I never thought about that. Now that you mention they being underpaid and understaffed I can imagine that sometimes when there are big news, they have to stay working really late and are very tired.
I think I should try to practice more what I say to my kids when people makes mistakes:
We are only humans not programmed robots, as such, we are entitled to make mistakes, and that just makes us more human. ( and should keep us humble).
Thank you for "whenever".
I don't understand. Could you be a little more pacific?
jammjenks i had to laugh out loud when i saw your post because there are specific people who actually use this word when they write and in their speech no matter what side of the ocean they are on.
Maybe, just maybe the English language went by the wayside when our schools started teaching "English as a Second Language". Just a thought.
My DD is an English Major hoping to teach at the High School level someday. Her adviser suggested she consider teaching English as a Second Language, since she's had 7 yrs. of Spanish. One reason being, she'll have a better chance of getting a job.
Tell me, do you think in the Arab countries they teach "Arabic as a Second Language" in their schools? I'm willing to bet the answer to that would be a big fat NO.
If we want to instill proper English in our children, we need to continue teaching it properly in our schools.
When I read some of the posts on here and other sites, I really feel very sorry for the person that posted it. Sorry, that they didn't get the proper guidance and education to be able to even SPELL correctly, never mind use the correct form of the word or words.
They say: "I axed him a question."
Debi says: "Oh? Was there much blood?"
I am a trained adult literacy instructor. It costs nothing to speak properly, to learn how to read as a child (learning disabilities, etal, being the exception of course), to write a proper sentence. This new fad that being partially illiterate is "in" and acceptable raises my blood pressure!
15% of all drivers licenses in Indiana are obtained by having the test read to the potential driver. Than means 15 out of 100 drivers can't read the signs that say "Slow ... workmen ahead" or "Detour ... turn here".
Businesses that advertise prices without decimal points cannot be properly read by the illiterate. I saw a sign today "Soda $100". Now I'm sure they're not selling a cup of coke for one hundred dollars, but a person who can't read properly doens't know that.
Pictures on cash registers don't enable the illiterate to get a job .... they promote the idea that you don't HAVE to know how to read, ergo the problem they are trying to eliminate ends up growing.
I had a company send me a letter to try to convince me of their new and improved service. When their sales rep came into the office, I pulled that letter and gave it to him ... complete with my English Teacher's Red Pen markings all over it! There were so many errors in this letter I had no room on the page to correct them all! I said to him, "And THIS is the letter that is trying to convince me of your shipping quality? You want me to trust my product to THIS?" He took it back to his office and showed it to management.
But THIS is why proper English and sentence structure is important! Don't give me that crap about "everybody talks this way". Well, then they are talking wrong! And when these children get a job and come to this 50 year old lady and try to sell me their services, guess what, kid .... your presentation is part of the sale. And if it's full of errors, then I'm not trusting my business to be in the hands of YOUR business.
One wonders if these people are able to read.
My dyslexic daughter was reading Charles Dickens and Shakespeare in the third grade. She has grown to be the best speller and grammarian I have ever seen.
My peeve is all of the extraneous haves and gots. "I have got to see that." How about - "I must see that." ?
I think, and this is MHO, that the texting "fad" right now is not helping much with this grammar problem, wait, reverse it, (like Willie Wonka said), it IS helping to disgrace the grammar. People text so much now and abbreviate words so often, that they don't pay attention anymore when they have to write "normal" documents.
Where I live it is very difficult to be hired as a teacher unless you are certified in Spanish also.
My son works in Taiwan as an English teacher and his 6 months are up and instead of staying for another 6 months he is thinking of coming back because the school principal and the parents (yes, the parents, since it is a private school, they have a lot of influence on the teaching methods used), don't care about proper grammar, they care about pronunciation. He does not like that one bit, and the parents think he is wasting time on grammar and want their kids to just speak fluently, and forget grammar.
just my 2 cents.
Well, since we're on the subject....
I can't BELIEVE that adults who have graduated from junior high school cannot differentiate between to, too, and two, or you're and your, or there, their, and they're. It bothers me that people think a row in a grocery store is an isle rather than an aisle. And freakin-a, does nobody know that the possessive form of the pronoun 'it' does not get an apostrophe? Only the contraction form of 'it is' gets an apostrophe!
THANK YOU!!! Now I don't have to type all that out!
Very interesting subject!...one problem from my side.. I speak spanish!..So...
I am going to say, I do my best, but english, being my second language, you might have to excuse errors of mispelled words, syntax, punctuation and other things.
So from now on, when you see my name, please understand that my errors are not for lack of knowledge, but basically cause is a second language. And for me, the english language will forever be a learning process...
I am just glad I know enough to be understood!..
Edna
Even when I text someone, I spell the words out. I refuse to type R when I mean are and U when I mean you. Goodness... I hate reading text speak. *vomit*
Here's mine: I could care less. No! It's I COULD NOT CARE LESS. That little "not" makes a big difference!!
Y'all have left out 'whole nother'!!!
I work in an office where 90% or more of the communication that we do is via email. So, your only impression of a person and their abilities is going to be based on their grammar and spelling. Probably about 1/3 of the email replies I get back say 'your welcome'. From higher level people! Ugh.
Our company name is an acronym, so all letters are capitalized. In a huge company-wide presentation where our CEO was present, a manager's slideshow had the company name 'Xxxx'. Wow, you're a manager, and you don't know the correct name of the company you work for?
I get in a hurry and I am guilty of switching here, hear, know, no, there, their, its, it's. It is more like a PP said and my brain gets ahead of my hands. I do know the difference (really, I do!) but I get going too fast and spell checker is not going to save me from those! My email yesterday where I said here instead of hear got forwarded to our Director of Finance and our Regional VP
And a girl we work with who is quite IQ challenged says pacifically all the time and I just want to shoot her!!!!
And to the PP that said somehow she can only focus on the errors...I swear I want to be a book editor. I find so many errors in my books and it really, really does detract from the story. My whole brain just stops to look at the big fat spelling/grammar/punctuation blob stuck in the middle of my page!
If run on sentences and paragraphs drive you mad, never, ever, ever read Arthur Conan Doyle. By the time you get to the end of a sentence, you'll have no idea what you just read.
My favorite local Chinese restaurant has a beautiful, huge menu on the wall that I know they paid a fortune for and it says ENTRIES (rather than entrees -sorry, missing the little ' for the e). Now, shouldn't the company that made it for them have some pride in the work they do and help their customer correct any spelling errors??!?!!
Yesterday at work, someone asked how to spell 'armoire', and I did, without using Outlook spell check. Someone asked 'how do you know that, I would just use spell check'. I know because I was a spelling bee dork in school , and I take pride in not relying on spell check for everything. I do use it, don't get me wrong, but it's notoriously wrong!
Sorry, way long, these things constantly annoy me too. I'm sure I have some typo, grammar or spelling error in here somewhere, just don't shoot me!
Edited to correct typos
Very interesting subject!...one problem from my side.. I speak spanish!..So...
I am going to say, I do my best, but english, being my second language, you might have to excuse errors of mispelled words, syntax, punctuation and other things.
So from now on, when you see my name, please understand that my errors are not for lack of knowledge, but basically cause is a second language. And for me, the english language will forever be a learning process...
I am just glad I know enough to be understood!..
Edna
NO! Don't you dare be apologetic of your wonderful English!! I will criticise (correct Canadian Spelling, thank you) your English when my Spanish is as good! The complaints are about people who grew up with English and through lack of interest choose not to use it properly. Don't even think that these comments are directed at you, please!
Here's mine: I could care less. No! It's I COULD NOT CARE LESS. That little "not" makes a big difference!!
Oh no! You're right! And I just used that phrase on another thread just a moment ago! aaaauuugggghhhhH!!!
One more thing...PULL YOUR PANTS UP!!!!
YES!!!!!!!!!! My son never wore his down to his knees, but while he was working in the Sears shoe dept one day, I thought they were a little loose. I told him to tighten his belt. He told me he was fine. Now, here's a nice looking young man (ok...I'm his mom, give me some slack!), in black pants, white shirt and a tie .... and then you see his mother walk over and start to unbuckle his belt, telling him, "If you're not going to fix it, *I* am!" He starts backing up and pushing me away, saying, "mom ...mom.... stop it .. I'll fix it!"
Don't mess with mama!!!
And Edna, when you're as talented and beautiful as you are, you are definitely excused from any silly errors.... but I can honestly say I've never read anything in your posts that made me cringe, so you have nothing to worry about or apologize for! (oh ... is it still bad to end a sentence with a preposition? )
Even when I text someone, I spell the words out. I refuse to type R when I mean are and U when I mean you. Goodness... I hate reading text speak. *vomit*
jkalman, with each of your posts, I grow more and more fond of you.
Text language makes me nauseated too.
Oh, and newmansmom2004, I'm with you, girl! I FREAKING HATE this horrendous show-your-boxers-but-hold-your-pants-up-by-hanging-onto-your-tallywhacker fad. It is so disgusting!!
[quote="indydebiMy son never wore his down to his knees, but while he was working in the Sears shoe dept one day, I thought they were a little loose. I told him to tighten his belt. He told me he was fine. Now, here's a nice looking young man (ok...I'm his mom, give me some slack!), in black pants, white shirt and a tie .... and then you see his mother walk over and start to unbuckle his belt, telling him, "If you're not going to fix it, *I* am!" He starts backing up and pushing me away, saying, "mom ...mom.... stop it .. I'll fix it!"[/quote]
ROTFLMAOOOOO!!! Debi that's classic!!! You go mom!
Tallywhacker... I love that word!! Maybe we should use a silly grammatical word... dangling participle comes to mind.
Debi I can envision you coming at your son ready to dress him properly. That's hilarious.
Oh my stars and stripes, another thing that gets under my skin is when people think it is correct to say, "I would of" or "I could of" rather than "I would have" or "I could have."
Oh my gosh, for sure. I just go coulda or woulda. Weigh better!!
Huh, Ann??!! [highfive]
Actually the "rule" about ending a sentence with a preposition is a fiction promulgated by a half-baked grammarian in the 17th century. Trying to follow that rule leads to such inelegant sentences as- "...up with which I shall not put."
Many times words which are frequently prepositions are actually used as an adverbial part of verb phrase. Examples: worry about or apologize for. (correct) as opposed to "so you have nothing about which to worry." (undesirable)
Very interesting subject!...one problem from my side.. I speak spanish!..So...
I am going to say, I do my best, but english, being my second language, you might have to excuse errors of mispelled words, syntax, punctuation and other things.
So from now on, when you see my name, please understand that my errors are not for lack of knowledge, but basically cause is a second language. And for me, the english language will forever be a learning process...
I am just glad I know enough to be understood!..
Edna
NO! Don't you dare be apologetic of your wonderful English!! I will criticise (correct Canadian Spelling, thank you) your English when my Spanish is as good! The complaints are about people who grew up with English and through lack of interest choose not to use it properly. Don't even think that these comments are directed at you, please!
Oh no!..I was not taking this personally..lol.. But somehow I do feel a bit guilty cause I know sometimes I might not say or spell things correctly..
I guess is a normal thing when you are speaking another languague
Edna
I agree with you Edna.
I am guessing you speak another language. The question is how many people in CC speak another language and have the same issue.
Edna
I don't think anyone would begrudge a person for not being able to speak/type grammatically correct sentences if English wasn't thier first language. English is a horrid language to learn. With all of its odd rules and exceptions to the rules and exceptions to the execptions of the rules, it's a miracle English speaking people can type it out right.
And honestly most of this is just people having fun with something that happens all the time. It's like me saying I hate floral print clothing. I would NEVER not say hi to someone who wore a floral print shirt... I just wouldn't ask to borrow it. I still love all of you... even if you can't spell or put a comma in the right place.
I don't think anyone would begrudge a person for not being able to speak/type grammatically correct sentences if English wasn't thier first language. English is a horrid language to learn. With all of its odd rules and exceptions to the rules and exceptions to the execptions of the rules, it's a miracle English speaking people can type it out right.
And honestly most of this is just people having fun with something that happens all the time. It's like me saying I hate floral print clothing. I would NEVER not say hi to someone who wore a floral print shirt... I just wouldn't ask to borrow it. I still love all of you... even if you can't spell or put a comma in the right place.
Is not too bad to learn..is just difficult to speak it!.. ..oh, and writing it!!!!!... But then again is easier than German.
Edna
Yes Edna, my primary language is Spanish. I try really hard not to misspell words but I still do. In other posts I have written here I explain that I came from Mexico about 25 years ago and my English teachers in Mexico had the same accent that I had, then I went to what now is UTPA to study English, but I could write it better than I could speak it. Because of that, people used to make fun of me and consequently I didn't want to speak English in public. I got over it, with age comes confidence and I don't particularly care if people like my accent or not, sometimes they have asked me if I am Italian. The sad part about it is this : the people that made fun of my accent were Hispanics that grew up here, and they might not have my heavy accent but they had terrible grammar. That is why I instill good grammar and the love of reading to my children, that helps a lot!
Well, reading helps me with grammar but watching tv helps me to understand them. After that is just practice speaking it so you will get more fluent. When I got here and was working at my first job, my boss, a really nice old lady, told me to watch "novelas" soap operas (?) because they used simple everyday phrases. At the beginning I could not understand anything, to me, they were talking too fast. Eventually I started to pick up one word after another and I started to like it. The bad thing was I watched soap operas for years (Guiding Light), not any more.I say bad thing because I did not want to go anywhere during that time UNLESS i left the recorder on.
Oh.. I did that too.. What I used to do was to listen the tv for pronunciation and reading the captions for grammar. It helped me lots. The only yhing I was never able to fix was the accent. But now I say, hey!...it comes with the package!...
Edna
Well, I live in Canada (bilingual country) and have only very basic schoolgirl French ("Hello, my name is Natalie. I am 12 years old. I have one sister. My house has 3 bedrooms... You know). I am improving my skills, one shower and one meal at a time, by studying the backs of shampoo bottles and pasta packets. It's helping a bit!
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