Good Grammar vs. Bad & Slang
This is really a huge pet peeve of mine. Where should the line be drawn? Now let me first say that I'm not perfect in this arena, but I strive to speak and write in accordance with the "arena" I'm in without overusing the ever popular slang talk. Am I alone in this frame of thought? I think NOT!
Just this morning I was reading some tweets and one in particular caught my attention so I clicked on over to read the referenced article. I thought "WOW, this is so true. I'll retweet it when I'm done.", but then I noticed a grammar error. No problem, its minor. Then another, and another.....STOP....I can't retweet this because it has too many grammar errors. I decided that I would instead TWEET about my annoyance with the use of bad grammar and in the process, before I could post, I came across another tweet from AdviceToWriters with a quote admonishing us to:
Read Bad Stuff Source: http://www.advicetowriters.com/home/2011/10/25/read-bad-stuff.html
"If you are going to learn from other writers don’t only read the great ones, because if you do that you’ll get so filled with despair and the fear that you’ll never be able to do anywhere near as well as they did that you’ll stop writing. I recommend that you read a lot of bad stuff, too. It’s very encouraging. “Hey, I can do so much better than this.” Read the greatest stuff but read the stuff that isn’t so great, too. Great stuff is very discouraging."
EDWARD ALBEE
Read Bad Stuff Source: http://www.advicetowriters.com/home/2011/10/25/read-bad-stuff.html
"If you are going to learn from other writers don’t only read the great ones, because if you do that you’ll get so filled with despair and the fear that you’ll never be able to do anywhere near as well as they did that you’ll stop writing. I recommend that you read a lot of bad stuff, too. It’s very encouraging. “Hey, I can do so much better than this.” Read the greatest stuff but read the stuff that isn’t so great, too. Great stuff is very discouraging."
EDWARD ALBEE
Did I just get "served"??? -->>
SMH = Shaking My Head
Well, not completely, but enough to make me reconsider my TWEET. The quote above is really about challenging those of us who choose to write, whether professionally or casually, to broaden our scope of reading in order to learn, not just from the masters of writing, but those that are up and coming "masters" as well. I recall reading a few articles about this very subject over the years, did some online researching and found one in particular that I enjoyed. This article, The Importance of Good Spelling and Grammar, sums up my viewpoint pretty well and gives some great examples.
In closing, 6 Things to remember and consider when writing and speaking, whether it be for a web site, a blog (business or personal), posting on FaceBook, Twitter or even the casual YouTube video poster:
- Know your audience.
- Appeal to the masses and not your own personal style when it's going to be public.
- Use slang AND "texting abbreviations" in moderation.
- Proof read.
- Proof read (again).
- Have someone else PROOF READ your writing before posting if possible. :-)
Feel free to comment and voice your thoughts on this subject! [or even point out a typo or error :-) , I'd appreciate it and correct it.]
