Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed the high level of incompetence shown, (especially where the young guys are concerned), in the arena of grammer? Dare I say spelling, but I am a lousy speller as well. Sister Virginia would kick my ass if she thought I was killing the English language the way these people do. As would most of the other teachers I've had, not to mention my mother! How does a person make it through life without the ability to communicate? I fear we as a society will be overrun by a culture of profesional communicators that can only say correctly, "Would you like to supersize that sir'? Am I just an idiot for noticing this or should I be happy that my son will grow up with the ability to speak and write? Or is that speek and rite?

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Thanks, ee779, for making me feel like a big fat jerk now!!!! But I appreciate your comments.
:)
Here's a saint for you. Sister Virginia left the order 20 years after I was a pupil of hers so that she could get married. This was done for the single purpose of being able to adopt troubled and handicapped children with her RICH new husband. This may sound a little far fetched, but she adopted or fostered 115 boys and girls! After all of that service to others her husbad developed alsheimers, (yea I know spelling), and ended up with yet another child. An 80 year old child. He recently died after not spending 1 minute in an institution. She cared for him in his home the entire time. These children love her to this day as I do. Recently, she and my mother went to the Vatican on holiday and I'm sure she will holiday with god when she passes.
My grade school (Holy Cross) was where they sent the teaching nuns who were, for the most part, starting to lose it a little bit. These women wanted to continue to teach, the Order knew they couldn't leave them in the high school, so they sent them to Holy Cross. In my mind this was like chumming the shark tank, some of those kids were just the essence of evil, but for the most part they had a gentle "step down" time into full retirement.
I certainly can't complain about the level of education I received, and this is where my love of the written word was instilled.
I don't see why the fire service would prove the exception to the rule that if you're going to conduct business, be it obtain new equipment, train new personnel, write SOP's or whatever day-to-day business you need to conduct, that it be done any less professionally or done carelessly.
I wasn't trying to offend anyone, I too, agree the officers and other members should conduct business with the upmost proffessionalism.
Thank You Jana,
It's thoughts like this from young people that make me feel as though we're not doomed as a culture. Your abilitys give you a leg up on your competition in life. What we say, and how we say it, says many things about us. The further we strive for knowledge, the better we will all be for it. You have my respect for realizing that.
Jana:
Texting has created a monster in that, for those of us who don't use it, but are communicated to by someone using it, it's like being around people who are talking in a foreign language and you can't understand a word that they are saying. And I get the uneasy feeling that they are making fun of me! (wink)
For what it's worth, I am not narrow-minded to believe that poor grammar, spelling, sentence structure and incongruous thought is relegated to only young people.
I know plenty of people my age who can slaughter our English with the best of them.
However; I am thrilled that you understand the importance of our basic communication skills.
Thank you for the thoughtful reply.
Art
Sometimes the grammatical errors I see make me wonder just what it is that is going through the mind of particular posters when they hit "send" (when I realize that nothing was probably going through their mind). But then I am also hit by a dose of reality when I re-read a post or two of mine and find a glaring inaccuracy or typo and I realize, it's just too damn hard to catch all of those pesky errors sometimes. So I try and catch them (because writing things pretty much pays the bills at my house) and just pray that I don't come across as a total dolt when I miss something.

I think in most cases the informality of writing on the web encourages occasional errors, because nothing I write when I'm posting really follows any formalized rules of syntax. But I think that when I'm posting, by writing it in a very loose, conversational tone puts people at ease and lets them follow your train of thought.

Who knows? All I can do is hope that some of these posters remember the difference between the language they use in posting and the language they should be using in formal communication.
Art,
You might just be the funniest man I don't know.
:)
no, no, no EE.....I was trying to tell you that you were making me sound small-minded....that's all....good post by you!!
I share your sentiments Mick -

Many of the bloggers appear to be just learning English - as a second language.

I too attempt to write in a conversational style, although that can be construed as "You write like you speak," which, quite deservedly, is not necessarily a compliment to some folks.

However, none of that relieves us "adults" of the responsibility to write with respect of the English language as it was intended.

Unfortunately, I've worked with and for "adults" who don't have have even the most basic "command" of the English language, let alone planning, logistics or operations! (Punned with intent).

I've even received correspondence from my childrens' teachers that I've corrected and sent back, marked up. Believe me when I tell you - that really pisses them off...

Keep the faith (and the White Out handy).
that will be quite enough out of the both of you, Tiger and Mick....imagine...trying to raise the intellectual bar of this conversation. I won't have it, I tell you.I simply won't have it.
Please return to the original snarkiness of this discussion.
As you were.
Yes! Someone else who catches that, too! I find it a bit odd when someone claims they "could care less". I imagine they never stopped and thought about the implications of what they're saying.

I, too, could care less about things I'm passionate about!

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