Forum
Comments:
-
- on Wed 26 Aug 2009
- 06:36:21 PM UTC
I agree with your position
I agree with your position and comments on this continuously growing trend. I will assert that English is not a simple language, but that is not an excuse for the actual laziness and learned laziness that many people exhibit in attempting to communicate over written media. The bastardization of English via internet communications, while useful in some ways such as giving people the ability to quickly communicate a phrase or concept, tends to train some people in poor communication skills. Over time, these people actually lose the skill of effective writing.
My point: I've seen other message boards where use of clear communication was emphasized. Users that communicated poorly out of laziness were given little time.
-
- on Wed 26 Aug 2009
- 06:55:43 PM UTC
Thanks for the echo . . . was wondering if it was just me.
"Users that communicated poorly out of laziness were given little time."
Well . . . I don't know if it's "laziness" so much as it may be that these people just flat out don't think it's necessary to have the skills.What may make it appear that way to them is that they do get some responses.
But the "given little time" part is what bothers me. We may be missing some good stuff because of that. Indeed, I find that I am spending less and less time trying to decipher these things.
-
- on Wed 26 Aug 2009
- 06:54:40 PM UTC
Most people can't communicate simply
Clear, straightforward communications skills are not, apparently, emphasized anywhere, except in a few industries. Even some respected journalistic outlets publish embarrassingly poor quality copy.
As far as I'm concerned, poor writing is a pet peeve, but one to which I only hold myself accountable: I'll pick my own writing to bits, but if something is important, I'd prefer that the writer just get it out on screen, and we'll sort out the technical nuances later.
-
- on Wed 26 Aug 2009
- 07:03:00 PM UTC
Getting it out on the screen
It's that "getting it out" on the screen part that I'm having trouble "interpreting".
"Even some respected journalistic outlets publish embarrassingly poor quality copy"
Yes, I have noticed that . . . which is one of the reasons why I posed the rhetorical question about English not being taught any more. -
- on Thu 27 Aug 2009
- 12:39:15 AM UTC
English not being taught any more
Class...
Class....
CLASS....
Attention!
It saddens us to have to report to you that as of today English is not being taught any more. This is due to the fact that we, the Administration, have been under pressure with the current economic crisis to tighten the District's budget, so we have decided to lay-off all the English teachers effective immediately.Two weeks the future the newspaper has a small article on page 4 lower, right side that states, "The school administration has recently voted themselves a 23 percent raise effective next term."
:-).
-------
Against Intuition - gives us safety through Web of Trust.
WOT Community - gives us security through unity.
Thank you all
- G7W -
- on Thu 27 Aug 2009
- 02:43:25 AM UTC
Private vs public...
In earlier times (well, not much more than a decade...) conversations were informal and private, while printed stuff were invariably also public, and formulated accordingly. The distinction was very clear. But...
Collective microblogging sites like Facebook and other fora-like offers have changed that, and blurred the line between private and public. Posting opinions, exchanging remarks, sometimes telling jokes, or just writing to say: I'm back... all this 'feels' quite private, and it's easy to forget that this forum (like most others) is also public. So content should be readable to anyone else.
Remember, it's a global forum; what you write
could be read by anyone, anywhere, anytime...
Communications skills
We seem to have had an influx lately of very poor communications skills people. In keeping with courtesy and good taste, I will not name names, but the posts are easily identified by the reader confusion they cause. (Not talking about spelling, though incorrect spelling just makes it worse)
I'm not a grammar and syntax Nazi (though having taught English composition for 5+ years makes me wince whenever I see the language mangled), but at least master the ability to construct simple sentences and get your point across without your post looking like it was a mixed up translation from Babblefish.
(OTOH, we also have several non-English native tongue people that communicate in English better actually than a lot of native tongue speakers . . . Sami and Esa come to mind.)
I find I am spending more and more time trying to understand and unravel what people are trying to say. It's not the loss of my time that bothers me . . . I'm retired, so time is something I have plenty of . . . but rather the notion that a good point/issue may be lost simply because the user was unable to communicate effectively and simply.
Most of the posts that I have trouble understanding are brief . . . which is good. But that brevity just highlights all the more the poor communication. If you can't get a simple point across in just a few sentences, then getting a complex idea across in several paragraphs would be next to impossible.
Is plain and simple English not being taught any more?