I think one of my biggest pet peeves has always been poor spelling and grammar in a professional situation. I'm not talking about typos and grammar mistakes that you come across regularly in personal email (and blogs!) I'm talking about big, written displays in retail stores and restaurants, as well as "company-wide" email that is sent by supervisors and CEO's.
In Taiwan, where the English language is distorted and destroyed on a daily basis, one could go crazy trying to decipher all the bad English. I'm still scratching my head over the giant sign outside of Taipei 101 which read "COMMING SOOM!" Taipei 101 is probably one of the most visited tourist attractions in Taiwan, so this is pretty embarrassing. To see more examples of this, you can check my old blog entry here: http://kenberglund.blogspot.com/2008/04/taiwans-wacky-english.html
Taiwanese people, though, are not native English speakers, so you really can't blame them for trying. What bothers me is, here in the USA, I continually receive company email from management and so called "superiors" who can't seem to put two complete sentences together. For me, it's a bit frustrating to work under people that you feel should be under you.
I remember back when I was working for this company called SCAN in the late 90's, I got "talked to" for correcting a fellow employees email. I didn't do it in public. I sent a private email explaining when to use "there," "their," or "they're." This employee got furious and told her supervisor, who then complained to me. Had it just been a one time thing, I would have ignored it, but this particular person made the same mistake over and over. In my mind, I was just trying to save her from further embarrassment, but it wasn't taken that way. Some people are extremely offended if you try to correct their English. To this day, I still get email at the hospital from someone who reminds me to "tell the patient it is there responsibility." Now I just sigh and click the delete button.
When I was in college, there was a Taco Bell restaurant on campus. This was during the days of the "Yo quiero Taco Bell!" talking chihuahua doll. They had an enormous display which read "THEIR BACK!" (referring to the dolls). I told the cashier about it.
"Oh, we don't have anything to do with that. Management sends us those." she told me.
"But, you know, this is a college campus. It looks bad." I reminded her.
"There's really nothing I can do about it." she answered.
And so it goes. The dumbing of America continues.
In Taiwan, where the English language is distorted and destroyed on a daily basis, one could go crazy trying to decipher all the bad English. I'm still scratching my head over the giant sign outside of Taipei 101 which read "COMMING SOOM!" Taipei 101 is probably one of the most visited tourist attractions in Taiwan, so this is pretty embarrassing. To see more examples of this, you can check my old blog entry here: http://kenberglund.blogspot.com/2008/04/taiwans-wacky-english.html
Taiwanese people, though, are not native English speakers, so you really can't blame them for trying. What bothers me is, here in the USA, I continually receive company email from management and so called "superiors" who can't seem to put two complete sentences together. For me, it's a bit frustrating to work under people that you feel should be under you.
I remember back when I was working for this company called SCAN in the late 90's, I got "talked to" for correcting a fellow employees email. I didn't do it in public. I sent a private email explaining when to use "there," "their," or "they're." This employee got furious and told her supervisor, who then complained to me. Had it just been a one time thing, I would have ignored it, but this particular person made the same mistake over and over. In my mind, I was just trying to save her from further embarrassment, but it wasn't taken that way. Some people are extremely offended if you try to correct their English. To this day, I still get email at the hospital from someone who reminds me to "tell the patient it is there responsibility." Now I just sigh and click the delete button.
When I was in college, there was a Taco Bell restaurant on campus. This was during the days of the "Yo quiero Taco Bell!" talking chihuahua doll. They had an enormous display which read "THEIR BACK!" (referring to the dolls). I told the cashier about it.
"Oh, we don't have anything to do with that. Management sends us those." she told me.
"But, you know, this is a college campus. It looks bad." I reminded her.
"There's really nothing I can do about it." she answered.
And so it goes. The dumbing of America continues.
I agree. I'm not perfect, but some things that are grossly misused drive me nuts.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, "then" and "than" are not interchangable.
"There," "their" and they're should not be interchangable either.