ADMIN: Re: The bottom line on professionalism in TW

[Eric Ray <ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com>]

The final word is the position effectively articulated by Bruce
Byfield: 

> The point isn't whether grammar is important. I think you can
> take for granted that most subscribers to this list do their best
> to write well, and wince when they make a public mistake. The
> point is that the importance of grammar can easily be
> exaggerated.
 
> For one thing, a document that contains a few grammatical
> mistakes may be embarrassing to the writer and possibly confusing
> to the reader, but often it may still more or less succeed in
> getting its point across. It isn't the best possible
> communication (which, obviously, iis what we should aim for), but
> it is still roughly successful. To worry too much about grammar
> is to get lost in process when what matters is results.
 
> For another, is grammar any more important than accuracy or order
> of information? Than readability and legibility? Any writing
> requires balancing a number of factors, so why should grammar be
> considered more important than any other? I suspect that one
> reason that people harp on grammar is that it's easier to
> perceive than some of these other issues. But the main reason, I
> suspect, is that the unimaginative way that grammar tends to be
> taught in school leaves everyone with the impression that it is
> an orderly, rule-based subject, that can be discussed in
> either-or terms: either a usage is correct, or it isn't. However,
> as countless discussions on this list have shown, grammar isn't
> really that simply when you get out of the classroom.
 
> Most importantly, harping on grammar often becomes a way to score
> cheap points - a sort of ad hominem attack that accuses the
> person who makes the mistake of ignorance. When used in this way
> (and please note that I am NOT singling out anybody here),
> grammar stops being a tool for communication and starts being a
> tool for power and control. Maybe I've read too much George
> Orwell, or seen too much, but I consider the use of lanaguage for
> anything other than communication to be a perversion of its
> purpose.

And that's precisely why nitpicking posts on this list isn't  
allowed, and why this discussion is over. 
Harping on grammar isn't allowed and won't be allowed, 
so discussions of the appropriateness of the same
(or of the appropriateness of being concerned about the
grammar or presentation of the message you post) are
pretty much moot. Further postings on this topic will
be automatically discarded. 

If you want to be careful about grammar and spelling and
the like, good for you. If not, that's your choice too.

Eric
ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com
TECHWR-L Listowner