Edited. No, I didn't find the dangling modifier, but I'd be happy to have someone point it out. However, I did remember at least one thought that I forgot about. I also found numerous small errors. Why didn't you tell me!
Politics--I didn't vote for him, but I will support him, and I hope that the next four years are amazing. I do believe there is one thing that we all can agree on though. How in the world did Michelle Obama's dress make it past the wardrobe gurus? Not attractive in my opinion! I know, I know, they were doing the whole red and black thing as a family, but there are so many other red and/or black options that would have looked so much better!
Tiredness--Yes, I stayed up and watched the returns. After I went to bed I couldn't sleep. Then Pablo and Tyrone both came to visit. All in all, I stayed up waay to late, which is why this post is probably not coherent.
Communication--In college, I worked in tutoring services for a while. I loved it. One of the other guys there was a home-schooled teenager (yes, he was 16). Unfortunately he was one of the kids that gives home-schooling a bad name. He was incredibly intelligent but we occasionally had issues with him, like teaching him that some-one could be gay and not act on it. He didn't believe that one for a while. He was very gifted in the realm of science, especially physics, which was his major.
One day we had a very interesting conversation. I can't quote it verbatim. Time has erased it a bit. However he shocked me by beginning the conversation with the comment that he couldn't see any need for English classes (my area of expertise, btw). He thought they were a waste of time and would much rather have spent all his time in the physics lab. I immediately started telling him all sorts of reasons why he needed English classes. We were discussing college English and literature classes. He just couldn't get it through his head why he should take any of these classes. He just wanted to be discovering all the new and great physics discoveries. Finally I hit on the one argument that stopped him in his tracks.
My argument was, "You can make all the greatest discoveries in the world, but if you can't communicate them to anyone, it won't matter."
He stopped cold and stared at me a bit.
He then admitted that I was right and that was the end of the conversation.
I've thought about this conversation a lot lately as I meander through the world of blogging. I'm a bit of a snob, I think. I really have a hard time when I read blogs or comments by people who don't bother with the basics of grammar or punctuation. I don't mind the occasional mis-spelling, or the occasional them for they or things like that. The ones that drive me bats are the ones where I can't even tell where one sentence ends and the next one starts. The ones where it's all one big paragraph with no separation. The one's where they don't even bother to capitalize the word "I".
I feel guilty about this, but I don't read those blogs. I remember running across a blog where the person had brilliant ideas, but she would meander through things and there was no punctuation. I couldn't read it. I know these people have great ideas too, and every one is entitled to an opinion, but I also think of my experience in college. "You can have the greatest ideas in the world, but if you don't know how to communicate them, no-one will ever know."
I recognize that I come from a very educated background. Every one in my family has at least one college degree--and many have multiple degrees. As we speak I have at least three siblings or spouses who are in the middle of more schooling. My educated background makes itself very clear in my verbage (did you know there is no such word. Verbiage is an insult meaning needlessly wordy. Verbage doesn't exist. Pity. It should.), or so I've been told. I'm not embarrassed by this. It's who I am. But even my third grader understands that a sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a period. That's what I'm talking about when I say the basics of punctuation. If a person doesn't even bother to do that, then I don't bother to read. I feel guilty about this attitude, but not enough to change it yet.
Call me a snob if you will.
I think I already did.
(Just in case you are wondering, I don't have near the problem talking to people as I do reading them. It's the inner editor in me that rears it's ugly head when I've got words in front of me. I just realized that.)
Books--Ranger's Apprentice 5 is out and Faramir is bringing it home to me tonight. I'll keep you posted when I get done. Otherwise it's been mostly re-reads.
Housekeeping--I'm a housekeeper in training. I have taken some before pictures. Unfortunately, I have made no progress on the after. So hold me to it.
Politics--I didn't vote for him, but I will support him, and I hope that the next four years are amazing. I do believe there is one thing that we all can agree on though. How in the world did Michelle Obama's dress make it past the wardrobe gurus? Not attractive in my opinion! I know, I know, they were doing the whole red and black thing as a family, but there are so many other red and/or black options that would have looked so much better!
Tiredness--Yes, I stayed up and watched the returns. After I went to bed I couldn't sleep. Then Pablo and Tyrone both came to visit. All in all, I stayed up waay to late, which is why this post is probably not coherent.
Communication--In college, I worked in tutoring services for a while. I loved it. One of the other guys there was a home-schooled teenager (yes, he was 16). Unfortunately he was one of the kids that gives home-schooling a bad name. He was incredibly intelligent but we occasionally had issues with him, like teaching him that some-one could be gay and not act on it. He didn't believe that one for a while. He was very gifted in the realm of science, especially physics, which was his major.
One day we had a very interesting conversation. I can't quote it verbatim. Time has erased it a bit. However he shocked me by beginning the conversation with the comment that he couldn't see any need for English classes (my area of expertise, btw). He thought they were a waste of time and would much rather have spent all his time in the physics lab. I immediately started telling him all sorts of reasons why he needed English classes. We were discussing college English and literature classes. He just couldn't get it through his head why he should take any of these classes. He just wanted to be discovering all the new and great physics discoveries. Finally I hit on the one argument that stopped him in his tracks.
My argument was, "You can make all the greatest discoveries in the world, but if you can't communicate them to anyone, it won't matter."
He stopped cold and stared at me a bit.
He then admitted that I was right and that was the end of the conversation.
I've thought about this conversation a lot lately as I meander through the world of blogging. I'm a bit of a snob, I think. I really have a hard time when I read blogs or comments by people who don't bother with the basics of grammar or punctuation. I don't mind the occasional mis-spelling, or the occasional them for they or things like that. The ones that drive me bats are the ones where I can't even tell where one sentence ends and the next one starts. The ones where it's all one big paragraph with no separation. The one's where they don't even bother to capitalize the word "I".
I feel guilty about this, but I don't read those blogs. I remember running across a blog where the person had brilliant ideas, but she would meander through things and there was no punctuation. I couldn't read it. I know these people have great ideas too, and every one is entitled to an opinion, but I also think of my experience in college. "You can have the greatest ideas in the world, but if you don't know how to communicate them, no-one will ever know."
I recognize that I come from a very educated background. Every one in my family has at least one college degree--and many have multiple degrees. As we speak I have at least three siblings or spouses who are in the middle of more schooling. My educated background makes itself very clear in my verbage (did you know there is no such word. Verbiage is an insult meaning needlessly wordy. Verbage doesn't exist. Pity. It should.), or so I've been told. I'm not embarrassed by this. It's who I am. But even my third grader understands that a sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a period. That's what I'm talking about when I say the basics of punctuation. If a person doesn't even bother to do that, then I don't bother to read. I feel guilty about this attitude, but not enough to change it yet.
Call me a snob if you will.
I think I already did.
(Just in case you are wondering, I don't have near the problem talking to people as I do reading them. It's the inner editor in me that rears it's ugly head when I've got words in front of me. I just realized that.)
Books--Ranger's Apprentice 5 is out and Faramir is bringing it home to me tonight. I'll keep you posted when I get done. Otherwise it's been mostly re-reads.
Housekeeping--I'm a housekeeper in training. I have taken some before pictures. Unfortunately, I have made no progress on the after. So hold me to it.
I don't think you a snob... I failed grammar I'm sorry.
I like that you read my blog anyway, even if you cringe from time to time. I appreciate it so much more now, when you do leave a comment. Thank you!
And ps. I haven't even taken before pics of my house because it's horrible... ugh!
I have the exact same snobbery issues.
Not that I think less of a person. Just that it hurts my brain a bit.
You wouldn't expect a fashion designer to shop at Walmart, would you?
I'm afraid you may be totally disgusted with my run-ons (and possible other grammar issues). But I understand, since there are certain things that bug me too.
Sometimes I wish I had a blog editor (could you be mine? :)
Should I point out your dangling modifier? You know, as one grammar henchman to another? Those are the ones that kill me in my own writing. I can't ever seem to see them when I use them, but...so it goes.
And I get your grammar issues. There's one blog I read that's so hysterical I wade through it anyway, but only one. I can't get through most of the grammar-challenged ones, either.
English is my second language so I stumble a lot with the rules of sentence construction. But I try. And I think that's what I look for in others, too. That they try and not be lazy. It's really very helpful and educational for me to find people like you who are experts from whom I can learn. Maybe I should check out Melanie J.
Me too. Or is it I too. ;)
I don't think I'm quite as good a writer as you, but basic things like you/your/you're and s/'s drive me CRAZY!!!! It frustrates me that I make mistakes with commas and run-ons and don't know how to fix them....I start too many sentences with so or and or but too. I'd never be able to make sense of a paragraph with no capital letters or punctuation.
So (there I go again) we never got to read your thoughts on the quotes in your last post. Do tell. Inquiring minds want to know. ;)
abra, I can say without reserve, that you are not one of the people that bug me. I promise.
im talking about people who type like this all the time without even thinking and who never put any punctuation or capitals or anything in their blogs noone i know here does stuff like this
(Can I tell you how many times I had to go back and fix my correct stuff in that last paragraph? Lots!)
You all make me laugh and cry and I really don't have issues with any of you. Otherwise I probably wouldn't stop by your blogs quite as often as I do.
Ditto on the dress thoughts.
Ditto on the tired thoughts.
Ditto on the being a communication snob thoughts ... although I did major in science so I apologize to you now if you find many a grammar error on my site :) !! But it hurts my brain, too, when I go to sites where there is no punctuation, no paragraph shifts, etc. I am a firm believer in utilizing good white space.
I think the problems with punctuation and grammar will only get worse as text messaging continues. Now everything has an abbreviation and full words and sentences aren't allowed. I can only imagine how frustrated college professors are getting. Thanks for reading my blog. I miss you, friend.
So I know that I was probably the first to diss(sp?) on the dress, but there was an article in the NYT about it and it made me appreciate the dress a bit more. The dress is really a sleeveless one and looks pretty cool that way, but Michelle Obama put a cardigan over the top of it to keep warm. It's grown on me and I kind of like it now, but I still wouldn't have chosen it!
Pardon my grammatical errors. I don't know how I missed out on the English education in our family, but I did! I hope you love me anyway! :)
It's not being snobby to want to comprehend what you are reading. That is what punctuation is for; it makes things clear which are already clear in conversation. My father was an English teacher and we spoke very correctly at home. I had a large vocabulary (I read a lot) but by the time I got to jr. high, I was being so regularly ridiculed, I had to dumb myself down a bit. In fact, many people I know are astounded that I actually wrote a book since they see me as a bit of an airhead (which I am but what that has to do with anything I really can't say). That is one reason why it is so much fun to write in the Regency time period. Of course, some of the regency cant, terms and ways of speaking can be incomprehensible, too, so one has to be careful.