More Machine Poems

For more information on what this is all about, see this post.

そ (‘so’)

Say it is right or wrong.

Purely it is right.

Say it is right or wrong.

Purely it is right.

Let it go

ぽ (‘po’)

Poppupanko

Besides, it is popular

There is a mileage in the midst of a milestone in the midst of a morning rain.

There is a mileage in the morning of the morning less than a milky woman’s pocket.

There is a mileage in the morning and there is no doubt that it will be pleasing.

Momentary inquiries and comments are made in the following items: Poppokoppokupokupokupokupokupokupokupokupokupokupokupokupokupappapopohoketsuporupupoketsuporupupokupoko popo

POP as a missing amount in the magazine.

もっと (more)

More and still more, yet more, still more, still more and more, still more, still more, more particularly, still more even more

More and more, still more, still more, yet more, still more, yet more, still more, still more, more still more, more still more still more very yet, still more yet more yet more yet more yet more far more still more

still more even more still more still more still more still more still more still more still more still more still more still more still more still more

かち (value)

Crack-tickle

It is luxurious and ludicrous

Lovingly loud and hugely lively and ludicrostack

Lovingly luxuriously shreding

It’s lonely tough but it is a lucky shit

Make a luck break / a break / a break / a break / a break / a break / a lump / a break

Make a Butterfly Butt

Bust a Butt Bust a Big Butter Bust a Butter Bust a Butter Bust a Butter Bust a Butter Bust a Butter Bust a Big Butter a Bust a Bust a Big

Learn from a laptop

Make a break

Learn from a crowd

Tick-tock tick-tock

Make a lucky shit

I do not know what I’m talking about

えか (flavor)

Do you have to replace it?

It may be necessary to replace it and / or to change it and / or / / to change / / / / / / / / to go back and /

/ / / / / / / / change / change / / / / /

You may have to use a different one to change it, it’s changing, it’s changing, it’s changing, it’s changing, it’s changing, it’s changing, it’s changing, it’s changing, it’s changing, it’s changing, it’s changing, it’s changing, it’s alright –

Take a return of yourself

it will have to be changed, and it will not change, it will not change, it’s altered, it’s altered

You may have to replace it and / or change it instead / / / / / / / change / change / / / / / / / you / / / / / / you have to change / change / / / / / / / you change / / / /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////.

Malaprops

I have no high horse to mount when I criticize other people’s grammar. There is no grammatical sin I have not committed, usually in the middle of a cover letter or some other important document. So this isn’t an indictment. “I am not commenting, merely pointing to a fact,” as Orwell might have said.

As part of my research into the recent past, I’ve visited a lot of old archived webpages. Believe it or not, people’s spelling and grammar was better back then than it is now. People writing on the internet, anyway. It wasn’t perfect, but it’s noticeably better on average.

In 2016, I see a lot of malaprops (or malapropisms), even in news articles on mainstream websites. It’s become especially noticeable to me in the last year or so. Here are some examples off the top of my head:

  • Writing “of” instead of “have,” e.g. “I would of called him, but I forgot.” This is exceedingly common now.
  • Lots of malaprops involving figures of speech, e.g. “Sharpest knife in the draw” (drawer).
  • Three-or-more-syllable words with similar meanings getting confused, e.g. “accessive” for “excessive.”

I’m sure you can find a page from 2003 that has one or more of these malaprops on it––but they are much more common today, even on mainstream news and commentary websites.

What’s going on here? Am I imagining this trend? Has anyone done a high-level analysis of grammar on the internet and how it changes over time? I’d appreciate any linguist who could give me insight into what’s happening (or not happening) in this case.

Photo by Tony Webster, CC-BY-2.0.