Saturday, June 26, 2004
Me spell pretty one day
Warning: rant ahead.
When I was in 9th grade, all students were given a list of words which we had to spell correctly, or else we would have to take the test over again until we achieved a perfect score. They were fairly simple words, but ones everyone should know.
One of those words -- or, rather, two of them, but that was the point -- was "a lot." This was to make sure we knew they were, in fact, two separate words, and not one, as a lot of people tend to write.
Evidently, the makers of a national car commercial didn't go to my high school, because the other day, written in large letters on the screen, those words written as one -- the ever infamous "alot." I couldn't help but wonder how many people watched that commercial over the course of producing the commercial. How many people saw it and didn't notice, or didn't know it was wrong. I was annoyed, yes, but I was also saddened.
I'm not a spelling and grammar... er, elitist, I guess you could say. I make my fair share of typos and my sentence structure isn't always sound. You're bound to find any number of grammatical errors in this post. I do, however, make an effort to write things correctly. My mother would kill me if I did otherwise, and my school teacher grandmother would roll over in her grave. But I get frustrated when people either don't know better, or don't care.
And those twelve essays a term in my (public) high school didn't hurt. They were annoying, but I did learn some things.
One sees a lot of misspellings on the internet (and I'm not talking about chat room abbreviations, or other intentional misspellings). Examples: "definately" instead of "definitely" leaps immediately to mind. There is no "a" in definitely, despite its widespread popularity. And it's "no one" and not "noone." "Thank you" is two words, as well. The word "it's" is a contraction, meaning "it is" and not a possessive form of "its," which is just "its." I do confess to making this mistake far too often, so I don't mind as much when others make this particular mistake. And I often can't figure out when to end a paragraph and start a new one to save my life.
I'm not a complete snob. I just don't like the so-called "dumbing down" of America, and elsewhere. I'm not asking for much... just a little basic knowledge. I don't know why some folks can't spell certain words, and I'm not blaming anyone. And I don't judge someone as to whether they can spell everything right. I know not everyone has an aptitude for spelling, and some folks have cognitive problems which can impare spelling and grammar abilities... myself included. But I try to be aware of what I might be doing wrong, and I use sites such as Dictionary.com on a frequent basis. The internet is a wonderful resource, and if I don't know something, chances are I can find out.
Perhaps I'm nitpicking and should worry about more important things. But these simple things seem to be symptomatic of a larger problem. And that is why it bothers me. It's those who should or do know better, but don't... I don't want to say "care" because I don't know the reasons. Whatever it is, it's disappointing.
I'm thankful my mother instilled a desire to learn. I have a wonderful mother who encouraged me to seek knowledge, when to a decent public school (though it definitely had its problems), and have access to the internet, which has proven invaluable to me. There are far too many out there who aren't as fortunate.
I guess I just want to encourage those who can to make a little bit of extra effort. And I don't mean in just spelling and grammar, but in general. Far too many little things get left behind... we don't hold open doors for others, using turn signals appear to be a thing of the past, slowing down for pedestrians to cross the street happens far to rarely... not to mention the lack of using "please" and "thank you."
Show respect for others, show respect for yourself. And if you choose flame me because of what I've written, know that "you suck" is two words when you write your email. Thank you.
(0) comments
When I was in 9th grade, all students were given a list of words which we had to spell correctly, or else we would have to take the test over again until we achieved a perfect score. They were fairly simple words, but ones everyone should know.
One of those words -- or, rather, two of them, but that was the point -- was "a lot." This was to make sure we knew they were, in fact, two separate words, and not one, as a lot of people tend to write.
Evidently, the makers of a national car commercial didn't go to my high school, because the other day, written in large letters on the screen, those words written as one -- the ever infamous "alot." I couldn't help but wonder how many people watched that commercial over the course of producing the commercial. How many people saw it and didn't notice, or didn't know it was wrong. I was annoyed, yes, but I was also saddened.
I'm not a spelling and grammar... er, elitist, I guess you could say. I make my fair share of typos and my sentence structure isn't always sound. You're bound to find any number of grammatical errors in this post. I do, however, make an effort to write things correctly. My mother would kill me if I did otherwise, and my school teacher grandmother would roll over in her grave. But I get frustrated when people either don't know better, or don't care.
And those twelve essays a term in my (public) high school didn't hurt. They were annoying, but I did learn some things.
One sees a lot of misspellings on the internet (and I'm not talking about chat room abbreviations, or other intentional misspellings). Examples: "definately" instead of "definitely" leaps immediately to mind. There is no "a" in definitely, despite its widespread popularity. And it's "no one" and not "noone." "Thank you" is two words, as well. The word "it's" is a contraction, meaning "it is" and not a possessive form of "its," which is just "its." I do confess to making this mistake far too often, so I don't mind as much when others make this particular mistake. And I often can't figure out when to end a paragraph and start a new one to save my life.
I'm not a complete snob. I just don't like the so-called "dumbing down" of America, and elsewhere. I'm not asking for much... just a little basic knowledge. I don't know why some folks can't spell certain words, and I'm not blaming anyone. And I don't judge someone as to whether they can spell everything right. I know not everyone has an aptitude for spelling, and some folks have cognitive problems which can impare spelling and grammar abilities... myself included. But I try to be aware of what I might be doing wrong, and I use sites such as Dictionary.com on a frequent basis. The internet is a wonderful resource, and if I don't know something, chances are I can find out.
Perhaps I'm nitpicking and should worry about more important things. But these simple things seem to be symptomatic of a larger problem. And that is why it bothers me. It's those who should or do know better, but don't... I don't want to say "care" because I don't know the reasons. Whatever it is, it's disappointing.
I'm thankful my mother instilled a desire to learn. I have a wonderful mother who encouraged me to seek knowledge, when to a decent public school (though it definitely had its problems), and have access to the internet, which has proven invaluable to me. There are far too many out there who aren't as fortunate.
I guess I just want to encourage those who can to make a little bit of extra effort. And I don't mean in just spelling and grammar, but in general. Far too many little things get left behind... we don't hold open doors for others, using turn signals appear to be a thing of the past, slowing down for pedestrians to cross the street happens far to rarely... not to mention the lack of using "please" and "thank you."
Show respect for others, show respect for yourself. And if you choose flame me because of what I've written, know that "you suck" is two words when you write your email. Thank you.
(0) comments
