I've been itching to start a real blog for awhile, and now with my house wired for the 21st century (today I got internet!), I am able to do so without "wasting company time." Woohoo! :o) I've had my share of internet blogging sites - more in the format of online journals (and who really cares to read about the trite, sad, details of my semi-(okay, very) pathetic life...no one) - but this is my first foray into "serious" blogging. Are you super excited?! I know I am!
To further your opinion of my "still living in college" mindset - I'd like to make a reference to facebook and a plug for the removal of that ridiculous "live feed" feature that highlights the fact that I really do "waste company time"...thanks, facebook. So, sign the petition (http://www.petitiononline.com/faceb00k/petition.html), join the group (Students against Facebook News Feed (Official Petition to Facebook)), and if live feed is still a "feature" - boycott on September 12.
Okay, enough of the juvenile delinquency. Let's get down to business. Today I'd like to start with the topic of grammar. I know, I know. "Our generation has no regard for grammar or spelling." "We've maligned the English language with our texting and emailing." Blah, blah, blah.
No, what I'd like to discuss is the issue of all the other generations (i.e. the baby boomers, generation X, whatever the other older people are, etc) who are in management, supervisory, paid-way-more-than-me positions and who can't tell the difference between they're, there, and their! Insure vs ensure! Later vs latter! The proverbial whether vs weather, affect vs effect, ben vs been! I mean, c'mon people! These are standard rules of the English road! I understand a slip-up every now and then in an email - especially in just out of college, low profile, low-key, peon type of positions. But to see this in management?? Really? Does proofing an important presentation really take that much time? Does getting the message out really supersede your interest in not looking like a moron?? I'm not even touching on the poor punctuation, passive sentences (of which I am sure I've written several even in this post), sentences ending in prepositions, fragments, run-ons, etc that I see on a regular basis. Perhaps you would say I have high expectations - and yes, I do! But are they too high?? I would say, No. If you've been able to climb the coporate ladder, one would hope one of the necessary skills to make it to the top is an ability to communicate. Is it wrong to hope that the individuals affecting (see how I used it?) my company's profitablity can successfully navigate the English language?
My hope is that high paying management positions are free for my taking if this is an example of the standard (or lack of standard) to which we are held! Coporate power, here I come!
3 comments:
Woohoo! I am thrilled to have you as a neighbor in blogger-land. I, too, am especially annoyed with the poor spelling and grammar of the American public! My personal pet peeve is affect vs. effect, for the record.
Despite my problems with grammatical errors, I believe I may have a misplaced comma or two in my original comment. Oh well, nobody's perfect. ;-)
woot woot! Of course we're interested in every "pathetic" happening in your life!
Aaron
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