For some people (e.g. me, MBH, and readers Ivan and Thomas), listening to others talk can be
sometimes. It's a lot like listening to a beautiful melody when someone hits the obviously wrong note. I've done that while singing in public and the reaction was swift and painful. The lesson I learned was to not sing in public anymore,
Now, I don't mean to insult anyone here. This is a sticky subject, and people take great offense sometimes to being corrected or criticized about the way they use English. Heck, I don't like to be criticized myself. However, most often the comments are useful. I've learned to think about the things people say about me and look constructively at those things to see whether making the change is important enough for me to act on {other than punching them in the mouth ;>)}.
And I know there are a few areas in the use of the English language where I sometimes misspeak. The most evident (especially to MBH) is when I say something like "It is important to he and I...". The correct wording is "It is important to him and me...", and I am working on that. Well, him and me are, anyway.
So I know. No one is perfect. Especially me.
So what??
If no one ever says anything about it publicly, it will NEVER be right. So, I have to try. (If you don't bet, you can't win.)
In my last post, which was about the Conficker.C worm, I mentioned a form of speech that many people don't use correctly, and I got several different comments on the statement about the issues some of us have with the way many (too many) people abuse the American English language. The abuse is not intentional.
Our schools don't teach sentence construction and proper word usage much anymore. (My daughter, the High School English Teacher will kick me for saying that, but I believe that statement is generally true.) Many journalists, in this time of instant "news" (do YOU care what Paris Hilton did while eating scrod last night?), don't run their scribblings past proofreaders in an effort to be first to report. When reading other blogs on the 'Net, it is obvious that many people don't read through their comments even once before hitting the Send button.
I was born an analyst, and through an interest in how to use English properly, I picked up all kinds of useful information during my early years - through school, books, newspapers, and other forms of communications. I love using language properly, because, when I do, people who are listening have a chance to really hear what I am saying.
Here's a reverse example of what I mean:
While listening to a commercial for a jewelry store yesterday, the person said (and read this carefully) "jewlery" in a sentence. There is no such word in either of the two proper English languages. The word is "joo-well-ree", not "joo-leh-ree". From that point on, I didn't hear anything else in the commercial except for the name of the "joo-leh-ree" store. With my English pronunciation prejudice, when I want to buy "joo-well-ree", I won't shop there. If someone doesn't take the language seriously, at what ELSE are they sloppy? ( I SAID it was a prejudice!) And besides, they probably don't even have any "joo-well-ree" amongst all the "joo-leh-ree" they sell.
The same goes for the way "Realtor' and "realty" are pronounced. There is no word pronounced "ree-lit-tor"; it's "ree-uhl-tor". There is no "ree-lit-tee", only "ree-uhl-tee".
When those words are pronounced properly, I don't notice them. They are just part of the symphony and I get to hear the music, not just a note. When they are not, I get distracted, and sometimes annoyed (prejudice, remember?). I am annoyed at the person for misspeaking, as well as the fact that I am now distracted (unnecessarily) from listening
The same goes for the written word, especially the written word. There are so many ways to proofread writing that there is almost no excuse for misspelling words, using poor (or bad) phrasing, misusing words or punctuation, or using words that don't exist. Are you aware that there is no such word as "irregardless"? The correct word is "regardless" (and my spell checker just confirmed it).
Another example is the difference between the terms "i.e." and "e.g." "e.g." means "for example". "i.e." means "that is". Although subtle, they are different. Often, one is mistaken for the other. Basically, "e.g." is used when you want to provide one or more examples of what you are saying, for example:
Sid wrote about the mispronunciation of several words, e.g., "realty" and "jewelry".
and "i.e." is used when rephrasing what was just said, e.g.,
Sid writes about stuff that is of interest to him, i.e., things he likes to do or think about.
There are probably better examples of the use of these terms out there. Look 'em up!
Lastly, I will talk about the poor apostrophe. It is so misused today that it lacks an identity.
The mighty apostrophe is used properly when it denotes a combination of two words into one (i.e., a contraction, and e.g., "won't", "can't", and "it's" for "will not", "cannot", and "it is").
It is also used when discussing possession, e.g., "Phil's blog", "Tom's comment", and "the room's color". The one counter example to that that I am aware of is "its" when talking about possession. That is possibly the most misunderstood and misused possessive of all. The possessive form for the word "it" is "its", with no apostrophe.
It is never proper to use the apostrophe for plurals (e.g., "there are several room's on the first floor", "the 1960's were good to me", and "We sell CD's and DVD's"). Those apostrophes are all used incorrectly.
When using acronyms, the letters of the acronym should be capitalized, while the "s" is lower case. And NO APOSTROPHE IS USED!!! (Sorry for shouting.) MLB and I have gone 'round and 'round about his. He doesn't agree with me, but he's just wrong!! (I'm tired of winking, so just assume one.)
However, whatever city I go to, I see examples of the apostrophe's misuse. I guess it's the "ree-lit-tors" that have signs saying their homes start in "the $300's". The signs that say "We have CD's and Record's for sale" drive me bonkers!
Wow! When I write this all down I sound like a fanatic, and "perception is reality", as "they" say. So, I guess I am.
However, these are not things I think about all the time. It usually only strikes me when I see or hear an example of misuse, because the misuse interrupts my ability to enjoy what I was reading or hearing.
I know the world, especially us fallible humans, will never be perfect. That's 'way too hard and too much to expect. Besides, if it was (and we were), I think life would be quite boring.
However, the point I am trying to make is that what we say and how we say it impacts our ability to communicate, because it can impact the listener or reader and interrupt their train of thought or perception. After all, when communicating with someone, we don't know how they listen or comprehend our writings. Therefore, if we are aware of that possibility, it is our responsibility to speak and write clearly and correctly.
But, only if we wish to make our point. (Sorry - bad sentence construction there! I used it to make a point.))
Oh, yeah. Another point - people don't like to be lectured to unless they pay for it or are formally invited. So, either consider yourself invited to read this post or send me money (email me and I'll send you my address, checks made out to "His Highness, Sid Plait", please).
Comment's, anyone? <|(;>)}