Gen Z Adults Don’t Think Spelling, Punctuation Matter

In a new survey, less than 25% of Gen Z’ers over the age of 18 don’t use periods, commas, quotation marks, or pay all that much attention to spelling.

The numbers are similar for proper capitalization. Only 25% of those between the ages of 18 and 24 bother with capitalizing. By comparison, more than 60% of people over age 65 say they are ALWAYS sticklers for correct punctuation, spelling, and capitalization.

The prevailing attitude among Gen Z adults is that, as long as the meaning is conveyed, all that other stuff doesn’t really matter. I would like to illustrate why they are wrong.

Seriously, Mahomes made that edit after people, some of them sincerely, wanted to know what Aaron Rodgers ever did to make Pat hate him so much! Merriam-Webster was supportive. They tweeted “Proud of this edit”.

Here are a few more examples of how a simple dot, squiggle, or mark can change the meaning of a message completely.

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“Let’s eat, Grandma!” becomes a cannibalistic proposal without that comma.

That one is fairly well known. I’ve even seen it on a T-shirt with the message, “Commas Save Lives”.

You may say, “No more examples!” To which I respond, “No, MORE examples!”

See if you can spot the slight difference in these two sentences:

“Ask your mom who’re her greatest influences”

“Ask your mom whore her greatest influences”

See? Subtle, yet crucial.