Is proper grammar a lost art? 1

[Paul4Meep]

More and more these days, I begin to wonder if proper grammar is a lost art. All I know is that my high school and college both crammed it down our throats. However, I often answer customer e-mails for my company, and wonder what ever happened to grammar.

Nevermind the customer e-mails. Who really cares about being perfectionistic with your grammar, punctuation, etc. in your personal life? Well, I still do, but I'm weird.

What I'm talking about in this thread is my co-workers. Often times, an issue may take several e-mails to resolve. This means, if I get such an e-mail, I need to look at the customer's history to find the related e-mails and see what they have said, and my co-workers have said in response thus far.

In doing so, I am shocked at what passes for good grammar, punctuation, etc. amongst my co-workers. They are representing our company! The saddest thing about it is that some of the worst people are the actual e-mail reps! (We have a group of dedicated e-mail reps who are the senior e-mail people. They answer e-mails, answer employee questions regarding how to answer an e-mail, all escalated issues through e-mail are sent to them....)

Sometimes, even with these top level e-mail folks, I'm forced to read their response to an e-mail over and over again, and I'm still left with a puzzled look on my face saying "HUH?!" as I rub my beard in confusion.

Another thing that drives me a little crazy that even our top level e-mail reps do: When you represent the company, there is no "I," there is no "me," there is only "We." "We are sorry for any inconvenience," not, "I'm sorry to hear that happened to you." "We will check into the issue and get back to you when it has been resolved," not, "I will look into this and contact you later." I mean, come on. That is actually one of the first things this company teaches us when you start as a customer service rep!

 

[deputydoofy]

Proper grammar has been a lost art for a long time. People barely know the difference between:
* then vs. than
* lose vs. loose
* regardless vs. irregardless (love that one)
* converse vs. conversate (another great "word")
* their vs. there vs. they're (people just make up times to use each one)

Obviously, the list can go on, but I present these not as typos people make, but simply people not knowing the difference between these "words."

I love society.

 

[Paul4Meep]

Ooo! I love your screen name. Is it Scream or Scary Movie related, or is that just a coincidence?

Proper grammar has been a lost art for a long time. People barely know the difference between:
* then vs. than

Great example.

* lose vs. loose

I hear ya there. I really loose my cool over that one. LOL! I know, I know, corny. I was also just kidding. I don't lose my cool, I just had to go for the lame pun.

* regardless vs. irregardless (love that one)

LOL! Is irregardless even a word?

* converse vs. conversate (another great "word")

LOL! That's GREAT! I know that one isn't a word.

* their vs. there vs. they're (people just make up times to use each one)

Yeah, that is a common mistake to. A few hints I give folks: There is one letter away from here, so you can remember that way how it is used. "What's the over there?" "You mean over here?" They're is the contraction for they are. That leaves only their, so therefore you know what it is for.

 

[deputydoofy]

Definitely Scary Movie. Ever since I saw that character, I took the name. A few others on the web share the name (how can you stop that?), but I'm all over the place so most fruitful searches on google for "deputydoofy" find me these days. Now, THAT'S scary. lol

 

[Paul4Meep]

That's cool. I liked Scary Movie. I was actually a bigger fan of the Scream movies it spoofed, though. I once had a Dewey Riley screen name I don't even remember now, and I currently have a Ghost Faced related screen name on IMDB (The Internet Movie Database).

 

[deputydoofy]

Yes. Good ol' IMDB.
I have a screen name on that, but I don't remember what it is.
As for Scream, I only remember the first one, though I'm sure I saw all 3 of them.

 

[Paul4Meep]

LOL. That happened to me before. I made an IMDB screen name once, didn't use it for a really long time, then couldn't remember what it was. I could swear it was Ghostbusters related, (Both that and Ghostbusters 2 were among my favorite movies of all time. Perhaps my favorite period.) but I had them e-mail me my username and it was actually Scream related.

LOL! I liked all 3 Scream movies. The Scream Trilogy. I have the box sex on DVD. I think most people seemed to like the first a lot better, though.

 

[strongm]

Is the capital 'B' in the brackets above good grammar? ;-)

 

[deputydoofy]

Ghostbusters? Man, the first one is still my favorite. Don't get me wrong, I really like the 2nd one (and enjoy it very much), but still think it's lacking in comparison.
Ghostbusters 2 took too much from the cartoon (The REAL Ghostbusters, which I also liked very much). Too many rules were "bent" from GB1 to GB2. I could get into details, but that would be a different nerd forum. lol

I own both GB1 and GB2 and also downloaded a crap load of episodes of The REAL Ghostbusters as well. I looked for Ghostbusters Extreme (a newer cartoon that didn't last), but I can find it nowhere.

 

[SF0751]

Who really cares about being perfectionistic with your grammar, punctuation, etc. in your personal life? Well, I still do, but I'm weird.

I have the box sex on DVD.

Susan
"'I wish life was not so short,' he thought. 'Languages take such a time, and so do all the things one wants to know about.'"
- J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lost Road

 

[deputydoofy]

Listen, when people use the word "yous" (not use ) as the plural for "you," it is pretty pathetic.

 

[Paul4Meep]

Is the capital 'B' in the brackets above good grammar?

Where's this? You lost me.

Ghostbusters? Man, the first one is still my favorite. Don't get me wrong, I really like the 2nd one (and enjoy it very much), but still think it's lacking in comparison.
Ghostbusters 2 took too much from the cartoon (The REAL Ghostbusters, which I also liked very much). Too many rules were "bent" from GB1 to GB2. I could get into details, but that would be a different nerd forum. lol

I agree. One was better, but for me it is very close. I had the DVDs, but I still could not resist getting the new anniversary box set. It has a few episodes of the Real Ghostbusters on it.

Susan, that was freaking hilarious! LOL! Never let it be said that I cannot laugh at myself. I can't believe I missed that! I have to admit, as anal as I am about my own grammar, spelling, punctuation, typos, etc. I get too lazy to read back over my post before actually submitting it. Sometimes I copy it to Word to do a spell check, but other than that, I don't feel like reading it again until I get back to the thread.

 

[Paul4Meep]

Hey, yous guys wanna go get some lunch? Yous guys keep it down over there, will ya?

Okay, in all seriousness, i Muzr addmittt thet I don;t oftyn mak types. IM ean, thy jus drivw mr craszy. LOL. Sorry, corny joke.

 

[deputydoofy]

I tend to make typos but that's because I'm a 2-finger typist. I never did accept the correct typing method.

Hey, yous guys wanna go get some lunch? Yous guys keep it down over there, will ya?

HEY YOUS GUYS!!!! - my lame Electric Company joke.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/doofymusic

 

[Paul4Meep]

I tend to make typos but that's because I'm a 2-finger typist. I never did accept the correct typing method.

I didn't either. I typically only use four fingers, but the others do pitch in here and there. Somehow, though, it works for me. I type pretty darn fast. I also like to use my nose and my tongue sometimes. Okay, that's a lie.

 

[strongm]

>Where's this? You lost me

I could swear it was Ghostbusters related, (Both that and Ghostbusters 2 ...

 

[Paul4Meep]

Ah. Thanks. Yeah, I've never been sure how to handle paranthetical stuff when it is more than one sentence. Usually, you just treat paranthetical stuff like part of the same sentence. "I slapped him across the face (later I wondered if this were crazy) while calling him a smelly lemur." What I am always wonder is what do you do when it takes more than one sentence such as, "I danced down the middle of the street (Sometimes I do that, but not always. I guess it depends on my mood in the morning.) shouting that the beavers were trying to steel my can of beans.

 

[Paul4Meep]

What I am always wonder is what do you do...

YEAH! In my own threat about grammar, I typo! LOL. That should have said I am always wondering!

 

[deputydoofy]

YEAH! In my own threat about grammar, I typo! LOL. That should have said I am always wondering!

You made a threat about grammar? Yeah, some of these threats are fun to reply to.

Don't mess with me, threado. I threatened the thread.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/doofymusic

 

[Paul4Meep]

Jeepers! Did I do it again?! Man, I need sleep.