Jeff writes:
> Actually, the profileration of spell-check and grammar checkers *is* the
> excuse.  That's because they are part of the cause of the problem in the
> same way that the proliferation of calculators (and to my horror when my
> children were in elementary school a required school supply!) has lead to
> no one under 30 seeming to be able to do basic arithmetic anymore.

Actually any reasonable use of a spell checker will actually *teach* you to
spell, since every time you misspell a word you will be presented with the
correct spelling and asked to approve it.  I don't know about you, but my
spell checker has taught me to spell a number of words that I used to get
wrong.

In regard to the earlier comment by somebody about the unintelligibility of
"IRC" and "instant chat" dialog, I don't think such communication isn't the
same thing as a poorly written email message.  When one user writes an email
message or usenet post in an unconventional style, then they are violating
the community standards and may be considered "wrong", but when an entire
community of users starts communicating with each other like this, then they
are actually creating a new "language" (or dialect or something like that).

When in Rome...

G.