2068 Reedin n Ritin

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Back in my day (sit back and listen to the little old lady) we read. We read good books, and a lot of them. TV channels were few. We didn't have computers, or the internet, or iPods, or even transistor radios. We didn't have spellcheck, where you can accept a correction without thinking about it. We wrote real letters. When we wrote a research paper, we actually had to read the reference documents. Most of what we read was written by professional writers, proofed by professional proofreaders, and edited by professional editors, all of whom had respect for the language.

We absorbed vocabulary, spelling, grammar, construction, and usage by osmosis, and it was reinforced by our teachers all the way through school. Along the way we also absorbed attention to detail, and most of us learned critical thinking.

Today's youth don't read, not like we did, anyway. Most of what they read is written by each other! Errors, bad grammar, bad spelling, all the faults that lead to difficulties in interpretation, are reinforced. Detail is no longer important. Structure is not important. I don't think anyone is teaching about homonyms any more. The wrong homonyms are increasingly turning up everywhere. I am sick of seeing the increasing use of "site" when people mean "sight".

Is conjugation still taught? If so, why are so many people having so much trouble with the various forms of "lie" (as in "to lie down", as opposed to "to tell an untruth")?

It's getting really sad, especially because we are now seeing the effects as these young folks grow up and move into business, advertising, journalism, spokesperson positions, and even (God help us) teaching, where they perpetuate and exacerbate the problem.

I'm seeing things now that clam to be professional efforts, and I look at them and think, "Didn't anyone proofread or review this before it was released?"

The evidence tells me that no one is reviewing anything any more. Junior employees are told to put something out, and they write it up and out it goes without any review.

A current example is the hundreds of absentee ballots sent out by Rensselaer County, NY, wherein the candidate's name is listed as "Barack Osama". They claim it's a typo. Yeah, sure, the "s" is nowhere near the "b", folks. Whatever. Did no one review this, did no one proofread it, before it went out?. Oddly enough, they claim it was reviewed and approved by three different people, and missed. You know, that scares me more. There wasn't much writing on the page. That says that reviewers aren't reviewing.

I've already mentioned how I decorate the local school newsletters with the red pen of frustration, and mail them back to the superintendent's office anonymously. Don't they have any English teachers on staff who could review them before they're mailed? Worse, I doubt that teacher review would have helped.

My broadband support puts out a message when the device is first plugged in: "Please wait while configuring your device". Uh, did anyone review that message before it was shipped? Did no one notice that egregious sin of dangling a participle? Did no one suggest, "Please wait while we configure your device" or "Please wait while your device is configured"? Why did they use the most awkwardly incorrect construction possible? Does anyone even KNOW what a dangling participle IS these days?

It's snowballing, and it makes me sick.

I'm hoping Harry Potter can help, but even the advances of a new generation of readers can be held back by the sloppiness that surrounds them on all sides. Including the schools.
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