Dr. Shades's spelling and/or grammar lesson of the day

[Some Schmo]

Shades drives me crazy at times, but I like the grammar lessons. I don't think Shades was targeting you out of some personal slight. He just does this sometimes. In the age of the internet and typing over writing, I think these little reminders are important. I'm amazed by the number of people who plainly suck at grammar. For instance, I'm amazed at the number of people who use the phrase "the amount of people." Hearing/reading phrases like that make me grind my teeth.

If the reminders upset you, you should probably work on your English rather than blaming the messenger. I'm personally appreciative of people who take the time to write solid English. "You understood what I was trying to say" is a lame excuse for not checking your work.

[honorentheos]

I'll take interesting thoughts that have thumb fumbles and poorly worded sentences any day over bland, empty posts about crap no one cares about that are perfectly worded because Perfume is the kitschiest kawaii-kitsch Kitsch-Kitsch-Kawaii band ever!

Perfume isn't "kitch kawaii." They're a serious performing group. Take this epic performance mashup, for example:

https://youtu.be/CCfW6HFP5cI

One - Two! Always excited to perform the totally voluntary, not insincere in any way, participation in praise of our official band, the non-kitsch, non-kawaii Perfume! Remember our boys on the Malabar front! And the sailors in the Floating Fortresses!

[Dr. Shades]

Shades drives me crazy at times, but I like the grammar lessons. I don't think Shades was targeting you out of some personal slight. He just does this sometimes. In the age of the internet and typing over writing, I think these little reminders are important. I'm amazed by the number of people who plainly suck at grammar. For instance, I'm amazed at the number of people who use the phrase "the amount of people." Hearing/reading phrases like that make me grind my teeth.

HEAR YE, HEAR YE! Some Schmo is 100% correct on all counts!!

If the reminders upset you, you should probably work on your English rather than blaming the messenger. I'm personally appreciative of people who take the time to write solid English. "You understood what I was trying to say" is a lame excuse for not checking your work.

THIS. Dear reader, integrate the above three sentences until they're part of your very core.

One - Two! Always excited to perform the totally voluntary, not insincere in any way, participation in praise of our official band, the non-kitsch, non-kawaii Perfume!

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

The day cometh when every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess, that Perfume is the one true performing group. That process begins here on DiscussMormonism.com.

Remember our boys on the Malabar front! And the sailors in the Floating Fortresses!

I'm not as cultured as you are (or anyone else is), so I'm afraid I don't get the reference.

[honorentheos]

One - Two! Always excited to perform the totally voluntary, not insincere in any way, participation in praise of our official band, the non-kitsch, non-kawaii Perfume!

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

The day cometh when every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess, that Perfume is the one true performing group. That process begins here on DiscussMormonism.com.

If only that radiant dawn would arrive sooner! Every time I try to google a prayer in faithful adoration of a fine Perfume performance I am led astray into Baby Metal.

https://youtu.be/ng8mh6JUIqY



Damn, damn these fallen google fingers and the ease with which they are led into iniquity!

Remember our boys on the Malabar front! And the sailors in the Floating Fortresses!

I'm not as cultured as you are (or anyone else is), so I'm afraid I don't get the reference.

Hmm. If only there were a way to copy a phrase and find it's source easily. Oh, shall we never see the day when Perfume shall triumph and Shades use google to figure something out rather than mess up the acronyms on the board and learn something at the same time?! Curse this hell that hath descended upon us!

[Some Schmo]

If the reminders upset you, you should probably work on your English rather than blaming the messenger. I'm personally appreciative of people who take the time to write solid English. "You understood what I was trying to say" is a lame excuse for not checking your work.

THIS. Dear reader, integrate the above three sentences until they're part of your very core.

It seems clear that there is a certain sort of personality (ours) that requires a particular standard when it comes to what we read. It probably has something to do with a person's relationship to reading. If a person loves to read, they likely care about the grammar rules more than people who find reading boring or a task. I'm speculating here, obviously, but it seems intuitive. If you read a lot, you're familiar with the rules.

If you're in my age group where you were raised prior to widespread use of the internet, you've grown up primarily reading stuff that was well-curated. It had been drafted, reviewed, rewritten, and final-polished before publication. You read stuff that had very few errors. These days, with the internet and anyone able to publish their ramblings for all to see, we're all witnessing a great lack of writing skills in the general population. It's alarming and sad because it's indicative of how poorly a great many people think, or at least, work to articulate their thoughts.

But this is the thing I can't stop thinking about: we all tend to judge people's intelligence and competence based on the way they communicate. If your grammar sucks, you will be judged harshly. People can't help it. We're judging what you actually wrote. Therefore, if you happen to come across advice on how to improve your communication, you should consider it valuable and pay attention to it. Adopting good advice will benefit you in the long run. People tend to admire those they regard articulate.

[Moksha]

Perfume is the kitschiest kawaii-kitsch Kitsch-Kitsch-Kawaii band ever!

Oh yeah? If Trump had decorated his New York apartment with kawaii instead of gold leaf, we might not be worrying about a Proud Boys riot on January 6th. Had Trump listened to Shades' grammar lessons for his tweets... well, I really can't think of anything else to finish that sentence. The sun will be coming up in an hour.

Remember our boys on the Malabar front! And the sailors in the Floating Fortresses!

Let's hope the war with Eastasia ends soon.

[dantana]

But this is the thing I can't stop thinking about: we all tend to judge people's intelligence and competence based on the way they communicate. If your grammar sucks, you will be judged harshly. People can't help it. We're judging what you actually wrote.

Yup, and that is why I squawked at being used as the guy for the 'before' picture.

[Morley]

Four periods.

Are you sure about that? 'Cause that's news to me.

Fricking google it, Shades. Or check any of the dozens of English language stylebooks.

.

[Chap]

Am I the only one to think that there is a distinction to be made between matters of grammar and matters of style?

For example -

GRAMMAR: "might of done it" is a grammatical error for "might have done it", caused by a misunderstanding of the contracted form "might've done it". It is a misrepresentation of a basic feature of English in common with a number of other languages, which is that a past tense can be formed by using the verb 'to have' and a past participle such as 'eaten', thus 'I have eaten my dinner'. English speakers do not however say 'I of eaten my dinner'.

STYLE: How many dots should be used in an ellipsis, and so on.

The first is a matter of the core structure of the language. Mess that up badly enough, and you will either not be understood at all, or may be misunderstood. The second is a matter of conventions about issues that often don't really affect the meaning at all, such as the example above, and whether one should put single quotes inside double quotes, or vice versa. Editors who spend their time correcting MSS for influential publishers have codified decisions on such matters, mostly to avoid having to spend time arguing what idiosyncrasies an author can or cannot be permitted in their writing. You want to publish with them? OK, follow their rules. Otherwise, do whatever the heck you think makes your writing most effective.

Remember that the ancient Greeks (for instance) originally did without punctuation entirely, and even dispensed with spaces between words. They let the grammar and syntax do the work, and it worked pretty well for them. Some of our obsessions would therefore seem quite bizarre from their point of view.

[dantana]

Here's a little tidbit that certainly blongs in the un-important information. basket: In the island republic of Vanuatu, one of the official languages is what amounts to 'pigeon english.' On the label of one of their beer brands is "Bia", with the ad line "blong yumi" - Beer, belongs to you and me.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bislama

What I could really personally use is a little primer on the correct usage of colons, semicolons and apostrophes.