> What's happened to you is something I like to call "Samatization." Basically your vocabulary is morphing to match Sam's. It's happening to me too. It's happening to all of us.
>
> A year ago, I never used the words "rules" "ruling" "gah" or "suck". Samatization has changed all that. Now my vocabulary has broadened! I can say GAH!, even in all-caps like I did just now! That just RULES so much it's beyond my comprehension! But what really s- s- s- GAH, stinks is that I still can't bring myself to actually use the word "suck" in a sentence. The standards I was raised by are just too difficult to overcome.
>
> Gri"Dorc"shny

I realised soon after starting this thread that it implies some pretty rude and nasty criticism of the people here I talk to most, and Grishny has pointed to that too. I'm sorry; I didn't mean it like that. I was surprised by how *much* my writing style has changed since I've been a regular here, not specifically by *what* it has changed to.

On re-reading my original post, I worked out the main reason I was irritated -- it's because this *isn't* the way I talk in person, and I like to be exactly the same in chat or on the forum as I am in person. Nothing else makes any sense to me.

I'm sure I've caught the *speech* habits of my friends in person before, but I never knew people online before this, so there was never that difference between my conversational speaking and conversational writing. Now that I've worked that out, it all makes a lot more sense, so I'll stop worrying about it.

Brunnen-"apologies to anyone I offended"G