Is proper grammar really going downhill?

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I noticed on some forum I was reading (not here), about a case where a bus driver is being sued apparently because the children refused to get back on the bus (it had broken down or something and was fixed), so he drove off... In the responses, some were fairly intelligent, but then it started to cease towards the bottom. I noticed it went from poor spelling, to just plain not making sense, lol, and someone said "Not to slur race, but I bet the driver was a female..."

Now, this got me thinking, after people were calling the kids names and such throughout it, that the intelligence level dropped drastically after this guy/girl posted, and it got me wondering...

Are people really getting more careless over time? Is grammar just getting to the point where it doesn't matter how one speaks or what someone knows about basic things? ...or am I just getting more nit picky?

I'm not saying that I speak perfectly or anything, I make all kinds of mistakes, but I catch them fairly quickly normally, and if I don't, and am corrected, I admit it and fix it. But a lot of these people just really don't seem to care, or they become defensive after something of that nature is pointed out. Is that just people being defensive and not wanting to admit they are wrong? Does it just make them feel stupid or something? Why do people not realize these things, or attempt to fix it?

Sorry, lol, somewhat trying to sort it out. It just really doesn't make any sense that these types of things are often overlooked, or will never change. It is almost as if people prefer things to just not make sense, or to sound ridiculous.

Now, if somebody has a good reason for not rewording something, or if they cannot figure it out per say, that is a bit different. It will still bother me a bit, but I will not harp on them for it, because I understand. But a lot of these people really have no good reason, and seem to just prefer not speaking clearly and speaking improperly.

Which leads me, I suppose, to the question of: Is this just something that is going downhill? Or has it always been present, but not in as noticeable instances and in smaller amounts of it?

It has ALWAYS existed, but it IS, obviously, getting WORSE! You KNOW it is bad when people take PRIDE in it and even call it another language, like "ebonics"! Yet they RIDICULE anyone that dares to call them stupid and yell RACISM! BTW THOSE guys, talking in "ebonics", are predominantly black, and DO yell racism. They can be either sex.

Gee, if they want to take pride in their race, and want their own language, let them learn a black one! Oddly, if you said that, and they complied, many might actually pick afrikaans which is ACTUALLY a dutch dialect!

Of course, I realize others, even whites, do the same, but most whites apparently don't go out of their way to do it, and abonics was just the latest most common example I could think of. In lousiana they have creole which is a mix of pidgins. That has BECOME a prideful thing, to a degree, but apparently developed that way. Even danish and dutch bear a STRONG resemblance to german. You can almost see the evolution of things.

When people were saying stupid things in a locker room or bar, they were the only ones to hear it. Now it goes on the internet and is archived and indexed for everyone. So we get to see their idiot thoughts, bad spelling, atrocious grammar and all.

I think it is a matter of carelessness. In the old days, sending a letter to someone meant that it was worth thinking about what would be written and how it was presented. Today, you can email or text almost anyone anything.

Good writers are generally made, not born. It takes work, it takes time, it takes caring about it.

lol, exactly-it is very much a pride thing. Sorry to disagree though, lol, I see whites do it almost MORE in my area o.O No offense meant to anyone, but usually when I see somebody of a different race, if they are corrected, they will at least acknowledge that what they said is incorrect (when compared to what is considered proper), even if they continue it anyway. That doesn't bother me so much just because they KNOW, and acknowledge it. So they say "well, that is just how I talk-that's just me". They don't get as defensive.

Now, a lot of whites (where I'm at) have this chip on their shoulder that their language was the "right" one to begin with. Get this one... I saw a lady ARGUING that HICK is a language, but TRAILOR TRASH is NOT. How the heck does that argument even make sense??? lol. She argued for a long time over this one, and when she conceded that it was not a language, she decided it was an ACCENT (which I suppose she stated in an attempt to make it non-debatable). I finally had to tell her, "I'm sorry, but an accent isn't a blatant misuse of words altogether." She still argued, though... lol. This happens a lot with them in my area-the whites are definitely more defensive where I'm at.

I'm noticing it too. Since the advent of MSN, people feel the need to type everything in abbreviations, or shortening words down from five letters to four. As if typing one letter makes a difference. If it was a huge long word, or words like ASAP (though I'd prefer the Latin equivalent because even in abbreviations, it's only two letters) I could understand, but words like "are" and "you" don't really need to be shortened much; they're already short enough as it is. I'll never understand why people are so irrational. I particularly hate when abbreviations or "misspellings" are done to such a point that I cannot even read the message. Talk about abuse of abbreviations.

wonder has it got something to do with the less respect? manners? people have for others these days.
common things heard here [due to the large scally/chav presense] are- "ee arrrh,can yoh get us some fags/alcohol from the shop","whatevoh", "innit yo","are yoh startin" and so on,it seems to be accepted under the term 'street talk'.

This is how languages naturally change and evolve over time. Otherwise, we would still be speaking the language of the ancient Saxons who invaded England some 1600 years ago.

I don't think its so much that proper grammar is going down hill, but that the number of people who don't use it is going up.