I believe it is time for a redemption song of sorts. I realized that I have come off as an uptight b*tch and that was never the intention of this blog. For that, I apologize!
It is easy to dismiss the whole subject of eloquence; there are so many other, more pressing, issues to be concerned about. What about the global warming and the [insert warzone of choice] war? The list goes on ad infinitum. So why even bother?
Some years ago, when I was a teenager, I had a sign on the door to my room that read: 'why should I clean my house when the world is in such a mess?’ Needless to say, I thought it was hilarious. So why should we mind the way we speak and write when the world is, for lack of a better expression, in a mess? The reason is fairly simple and more or less the same as why we should clean our homes despite the state of the world we live in. My hypothesis, I really do like to believe it, is a chain reaction that starts with something small and successively leads to something bigger.
How are we supposed to accomplish anything if our own home is in disarray? How can we organize our thoughts into something productive if we are surrounded by chaos? And then, subsequently, how can we get our message across if it is not clearly expressed?
If we start with something small, like learning when to use we’re, were and where, respectively, or organizing your closet, we may become less confused and more focused. Armed with our new focus, we may in turn move on to bigger things and before we know it, the world is a little less messy than it was.
As I have said before, communication is the key to success in all areas of your life. You will be judged by the words you utter, whether in speech or writing, just as any potential visitor will judge you by the appearance of your home. Your home reflects who you are in the same way that your utterances mirror who you are. Show some pride in yourself! The inside really does count.
I will now go home and immediately organize all my important papers and I will keep you posted on all the good things that will come of it!
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Monday, October 1, 2012
Come on! It's not rocket science!
I am not going to lie, I spend more time on Facebook than I should. I also read a lot of different blogs and a lot of terrible gossip magazines. I am not a snob in my choice of literature. Unless when it comes to novels. I would rather re-read Cannery Row fifteen times than anything from the Twilight series. Sometimes I read, mostly out of curiosity, best-sellers such as the da Vinci Code or the Alchemist. I actually wrote a paper for my Bachelor's degree on the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and I suspect that my loathing of the genre was born from countless hours spent dissevering it only to discover that behind the glossy and exotic surface there was not much of value left. I believe the Cat in the Hat said it best 'The fish is talking! Yes, but is he really saying anything? No!'.
However, the topic for today is not the Alchemist, but actually the kind of writing used in digital media, such as Facebook. It is nothing short of a miracle that I do not have grey hair yet, considering the amount of poorly written rubbish that is posted there. 'Were R U?', 'Havnt stage dove for years', 'their crazy' and so on and so forth. Alright that we are adults now, we are out of school (most of my 'friends' on Facebook at least) and there is no teacher or professor that will grade what we write. But there is me, the cunning linguist, and I am positive that I am not the only one who will judge you when you use poor grammar. The way things are going, it will not be long until prospective employers will read what you write and form their own opinion of you, based on that. They probably already do.
Communication is key and language is all we have in the digital society. It's not rocket science, it's basics! If you are not dyslectic, there is no excuse. Poor use of language is like a ripple of stupidity that grows and grows until it encompasses us. A lot like the brilliantly understated movie 'Idiocracy'. It seems that this blatant abuse of the English language is contagious. We are dumbing ourselves down because we want to fit in. This may seem outrageous, but let me give you a good example: An acquaintance of mine, a nice girl from a state in the south who moved to Hawaii as an adult. A perfectly normal and intelligent young woman until she opens her virtual mouth. The propositions suddenly disappear, the structure of her sentences get lost somewhere in her futile attempt at the onomatopoeia of the Hawaiian pidgin. Why would she do something like that? Because she wants to fit in. It is sad, altogether. Much like the feminists are against women who dress like prostitutes to gain acceptance through their cleavage, am I against conforming to a much lower standard of writing, and speaking, than you are capable of for the purpose of blending in. Would it not be lovely if the people who actually speaks and writes like children, decidedly stepped up their game and fell in with adults with a proper language? As far as I can remember, accurate use of language is taught already in primary education and is not reserved for college graduates.
If you think that you are acting out some latent rebellious desire by breaking the rules, I feel that it is my responsibility to tell you that you are not. There are far more intelligent ways to be rebellious with your use of language than that. But that is a different story that I may elaborate further on at another time.
However, the topic for today is not the Alchemist, but actually the kind of writing used in digital media, such as Facebook. It is nothing short of a miracle that I do not have grey hair yet, considering the amount of poorly written rubbish that is posted there. 'Were R U?', 'Havnt stage dove for years', 'their crazy' and so on and so forth. Alright that we are adults now, we are out of school (most of my 'friends' on Facebook at least) and there is no teacher or professor that will grade what we write. But there is me, the cunning linguist, and I am positive that I am not the only one who will judge you when you use poor grammar. The way things are going, it will not be long until prospective employers will read what you write and form their own opinion of you, based on that. They probably already do.
Communication is key and language is all we have in the digital society. It's not rocket science, it's basics! If you are not dyslectic, there is no excuse. Poor use of language is like a ripple of stupidity that grows and grows until it encompasses us. A lot like the brilliantly understated movie 'Idiocracy'. It seems that this blatant abuse of the English language is contagious. We are dumbing ourselves down because we want to fit in. This may seem outrageous, but let me give you a good example: An acquaintance of mine, a nice girl from a state in the south who moved to Hawaii as an adult. A perfectly normal and intelligent young woman until she opens her virtual mouth. The propositions suddenly disappear, the structure of her sentences get lost somewhere in her futile attempt at the onomatopoeia of the Hawaiian pidgin. Why would she do something like that? Because she wants to fit in. It is sad, altogether. Much like the feminists are against women who dress like prostitutes to gain acceptance through their cleavage, am I against conforming to a much lower standard of writing, and speaking, than you are capable of for the purpose of blending in. Would it not be lovely if the people who actually speaks and writes like children, decidedly stepped up their game and fell in with adults with a proper language? As far as I can remember, accurate use of language is taught already in primary education and is not reserved for college graduates.
If you think that you are acting out some latent rebellious desire by breaking the rules, I feel that it is my responsibility to tell you that you are not. There are far more intelligent ways to be rebellious with your use of language than that. But that is a different story that I may elaborate further on at another time.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Welcome
I love letters and words. The art of properly putting them together fascinates me. Failing to do so may either ignite my fury to the point where I refuse to derive any meaning from the poorly written words, or it may simply make me laugh and dismiss it all the same.
Ridiculous? Maybe so, but I do have a point and that is exactly what this blog is dedicated to.
The pen is mightier than the sword and it is my creed as a cunning linguist to prove it to you. Eloquence is rare these days and sharp wit seems to have fallen behind on the list of desirable traits in a partner.
Let’s start with a good example of a nice piece of unintended intertextuality: I read the local newspaper a few weeks back, in Swedish, and there was an article about some lady or other, who, during her stay in London, had spent several weeks ‘coach-surfing’. Now, poor spelling ranks right up there with poor grammar in my book, but when the misspelled word takes on a different meaning than intended because of the spelling, it can be fatal to the entire purpose of your article. Surely, the author meant ‘couch’ and not ‘coach’, a small textual difference, but a tremendous difference in meaning. To add context, and thus add to the magnitude of the difference between the words, there has been a lot of press recently about coaches with pedophilic tendencies in the American media. The association of the expression ‘coach-surfing’ should now be rather clear without me elucidating any further. Did I read the remainder of the article? Needless to say, no I did not. I do like to pretend that it is a punishment of sorts not to. Laziness is not an excuse and neither is ignorance.
The textual style has to fit the purpose of the text. If it does not, you will lose because your meaning will not get across as you intend it to.
I will stop now, but I have more to say! Stay tuned!
Ridiculous? Maybe so, but I do have a point and that is exactly what this blog is dedicated to.
The pen is mightier than the sword and it is my creed as a cunning linguist to prove it to you. Eloquence is rare these days and sharp wit seems to have fallen behind on the list of desirable traits in a partner.
Let’s start with a good example of a nice piece of unintended intertextuality: I read the local newspaper a few weeks back, in Swedish, and there was an article about some lady or other, who, during her stay in London, had spent several weeks ‘coach-surfing’. Now, poor spelling ranks right up there with poor grammar in my book, but when the misspelled word takes on a different meaning than intended because of the spelling, it can be fatal to the entire purpose of your article. Surely, the author meant ‘couch’ and not ‘coach’, a small textual difference, but a tremendous difference in meaning. To add context, and thus add to the magnitude of the difference between the words, there has been a lot of press recently about coaches with pedophilic tendencies in the American media. The association of the expression ‘coach-surfing’ should now be rather clear without me elucidating any further. Did I read the remainder of the article? Needless to say, no I did not. I do like to pretend that it is a punishment of sorts not to. Laziness is not an excuse and neither is ignorance.
The textual style has to fit the purpose of the text. If it does not, you will lose because your meaning will not get across as you intend it to.
I will stop now, but I have more to say! Stay tuned!
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