I've started a new blog called "Business and/or Politics". It can be found at bpravingvoices.blogspot.com. If I post on either blog I will mention it on the other.
This is me trying to follow some advice I've received about this blog and my writing style.
On to the actual post:
My teen daughter sent me a text once and misspelled a word. When I told her she said that it doesn't matter in a text. I so beg to differ.
In a text or email we can only use the thirty odd symbols of punctuation and letters. Therefore we must endeavor to be as accurate as possible so as to reduce any ambiguity to what we mean to say. Our species evolved speech in conjunction with body language so if we don't have the other clues we must strive for better writing. Consider the writing of some authors, they are so good with words that you can almost see/hear/smell/taste and feel what they are describing. Compare the good with the bad who use sentences like: "She had red hair like she was Irish."
It's also very difficult to use sarcasm or humor in written form without using puns or flat out telling the person it's a joke or sarcasm. Our various senses help us communicate better and make the language experience so much richer.
On the practical side when someone does something enough times it becomes a habit, a habit they will probably use when they are writing something where spelling and grammar count. It doesn't matter how smart you are, how many degrees you have, or how much money you make; if you don't know the difference between you're/your, there/their/they're (etc.), spelling (I know English is the hardest language to spell, deal with it), capitalization rules, and basic rules on syntax and grammar then you will look like an idiot. This daughter will send a text to a friend saying "wat u want 2 do" this young lady also wants to go into the army and use that experience to be a heart surgeon. Consider her spelling like that in a performance review for a subordinate in the army or writing her thesis paper to get into a better university (she wants to go to Yale).
Some people say that the schools won't let this happen, I beg to differ. My wife was born in the mid 80's and was taught to spell "through" differently than I was taught. She spelled it "thru" and didn't know that was wrong until in the police academy they told her how wrong that was.
Some people say that if the language changes it doesn't matter, languages always evolve. True, languages do evolve. It's up to us to make sure they evolve in a way that can be used by anyone, not just by someone that doesn't know or doesn't care about the language.
No comments:
Post a Comment