Vitalik Buterin on Warpcast

Vitalik Buterin pfp

Vitalik Buterin

Another linguistics note: Has anyone else noticed how eliding the subject (in this case "I") seems to have become more and more acceptable in English over the last 10 years? Wonder if anyone has written about this trend.

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Thomas pfp

@aviationdoctor.eth

Interestingly, Latin and its closest descendants (Italian, Portuguese, Spanish) make the subject pronoun optional because the conjugation of the verb makes it obvious. In French, which is also quite close to Latin, or English, which borrows ~80% of its words from Latin, pronouns have been non-optional until this trend

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Andrei O. pfp

Like somebody else mentioned I guess this is a function of character limits. From my experience is pretty rare and just because Elon does it doesn't mean it has reached the acceptable status.

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Trish🫧 pfp

I do it. It’s a bad habit. I don’t know where I picked it up but, like passive voice, I try to edit it before sending. Like passive voice, it separates the the individual from the action in some way. I’m both guilty but not proud.

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Ayush pfp

Found this article. Think it’s called “left edge deletion” and is a type of pro-dropping https://slate.com/human-interest/2016/05/all-your-questions-about-pronoun-deletion-and-the-inexorable-death-of-the-universe-answered.html

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binji 🔴 pfp

Imo it’s because of the internet - character limits/low attention spans - linguistic convergence from various languages, cultures, styles converging in one ungoverned place (no defacto spell checks or ‘linguistic style laws’ are imposed on social media vs other writing mediums like academia, newspapers, etc)

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Mac Budkowski ᵏ pfp

Mac Budkowski ᵏ

also writing with lower case only became more popular

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FarcasterMarketing pfp

FarcasterMarketing

@quillingqualia.eth

Will write about it someday. Am busy rn

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gilles pfp

example of how language tends to organically evolve towards the simplest viable form but trajectory is slowed by grammar rules imposed through schooling e.g. German still has grammatical cases (genitive etc.) because rules institutionalized by Luther Bible (1534), while Dutch evolved to work only with prepositions

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Colin Johnson 💭 pfp

Colin Johnson 💭

I have to consciously go back through emails frequently and add in I - sometimes it seems a little too off-hand. Lots of senior folks at Amex/Apple did this to “get to the point” in short emails.

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BKim pfp

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antimo pfp

I did notice When I was writing my book I read several style guides. I learned to keep an eye out for how many sentences begin with "I" (too many) It's a good cue to vary your writing Just removing the "I" is the easy way out 😂

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Matt Garcia pfp

@mattgarcia.eth

all languages evolve towards simplicity plus 'am' leaves no room for doubt that the speaker is 'i' (unlike 'is' and 'are') so it's all quite natural

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Meg pfp

@meganmichelle.eth

I think this mostly applies to first person singular as “are” can get easily confused.

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jamesyoung.eth pfp

language is culture https://twitter.com/relevantmena/status/1688696989150478336?s=46

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Maybe Im Wasabi〽️ pfp

Maybe Im Wasabi〽️

When you exclude “I” it allows the reader to see themselves ie identify with the writing more easily (people love to talk about themselves etc.) It’s a contemporary, subtle, psychological sales tactic.

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chandresh 🪴 pfp

yeah, don't use it either

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tomato tomato tomato pfp

tomato tomato tomato

It sort of seems like a subconscious way of appealing to other people who might feel the same way. By omitting "I", your brain can fill it in with a "we".

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Gabriel Ayuso pfp

@gabrielayuso.eth

I've noticed me doing this more and more often because my phone's keyboard corrects it. Character caps are most likely the cause, at least for me.

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LGHT pfp

from an anecdotal perspective I feel that it integrates into the reader’s comprehension much easier something about differentiating the subject (I means them in this sentence not me) does cause a noticeable pause and sometimes avoidance altogether of reading it

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