Bloggertone

Hi David, Welcome to Bloggertone. As someone who has benefited from promoting myself online & as someone who a poor speller etc, this is an issue for me. It is not always possible but to get someone else to proof read your stuff is a good idea in my opinion.

A teacher who says “I seen his last writing assignment and it still needs work.”
A project manager who doesn’t notice a pee dribble by his zipper.
A doctor/nurse who smokes and gives advice on how to get healthier by changing a habit.

Thanks for all the comments, colleagues. Derbhile’s remark raises the issue of why we treat content differently. An English teacher once told me that the Chemistry teacher in her school had offered to take her class for her. She replied: Would you let me take your Chemistry class? “You must be joking!” he said. And she said: “What then makes you think you’re qualified to take an English class? I’ve spent just as many years training to be an expert in my field as you have in yours.” Briefly, few of us know our Chemistry, or advanced html, so we leave it to the experts. But we all read and write, so we tend to undervalue the know-how and skills required. (I should add, though, that many people who aren’t professional writers are great writers and communicators.)Anyway, on a lighter note, thank God there were no proofreaders around when school kids came up with the following gems:”When William the Conqueror approached London, the citizens quacked with fear.”"When the Vikings raided the Irish monasteries, they took all the valuables, including the women.” [In this one, I think 'circumscribed' may have been the word that was half-remembered:] “Sir Walter Raleigh circumcised the globe with a 70 foot clipper.”

Hi David,
I always liked English, and have been quite particular about spelling, punctuation and grammar when writing. However, I have found myself getting sloppy as I use Social Networking and texting more and more. Sometimes, if there is no spell check or auto-correct, I won’t bother to correct little errors.
I feel that this is becoming the norm and filtering into the professional world also, with blogging, forums and commenting.
However, my personal thoughts are that we should maintain professionalism with the written word when dealing with customers, clients, suppliers etc. But this line is also fading as I meet people on twitter, facebook personally, and then that relationship turns professional. Do I stop using the smilies and LOLs?

Interesting point, Elaine. I suppose that ‘chatting’ on twitter and Facebook can resemble the way we talk to each other informally — with lots of ums and ahs, false-starts, repeats, overlaps, and so on. But what we say to friends vanishes into their brains and the air.
The trouble is that, on social-networking sites, we’re writing down our informal communications, so they’re given a kind of permanence. So more care is needed.
In any case, it’s no harm to get into the habit of being exact – without getting too uptight about it.

Thanks Niall – yeah the 25% R&D tax credit is a very useful tax break to consider and it’s not just test tubes in a lab type stuff that qualifies. The definition of what constitutes R&D is quiet wide ranging and could very easily apply to a lot of corporate businesses out there! Cheers

Cheers Fiona – hopefully it will help to save a few quid for someone. Have a good Xmas break. Chat again soon!

Thanks Elaine for the welcome – feel like the new kid!! Anyway glad you found the post useful and informative – hopefully it can save someone somewhere a few euros. Happy Christmas to you and hope you have a successful new year!