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Words? Words!
Sep. 18th, 2006 05:26 pmMy English is far, FAR from perfect. BUT.
What is it with people who don't use the apostrophe? It seems to happen the most with the word WEEK. For example, this weeks newsletter. Are people particularly lazy with the apostrophe or do they not know that it should be week's, not weeks?
Also, what have people got against using captial letters? When it's a quick comment or on IM I can understand, but entire entries without a single capital letter? It's not called style, I doubt that you're lazy since it's not that much additional effort and I know you are capable of writing properly, so I just have to dub you as someone with the mentality of one of those kids new to the internet who think 1) personal webpages with black background and white writing are teh best, 2) typing without capital letters make you l33t. No, you're wrong, and I shall skip your entry or remove you from my friends list.
Here's one I really dislike - USING MYSELF AND YOURSELF IN THE WRONG PLACES. Believe it or not, it's not correct English. By that I mean:
A: How're you?
B: Fine, thanks. Yourself?
A: So how does this apply to the people?
B: Well, for [Paul and me Paul and myself / us ourselves / you and Paul Paul and yourself]...
THAT. IS. WRONG. *SHOOTS YOU DEAD* This culture of using myself and yourself came about because, I believe, people don't know when to use I or me. They say "Jane and myself are going to the party" because they don't know if it's Jane and I or Jane and me. Eventually it became this way of talking, people start copying each other and they think using the word "you" is rude, for some reason. URGH! STOP IT. Also, stop saying things like "I hereby enclose the document..."! "I enclose..." is fine. What's that shit, "hereby"? Which century are we in? Cut down the jargon, man!
The English language iscurrently also experiencing an obsessive use of the word "currently". I am currently investigating the reason for this and will keep you updated with any progress on this issue. It's not as bad as the word "basically", though. Basically, people should stop using the word "basically" when starting a sentence.
If I'm to guess, some people are thinking that the shorter the sentences, in both spoken and written forms, the less meaningful they are. *sigh* It makes me want to shoot people when I hear things like "why don't we see if we can't get a cup of coffee" - this mostly applies to people in big cities, it seems. What's with the negativity and what's wrong with "let's try and get a coffee"?
People should also be careful of when they used would like to. If you want to thank someone, try to say "I thank..." or just "thanks to...". If you want to recommend something, try to say "I recommend". Saying "I would like to thank" or "I would like to recommend"... it's become common practice but theoretically, it implies "you WOULD LIKE to do something, BUT..." - there is a but behind it. It's also just cluttering the sentences up. I don't know why some people do it. Don't you think "Thank you, Hana, for..." is more powerful and sincere than "I would like to thank Hana for...", anyway?
Oh, and don't get me started on passive vs active sentences. Passive is all-the-rage in report writing but sometimes it makes the writing so tedious to read and people forget that even if they say "it is advised that..." instead of "we advise that...", it doesn't disclaim them of any responsibility if the advice turns out to be a bad one. When you try to condense a 200-page report into a one-page executive summary, do you write "it is advised that" instead of "[company name / we] advise that"? Use your head, people.
I try to get a good balance when writing these things, especially in meeting minutes. Quite a few times I've been told by work, as well as client, that my notes of meetings are concise and easy to read and I just think, "that's because I write it in plain English XD".
I hereby conclude this weeks rant: basically, what I would like to say is, it is not a good thing for intelligent people such as ourselves to blindly follow what everyone else is currently doing. It isn't bad practise to start thinking about the words we use everyday. (OMG typing that sentence was painful.)
Having said all that, sometimes I may write "fine, thanks, yourself?" in fics, and write in other ways I usually hate seeing people do - that's because I think that's how the character speaks/writes! (And sometimes I do it just like to take the piss XD)
*gets bricked for totally unstructured entry*
What is it with people who don't use the apostrophe? It seems to happen the most with the word WEEK. For example, this weeks newsletter. Are people particularly lazy with the apostrophe or do they not know that it should be week's, not weeks?
Also, what have people got against using captial letters? When it's a quick comment or on IM I can understand, but entire entries without a single capital letter? It's not called style, I doubt that you're lazy since it's not that much additional effort and I know you are capable of writing properly, so I just have to dub you as someone with the mentality of one of those kids new to the internet who think 1) personal webpages with black background and white writing are teh best, 2) typing without capital letters make you l33t. No, you're wrong, and I shall skip your entry or remove you from my friends list.
Here's one I really dislike - USING MYSELF AND YOURSELF IN THE WRONG PLACES. Believe it or not, it's not correct English. By that I mean:
A: How're you?
B: Fine, thanks. Yourself?
A: So how does this apply to the people?
B: Well, for [
THAT. IS. WRONG. *SHOOTS YOU DEAD* This culture of using myself and yourself came about because, I believe, people don't know when to use I or me. They say "Jane and myself are going to the party" because they don't know if it's Jane and I or Jane and me. Eventually it became this way of talking, people start copying each other and they think using the word "you" is rude, for some reason. URGH! STOP IT. Also, stop saying things like "I hereby enclose the document..."! "I enclose..." is fine. What's that shit, "hereby"? Which century are we in? Cut down the jargon, man!
The English language is
If I'm to guess, some people are thinking that the shorter the sentences, in both spoken and written forms, the less meaningful they are. *sigh* It makes me want to shoot people when I hear things like "why don't we see if we can't get a cup of coffee" - this mostly applies to people in big cities, it seems. What's with the negativity and what's wrong with "let's try and get a coffee"?
People should also be careful of when they used would like to. If you want to thank someone, try to say "I thank..." or just "thanks to...". If you want to recommend something, try to say "I recommend". Saying "I would like to thank" or "I would like to recommend"... it's become common practice but theoretically, it implies "you WOULD LIKE to do something, BUT..." - there is a but behind it. It's also just cluttering the sentences up. I don't know why some people do it. Don't you think "Thank you, Hana, for..." is more powerful and sincere than "I would like to thank Hana for...", anyway?
Oh, and don't get me started on passive vs active sentences. Passive is all-the-rage in report writing but sometimes it makes the writing so tedious to read and people forget that even if they say "it is advised that..." instead of "we advise that...", it doesn't disclaim them of any responsibility if the advice turns out to be a bad one. When you try to condense a 200-page report into a one-page executive summary, do you write "it is advised that" instead of "[company name / we] advise that"? Use your head, people.
I try to get a good balance when writing these things, especially in meeting minutes. Quite a few times I've been told by work, as well as client, that my notes of meetings are concise and easy to read and I just think, "that's because I write it in plain English XD".
I hereby conclude this weeks rant: basically, what I would like to say is, it is not a good thing for intelligent people such as ourselves to blindly follow what everyone else is currently doing. It isn't bad practise to start thinking about the words we use everyday. (OMG typing that sentence was painful.)
Having said all that, sometimes I may write "fine, thanks, yourself?" in fics, and write in other ways I usually hate seeing people do - that's because I think that's how the character speaks/writes! (And sometimes I do it just like to take the piss XD)
*gets bricked for totally unstructured entry*
