Bad Writing Makes You Look Bad
Feb 24th, 2009 by Nut
When I was in grad school I took an editing class and it turned out to be one of the best things I ever did. All the things I learned there have made me an infinitely better writer.
But it came with a downside: I am now one of those people that seeks out typos and weird sentence constructions everywhere he goes. And when I find them, I LOVE to point them out (and yes there are typos here at The Writer’s Coin—I’m aware I can’t catch them all). Oooh, look at me! I’m the writer pointing out all of your mistakes!
Sometimes it’s funny and sometimes it’s annoying. And sometimes you have to step back and laugh at how some people have butchered the English language.
Honey, I know you’re scared, but the sign says we have to…
Sounds like hockey terminology to me…
I always thought smorking was something else…
It’s funny, sure, but there’s a lesson to be learned here. Every time you make silly mistakes with the English language, it makes you look bad. Whether it’s in an email to your boss or a note to a coworker, bad English makes you look lazy, stupid, and can make you sound like a spammer.
All things no one wants to deal with.
So next time you sit down to write something, give it a quick edit before you send it off into the world. Only good will come of it.
* I’m aware most of these mistakes are probably made by foreigners that don’t know the language very well. I’m not trying to make fun of them, I’m just using these as examples. No offense intended! If you like them, run a search for “Chinglish” and you’ll find some hilarious stuff online.
** This post was included in the Just Write carnival. Head over there to check out more great writing-related posts.
nut, you need to check out engrishfunny.com if you like poorly translated signs.
Being the son of a languages professor and an english major growing up in my house was a festival of corrected speach and writings. My brother managed to pick up some of those skills. I have not.
My posts often include some errors because I am a terrible writer and editor. When it’s big enough and I catch it, I’ll fix it.
I think I’m getting better at overlooking mistakes in spelling, grammar, and punctuation. It used to affect my opinion of people, but I’ve come to accept that not everyone is wired the same way as we are, and utilitarian writing can be just as valid and respectable as perfectly punctuated prose.
Mi speelign si harrowdible. I live for F7 (spell-check on most Microsoft applications). Actually I have gotten alot better since I started blogging regularly. Gooder english is important very.
I’m of the opinion, you can’t fault these sign makers for not trying. Most countries around the world only translate a few signs. America is kicked around a law to establish English as the national language. I personally don’t feel we need a national language, BUT I do feel that it is the responsibility of immigrants to assimilate to the culture you are entering. Learn some English. Make your children learn English if you are going to stay here. I’m not trying to be racist with this statement, but if I was moving to Japan, I would learn Japanese. If I was moving to Germany, I would learn German. It not their job to change to me, it is my job to change to them.
When I worked abroad, I always got the feeling that my colleagues thought I was a little dumb, simply because my German was somewhat weak. It gave me a new perspective on my foreign-born colleagues here in the US. It is easy to mistake poor language skills for a lack of intelligence.
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