By: bota on 8/26/12
Great column Mike! Coupled with the number of Tennesseans who can't read above the third grade level, soon the number who can't write will catch up, thus creating a portion of the population that will be nearly funtional illiterates. Social networking contributes to this because "Tweets" and Fa(r)ceBook postings are not graded on anything much. The tweets today are like the twixes back in the fortys when brevity bred a language of its own,ie: U r 2 qT. A Bable of the time.

By: KevinHalpern on 8/26/12
Since it no longer appears to be an emphasis of the educational system, parents should encourage their kids to practice writing by hand. Schools are teaching them "keyboarding."

By: songwriterdad on 8/27/12
the written word may take a little longer but is more thought invoking. I've tried a journal in both, and the written one is much more personal. Great article Mr.Vinson

By: Daddy on 8/29/12
Mr. Vinson, this was yet again another thought provoking article.

Indeed, with today’s societal computer geeksters, “desiring” instant gratification and results—onomatopoetically narcissistic brats, if you will—have all but destroyed the manually trained, tangible society that I grew up in, a time when penmanship was practiced and honed, and then later, judged accordingly. It was a time when typing was taught in the proper and artistic way, from a manual typewriter, where one has a home row of keys, called so because it is where ones eight fingers rest when not typing. The rest fell elegantly into place once you learned the home keys (a, s, d, f and j, k, l, ;). The two-finger method is not elegant; and frankly, annoying to observe.

I feel fortunate to have been trained the correct way, the original way, in the art of penmanship and typesetting.

Babel and “babble” are the perfect, elegant examples of homophones. Furthermore, there is a lighthearted sense of sarcasm attached to the way you represented your case, Mike.

I smiled, slowly, I might add, as I read the end of your article. Great writing!