Posted on 12/07/2004 12:34:40 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Sadly so.
Also: "proles". This is a term that denigrates those to whom it is applied. If you want to present yourself as a "prole" then go ahead: but leave us out of it.
How interesting.
Colleges are testing incoming students on their writing skills as well as their English and math skills. Many of them have to take remedial classes.
Clearly written by someone who has never read Jane Austen, or who doesn't appreciate her irony.
What we have here, is a lack of communication.
"But they still understand me," is not an excuse. The person on the receiving end of an email or post forms an opinion of the person whose writing he or she is reading (for instance, most people think I'm a pompous ass), and that influences the gist of the message being conveyed. In other words, "they may not understand you" in the manner you believe to be the case.
Bump!
Agreed! I particularly enjoyed "Persuasion".
"The Duchess of Dalrymple! Pray that she does not snub us!"
I've noticed that too. Not that you're an ass but that intent and positions can be twisted or misunderstood. Sometimes it's intentional but mostly because the poster wasn't clear or complete. Then there is the very useful /sarcasm.
A public education does not develop logical thinking skills.
It's very simple. There are certain skills you need to move up in the world and writing is one of them. If you're in a corporate environment, you should also know the following:
A) Knowing how to buy a suit that fits
B) Ability to eat a meal without ruining a tie
C) Basic knowledge of architecture, literature, art, classical music or jazz.
All of this, of course, is in addition to being able to perform well in the job assigned.
Another vote for semicolon. !!!;)!!!
Yes. Manners and culture count.
Trips to museums and family meals at the dinner table can easily help in those areas.
Agreed, but let's not throw out syntax. That is a personal problem of mine, due to my German background I think.
(Throw me over the fence some hay!)
On another note, what is a prole??
A rule of thumb I have is that I follow-up my important emails with telephone calls. Too many times I have had my superiors laughingly tell me that they just ignore emails.
Yeah, but how many of us even know what the heck a "clause" is anymore?
What! A semicolon is for punctuation? I thought its only use was for the eyes on a sideways smiley.
With respect to your point about frequently not receiving the courtesy of a reply, my company actually encourages that rudeness. I work for a large insurance company and probably about once per quarter we are told that we should NOT reply to an email with an "okay" or "thanks," because each email we send costs the company a certain number of pennies. Isn't that nice?
If our Human Resources manager wasn't a complete jackass, I would send this to him. He can't write a coherent memo to save his life.
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