Here, in its entirety, are two actual message received yesterday from two fine, young-adult scholars.
QUOTE
My name is Kistie [sic; family name removed] and i [sic] was supposed to participate in the 2:30 experiment on attitudes toward differet [sic] people. My class ran long and I was late. I was wondering how many credits I will lose since I didnt [sic] not [sic] take part? [sic] Thank you [sic]
QUOTE
Hello [sic] my name is [name withheld] and i [sic] signed up for your research experiment tomorrow but i [sic] accidentally signed up twice and just noticed [sic] so i [sic] cancelled one of them for 9:30 but i [sic] will still be attending the one at 10:00 [sic] please do not minus [sic] any of my credits it [sic] was a stupid mistake. Thankyou, [sic] [name withheld]
You should have witnessed the rolling of eyes, the gnashing of teeth, the utterance of expletives.
Fondly, I thought of the Awful Waffle,
one of the last living proofs
that we once lived in a world
that was civilized and — you know — articulate.