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Re: #$ -at- % secretary stuff and the Grammar Guru
Subject:Re: #$ -at- % secretary stuff and the Grammar Guru From:Dick Margulis <ampersandvirgule -at- WORLDNET -dot- ATT -dot- NET> Date:Wed, 13 May 1998 21:34:22 -0400
K R Wolfe wrote:
>
>
> I find that as a writer, everyone expects me to be the grammar guru.
[--snip--]
I don't have time to edit every little 2 page memo
> that comes through my colleagues' doors. Cripes! These people are
> supposed to have degrees, right?
>
> How do you deal with these people? Where is the dividing line between
> wanting to help and wanting to buy a gun?
I take the opposite position. I would rather be associated with an
outfit where the paper that goes out the door is as clean as possible.
Why risk offending a customer who _does_ take spelling and grammar
seriously, even if the vast majority don't care. (Customers buy our
groceries and pay our rent, yes?)
I find it much more annoying when some marketing know-it-all is too
insecure/narcissistic/egotistic/whatever to let the lowly writer do a
little editing on his or her gems.
I hasten to add that my perfectionist attitude is just as valid and just
as invalid as your self-protective one. I think this is a
personality-driven choice, not an ethical or professional one, and we
are unlikely to find a consensus.
So, to risk being sanctioned by Eric, let's leave it at that, okay?
