact that you have worked so hard to speak so well has you a little over sensitive to our right to mis-use language however we see fit.

Personally I am impressed with anyone who can learn a second language, especially after the age of ten. I am trying to do it and gaining very little ground.

Paul X.

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Pxland

2001 Honda Accord

1995 Jeep Cherokee

1973 MB 280SEL 4.5

Frosty, not all of what I said was aimed at you. I was going to stop until the post that implied that the only thing that mattered was who you are.

In my opinion, if a person knows how to write correctly, then they should do so whether they are on-line or off-line. If they don't then the lazy style will creep in to the off-line style. This will negatively affect how people perceive the writer.

Finally, I think that a large part of the problem, with caps at least, is because people don't know how to type. I am only basing this only on my own experience with my customers. If you are typing with two fingers, then using the shift key is pretty tough. That might be an interesting question to ask.

How many are hunt and peck versus traditional typing?

Steve

Its not too hard in the right situation.....I speak two languages fluently.(english and Italian)..and two not very fluently but enough to get by..(french and Spanish).....

I can only write in one of those...(english) but can read in three others.

I the second language I learned without and schooling in it..which is why I never learned to write it. One of the not so fluent ones I had in Highschool.(french).and the other I can read fairly well and understand it but have trouble answering it (spanish).

True the situation is very important in learning the language and for me the classroom is the hardest way to pick it up. Total imersion is the easiest and fastest method

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Tkamiya,

I agree with you. The worst offenders are Sportscasters. Of course, most of them were jocks. Jocks are not exactly known for being the best students.

When I hear the golf announcers say, "He hit that shot awesome", or "Today she played excellent", it makes me cringe. Apparently, these mistakes are not a problem to the audience or the producers.

With regard to printed media, part of the problem is simply that with instantaneous communication, there is no editing process. These errors are more easily accepted because they are primarily just typos.

Steve

I think it bothers me more when people just say (or write) stupid things. The content is what matters.

It's obvious that your communication skills will be judged by people. How you communicate is important, in all aspects of your life. I just wish the self righteous wouldn't be such dicks about it. It's obvious that everyone here has gone far enough in life and are able to form words by pushing these little buttons. Leave the rest alone.

Don't switch from the grammer cowboy to the keyboarding 101 ranger.
Paul X.

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Pxland

2001 Honda Accord

1995 Jeep Cherokee

1973 MB 280SEL 4.5

You are absolutely wrong. The axiom of multiplicity, or axiom of choice, or whatever you want to call it, is not provable. 2x2=4 is true only by definition, it is not an obvious truth like 1+1=2.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman