Why do so many people incorrectly write/say "PROLLY," instead of the proper/correct "PROBABLY?" Are they lazy, or do they have a speech impediment that prevents the correct pronunciation from being used?
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Anonymous
ANSWERS: 21
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For the same reason some states let kids put the age of the earth as 6000 years on tests. Laziness and ignorance are "rights" anymore.
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Yes they prolly have a speech impediment that prevents them from typing the whole word.
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That may be the way they were taught...I've heard people say "probly" and I have even been taunted when I said "probably"...they seriously didn't know that was correct! I had to bust out the dictionary!
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I'm sure I say "prolly" a lot. It's one of countless words in the English language that are liasoned to make speech easier. In fact, it's one of the countless words in the world that are liasoned to make speech easier. Nobody says, "That's it." We say "That-sit." Now, the writing side - that's just people being lazy. We're in a world of txtspk now and that's just the way it is. Go read Orwell's 1984 and check out Newspeak. Doubleplusgood is now just 2x+good. . As a final note: quit whining!
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I'm guilty when writing to friends. It is not done intentionally to annoy in my case.
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i say prob when im being fast its txt talk with me sometimes at school i use txt words in essays or stories and have to go back and fix it and sometimes i do it on here 2. =P
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I say "probly", but then again I'm from the South... so I say "yonder", and "ya'll" as well... It's not laziness, or a speech impediment, or stupidity or whatever else you would like to think... It's just how some people were raised to talk.
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Probably put it down to slang or local dialect maybe. It could of been worse, because people could of been using "could of" instead of "could've", man that really gets on my wick.
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It's slang, and not a bad one at that. It isn't that probably has a word so similar to it that its spelling is necessary. Prolly is handy in speech. This is how the language changes. If prolly edges out probably, then it was needed. If not it's slang, and a cut one at that.
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Actually, my word is usually "prob". (lol) Yeah, it is laziness. I admit it. I do write the word out if it is in a serious comment, though.
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Don't axe me.
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I say prolly all the time. In fact I also say alla instead of all the, as well. I'm also responsible for plenty of other word mutilation. (Cuz instead of because, Imma instead of I'm going to, or gonna, which is already a shortened version of I'm going to, so me using a shortened version of an already shortened version is even worse, but hey, sue me.) I don't have a speech impediment, I do believe that, while my grammar may suffer slightly, my spelling in English is nearly perfect, way better than my French which is my first language, so that's pretty sad. And even if my English did suck, I would use Spellcheck, which I often make use of for words that confuse me. I'm also lazy. Too lazy to come up with a better excuse than the above, anyways. If people don't like it, that's fine. I sure as hell ain't the only one mutilating the English language on the Internet, anyways.
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I think they are yanking your chain Mensan, pure and simple. Most people know better and if they were in school or at work things would be different. Here, well, "anything" goes! Just my opinion. I'm prolly rong. :(
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In informal speaking, I usually say "probly." But I know the difference and when it is and isn't acceptable. An English professor of mine used to say "You must demonstrate that you have learned the rules before you can earn the right to break them." In most of my writing, when doing public speaking, or conversing with customers, etc, I "probably" speak with a higher degree of formality than when I jus be rappin wid ma peeps.
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I just think they're "uneducated"!
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Prolly the same reason they say 'Wensday' and 'Vetinary'.
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They are parroting the pidginization of a certain word in exactly the way they have come up hearing it. Through education they learn that the way they have heard it is incorrect. If they lack education, or lack respect for education, or do not heed their lessons of education, then they continue the misuse.
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prolly cuz they just want to , feel like it...but i would wager most who use 'improper' spellings and language ...know proper/correct better than most who claim to be so correct and proper....its a shortcut ,laziness for you obviously....but one gets the meaning anyways....shalom....
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I use it occasionally, especially when texting. I am not lazy nor do I have a speech impediment nor am I uneducated. I speak proper English when necessary..pronouncing/enunciating all my words. When I am chatting with friends, I don't really feel the need to refrain from shortening my words or using slang.
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I think it comes out of the whole language teaching theories of the last twenty years or so. Kids were taught to spell by spelling things the way they sound, which doesn't always arrive at correct spelling. In some cases it doesn't arrive at correct spelling because a word is derived from another language with totally different spelling rules, like through or though and sometimes it doesn't get there because we tend to pronounce the word sloppily, like probably. Whole language was a pretty useless theory, but it sounded good to schools trying to raise test scores quickly and not wanting to do the necessary work to give kids a sound foundation and it probably made some university professors a lot of money in textbook sales.
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So far I have never had anyone write me and use "prolly". I would think they were a few cards short of a deck, lazy,foreign or an alien.
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