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Oh, baloney. What a bunch of reverse snobbery. That's quite a rationalization on your part, for you're actually arguing that how you speak shouldn't affect how people see you. You might as well argue against sunrise, sunset, and the revolution of the planets around the sun.
Well, let me just lay it on the line. It does absolutely affect how people see you. Open your mouth in conversation with someone for the first time, and within a matter of seconds you're telling them exactly what to think of you. If you choose to speak like an illiterate, then you will be treated like one. It's the verbal equivalent of wearing sweatpants and a raggedy t-shirt to a job interview or on a date. You might as well wear a flashing neon sign on your forehead that reads, "Halfwit."
As a result, you will be passed over for jobs and promotions. If you have a job, you will not be invited to meetings of any consequence. Your opinion will be discounted. On the other hand, if you speak in an articulate way, then you'll be treated as if you have a brain. I've seen it happen time and again in just about every possible setting and situation. The ones with command of the language succeed while the ones who speak like someone out of an episode of the Beverly Hillbillies or What's Happenin' do not. It's not me making that judgment. It's humanity.
That being said, how on earth did you get the idea that speaking as if you were something out of Oliver Twist is a badge of honor? And how did you come up with the idea that one is a snob to expect something approaching proper English? It's the equivalent of a 400-lb. person complaining about how nobody can get past his or her obesity to see the true inner person. As an aside, by the way, I don't correct people's grammar, for that is indeed rude. At the same time, a person's language is actually quite indicative of their intellect. As I said at the beginning of my post you quoted, I don't really worry about the occasional goof. But a constant torrent of bad grammar tells me that the speaker is either lazy or stupid. There just aren't two ways about it. It's pretty foolproof.
And, quite frankly, if you are that lackadaisical in how you express yourself then you are likely being discounted by most of the world. My aforementioned employee had essentially hit the ceiling in her career. She had no brain injury or chronic condition that kept her from speaking English in a passable way. She wasn't going to rise any further in life because she spoke as if she'd never seen the inside of a high school, let alone a college. And when you're in the business of asking for tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of dollars of a client's money, you better be certain that you don't have a hair out of place in how you present yourself. Sprinkling the word ain't or I seen throughout one's conversation doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the clients writing the checks.
You missed the entire point of what I said.....how do you know that the person you're talking to hasn't had a brain injury or learning disabled or something that effect? You don't. Just because the woman you worked with didn't have these problems you cannot assume someone else might not, yet you're at the ready to call them 'forrest gump' and 'halfwit.' I don't consider myself lacksidaisal in how I express myself and yes I have a job and yes I manage to be invited to the office meetings, parties and everything else. Go figure for someone who doesn't meet YOUR standards.
What does a 400lbs person weight have to do with their personality? By your logic you are only able to see the 'inner person' of a 95lbs - 125lbs weight class then? Yea, because that makes perfect sense. Not really.
I think it's pretty obvious to everyone here that society will judge you on how you speak, dress and everything else you presentand I don't remember saying otherwise. What I said was: People need to stop acting as if they are superior human beings based on these things and then using these 'markers' to ostracize the person as if they are worthless. You seem to not know the difference between these two trains of thoughts.
Ha, at you trying to throw around the word 'snobbery' when that's all you've displayed thus far. This line sums it up: "If you choose to speak like an illiterate, then you will be treated like one." It may have never occured to you why you're busy riding your high horse to treat a so called 'illiterate' person like you would any other. You can take note that the person doesn't speak or write well as would anyone that has had more education, but that doesn't give you carte blanche to sh*t all over them. Wow, imagine that.
Last edited by Doll Eyes; 03-15-2013 at 12:03 AM..
It's only perfect when I'm giving someone else trouble about their writing and then I make sure it is but otherwise I'm not too concerned about posting on a forum b/c I have better things to do with my time than to endlessly proofread. Also, before I quoted you, I did check on OWL to make sure the rules for possessives are correct b/c I don't think anything would make me look more foolish than telling someone that they're breaking a punctuation rule, when in fact they're not. Besides that, at times the rules and spellings can change and it's good to stay up to date if you're going to be in the business of giving someone trouble.
To get back to the OP though--yes I did make sure that my writing was perfect in my profile when I was OL dating but am now dating a man who is extremely intelligent but can't spell worth a dern. I'm fine with that b/c I'm more interested in the ideas he expresses than in how he spells the words and he has plenty of worthwhile things to say.
You missed the entire point of what I said.....how do you know that the person you're talking to hasn't had a brain injury or learning disabled or something that effect? You don't. Just because the woman you worked with didn't have these problems you cannot assume someone else might not, yet you're at the ready to call them 'forrest gump' and 'halfwit.' I don't consider myself lacksidaisal in how I express myself and yes I have a job and yes I manage to be invited to the office meetings, parties and everything else. Go figure for someone who doesn't meet YOUR standards.
What does a 400lbs person weight have to do with their personality? By your logic you are only able to see the 'inner person' of a 95lbs - 125lbs weight class then? Yea, because that makes perfect sense. Not really.
I think it's pretty obvious to everyone here that society will judge you on how you speak, dress and everything else you presentand I don't remember saying otherwise. What I said was: People need to stop acting as if they are superior human beings based on these things and then using these 'markers' to ostracize the person as if they are worthless. You seem to not know the difference between these two trains of thoughts.
Ha, at you trying to throw around the word 'snobbery' when that's all you've displayed thus far. This line sums it up: "If you choose to speak like an illiterate, then you will be treated like one." It may have never occured to you why you're busy riding your high horse to treat a so called 'illiterate' person like you would any other. You can take note that the person doesn't speak or write well as would anyone that has had more education, but that doesn't give you carte blanche to sh*t all over them. Wow, imagine that.
Who says I sh*t all over them? But I surely won't be entrusting that person with a job or any significance or, if I were single, entering into a relationship with her. And, to be perfectly honest with you, if a person of normal intelligence can't master simple subject/verb agreement then their claim on my respect is pretty tenuous to begin with.
I'm always amazed at people who want respect in life but never take steps to maintain it.
I know two men who are fairly intelligent and with whom I can hold a good conversation. One of them uses words like "I seen" and "you was being" and the like. He writes that way and speaks that way. But he's still pretty intelligent when it comes to logic and problem solving. Same with the other man. The second man man uses better grammar than the first one, but he can't text or e-mail to save his life. He's an expert in his field and he's also very kind (he's what one might call a true gentleman). Neither of these men have "book smarts" but they are smart.
Because of the two examples I just gave (and the fact that my own spelling and grammar aren't the best), I cut other people a lot of slack. I think it would be hypocritical of me to do otherwise. I hope to attract people that are like me (who are accepting of imperfect grammar) because I don't want to feel like I have to get a copywriter to review all my messages--something like that is just a little too intense for me. That said, I am not really fond of "text speak" because it's very hard for me to read. I feel like I have to decrypt it. Plus, I associate it with immaturity. So I probably would dismiss it simply because communication with the other person would be too difficult.
Far as I can tell we weren't talking about the occasional slip up. Also, I think it's obvious that the person is going to be 'judged like it or not.' Isn't that the case with most things? But call it like it is: people just want yet another reason to look down their nose at someone else. It's nothing new. Outside of a school setting, people that go around correcting other people's grammar usually aren't doing it out of the kindness of their heart.Really it's just to puff up their own ego. I don't know what issues that woman you worked with had, but pretty clear by the names you don't think she was worth a crap. It really doesn't do much to add 'she had a good heart,' after that -- give me a break. Personally I didn't appreciate so called grown men putting me down on the dating sites for saying I was LD. I got a taste of how they think they are God's gift to everyone so can't say I'm anymore surprised now. For all you know that woman you worked with could've been LD or had a brain injury, any number of things. But people don't care. Humanity needs to come to a close ASAP.
You see all manner of correction here, some are from well-meaning folks and others, like one I observed recently, are just from pretentious asses. I really don't mind the former and certainly am pleased to see that the health care professionals, historians, attorneys, scientists and the like here who also offer advice and correction have rarely seen fit to emulate the latter.
Grammar nazis bug me at times. There is a time and place where its beneficial to sound intellectual and speak proper and there are places, like CDR, where it simply makes zero difference. Loosen up nancies.
Who says I sh*t all over them? But I surely won't be entrusting that person with a job or any significance or, if I were single, entering into a relationship with her. And, to be perfectly honest with you, if a person of normal intelligence can't master simple subject/verb agreement then their claim on my respect is pretty tenuous to begin with.
I'm always amazed at people who want respect in life but never take steps to maintain it.
Good for you!
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