>Chris, nobody would beat you up for trying to improve himself. Having a few
>weaknesses is one thing. Defending them is another. Blaming someone else
>for you having them is worse yet.
I'm not trying to defend lazy writing skills. I'm not directly trying to
blame others either (although, I think a chunk of initial poor writing
skills of any kind can be pinned back to improper or poor education. You
can't fault the student, if the teachers failed to teach the right thing).
>I'll repeat: Make it easy for them to see what you mean in what you write by
>taking a little extra care. It's important. Learn to do it well.
I agree 100%... but do you mean to say that EVERYONE that uses email has
an IQ over 120, and can be expected to master writing skills? Granted,
chances are if you are on THIS list, you might be above average, but I am
talking more in general (as I am sure some of the correction offenders do
this in more places than here)
>It's never too late to improve, but YOU have to do it, else it won't happen.
No, it isn't too late, but there comes a time when improvement will stop,
because a person can do no better. Or, improvement will stop, because the
person logically chooses to attempt to do no better, because they have
achieved a level that is "good enough", and their time can be better
spent on other things. (ie: read Strunk and White, or better your job
skills)
I am not trying to defend myself, or say that any of this is about me. I
want to make that clear... other than poor spelling, I am unaware of any
serious language infractions I have ever committed on this list... and
when writing anything other than email, I personally rely heavily on
spell and grammar checkers... specifically to avoid having my writing
make me seem like an ass... I want the honor of making me an ass to be
totally on WHAT I write, not HOW I write.
I just want some of the hard core language nazi's to realize that
sometimes, they should just let it go. If you can't understand what was
written, delete it, ignore it, whatever. Friendly constructive criticism
is fine... but do it in jest, don't be a dick about it (this isn't saying
YOU are a dick about it, no pun intended Richard, just in general, PEOPLE
should not make federal crimes out of it... well, at least not until it
has spun so badly off topic that it has become interesting and fun in it
own right, like this thread).
So if you can't understand it because it is so poorly written, you might
be better off just ignoring it or deleting it. And if you are the person
that wrote that way, and no one responds, maybe you should consider
following more traditional writing styles, and check your grammar and
spelling. And for those that can't do that (English, or the language of
the group, is not their first language, and their skills in general are
poor), they should mention that up front.
I just don't think highly of people that quote an email specifically to
point out writing errors in it. It has never convinced me of anything
except that the quote corrector is an arrogant self righteous a-hole.
However, if they were to be friendly about it, and do the correction in a
tongue in cheek manner, then the original author would get the idea they
should be more careful (and probably learn a few things), and the
corrector would come off as being more friendly.
-chris
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Received on Fri Jan 04 2002 - 22:04:05 GMT