Sunday, August 07, 2022

ONE-UPMANSHIP -- QUESTION -- GRAMMAR GLITCH

Republic -- "If you can keep it".  (Democracy)                                                        Accountability for Jan. 6 insurrection.                                                                        U.S. Select House Committee on January 6th Hearings will continue in the fall.

QUESTION:  Will legislators get their priorities straight to concentrate primarily on doing their jobs legislating and lessen one-upmanship in political game playing?

Ella Fitzgerald -- Accentuate The Positive {The Harold Arlen Songbook}


GRAMMAR GLITCH
"Sticky words" -- I've done it again!   I see after publication in my previous post a "their" that should have been a "there", not just once but twice!   Here are the offending words I wrote:
"Perhaps we might ask are their there writers producing entertaining older people's stories?  Are their there screen writers creating stories for films?"

Oh, woe is me if the grammar monitors noted as the Blogger automatic language didn't catch my mistake.  I hastily added those sentences in my last re-reading when the hour was late, tired, and did not conduct further editing.  I do know the difference for use of their/there but for some reason when I hastily type, my brain is not selective with those words as it should be.  Mostly I'm thinking of what I want to say, I guess.

Strangely, this word glitch seems to occur primarily with these two words, their/there, as I'm not aware of other such homophones that my brain ignores when I type (words that sound the same when spoken but are spelled differently, have different meanings, to which could be added "they're").  Possibly my brain's automatic editing mechanism is short-circuited on these words for some reason.  If you ever notice my writing other such incorrect words, let me know as I'm curious.

This isn''t the first time I've become aware of this word mistake.  Years ago a blogger whose writing I respected wrote a post about word errors some bloggers made.  She specifically mentioned their/there as an example.  She expressed concern about the difference mattering for correct usage.  

I had to laugh, immediately responding in a comment that I knew I was guilty of mixing their/there.  I stated I knew the difference in usage, didn't know why that error occurred and probably needed to take greater care editing.  Yet it continues as I've noted periodically in my writing and now this.  I long ago alerted my brain to be more careful when I was typing those words.  Clearly, my brain function has been unresponsive to my chastising on each occasion.  Now I'm wondering what other errors I may be making that I haven't taken the time to identify.

Maybe if I was writing an article for renumeration my brain would give writing those words greater significance.  But then, I might also have the luxury of others editing my compositions for such errors before publishing.  

Blog writing for me has been a bit more casual than some writing I've done I must admit.  It's not that I don't care.  I do try to avoid feeling pressured about any aspect of blog writing and publishing.  Sometimes I do just sorta throw a piece together at the last minute so am hurried.  I tend to think of my blog writing as primarily an entertaining pastime that surprisingly to me others read.

I will confess that over the years when I engage in personal correspondence with friends/family who know me well, beginning with using old-fashioned pen and paper, then using a typewriter, now in emails/texts they and I sometimes misspell words.  We may not want to take the time to check the spelling, may use them incorrectly when we can't think of the exact word we want.  We may not punctuate correctly on occasion, too, for a variety of reasons.  Perchance our lives have been hectic, we're exhausted, our time is limited, we're having interruptions, or more.  If any rules have changed we may not have kept up.   

We don't judge or concern ourselves with each other's errors, sometimes apologizing or laughing about them, since we know the other is not illiterate.  Keeping in touch with legible content is the priority and our relationship is all that matters.  If anything is unclear, we question but don't condemn.  I guess this falls under, we know the basic writing rules, or most of them, but allow ourselves to break some of them on occasion.

Perhaps I tend to think of you, my blogger buddies, in somewhat the same way as those friends -- that you will overlook some of my shortcomings when you read here as I do reading some of your blog posts.

My apologies if my sometimes-lax writing offends some or discourages reading here.  I do recognize and respect the value of more careful writing.  I am sometimes irritated by books I read with writing errors since I expect more from them.  I tend to judge businesses poorly but laugh at some of them if their advertisements violate the writing rules.  I've read some deliberately make such errors just to attract the attention protesters/protestors give them.  

I wonder if others of you have become aware of experiencing writing errors you persistently but unintentionally make though you know better, or may allow to occur with less thorough editing?

35 comments:

  1. I rarely make mistakes when I am at the computer but, when on WhatsApp I do as there the screen is small and often autocorrect changes somethings that I had written but which means something totally different.

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    1. I find those autocorrect changes that aren't what I wrote at all sometimes funny, but annoying at times. Thanks for adding your name, Ramana.

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  2. Ramana Rajgopaul8/07/2022 4:04 AM

    I am sorry Joared. The previous comment was by me.

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  3. I make mistakes like that all the time and that's why I never publish something that hasn't been left in my scheduler a few days so I can proof read it several times before it goes live. Even then I'll find mistakes after a piece is published. At least we know the difference. A lot of younger people don't seem to know or care about writing errors or punctuation.

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    1. Sometimes I have pieces I've written ahead as you describe which is probably best.

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  4. Oh yes, some I catch and some I don't. Sometimes a self appointed grammar police will let me know. I am just grateful when they do. I don't have pet mistakes, just random ones.
    Agree with you on books though. I expect more from them and just read a book by an established author where he kept misspelling the hero's name. Valerie one page, Valeria the next, throughout the book. Can't believe no one caught it.
    Oops just caught myself. I originally made hero plural instead of possessive. Bad Patti:)

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    1. That name misspelling would seem to be a pretty glaring error.

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  5. We can miss the simple things. I know I do and I frankly don't have the time to ferret out all of them via editing in my more casual writing. For paid editing, of course. And for my own published pieces. But I, too, catch glaring grammaticals in my own blog. And shrug. And yes, I did notice yours, I always catch others' errors, but I put yours down to tiredness as the overall quality of your writing is evidence of good skill.
    XO
    WWW

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    1. Thanks for giving me the benefit of the doubt.

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  6. I do tend to overlook such errors thinking that the person just had a brain fart.! I find I do the same because I am always trying to type so fast. Also my laptop does actually have keys that sometimes do not register!

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    1. "Brain fart" is, indeed, what must occur for me sometimes.

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  7. Yes indeed! For many years I worked as a medical transcriptionist. It was astonishing to see the many unconscious errors I made despite what I felt was meticulous proofreading. In transcribing complex medical records, there is no room for error. When medical reports were returned to us, we were not paid for the time we spent making corrections! On the other hand, we were expected to correct the serious grammatical errors made by many of the doctors --- those whose native language was English -- in their dictations. Those doctors whose native language was not English rarely made grammatical errors.

    A silly error that I made frequently, and hopefully always caught, was unconsciously typing Dr. Babyless for Dr. Bayless. He was an obstetrician (-:

    All my life I have found myself saying the opposite of what I mean. For example, I might say "red" when I mean "green." I've noticed that other people do this, too. I'm not alone! When I know what someone really means, I don't say anything (and I assume other people don't correct me either) but other times I ask for clarification or am asked for clarification. I ruled myself out as a switchboard operator at the hospital because I knew I couldn't trust myself to say what I meant, especially when under the pressure that hospital switchboard operators experience.

    Maybe I've lost some of my proofreading skills because I rarely see writing errors on any of the blogs I read, including yours. In fact, I can't say that I've noticed writing errors on your blog (-:

    I still do notice writing errors most everywhere else, in recently published books and in business correspondence and am always surprised. There is much less proofreading than in the past. I was shocked when I was told in a resume-writing class that I should make an intentional writing error in order to catch the attention of the job recruiter. No way would I do that in order to get attention, especially in trying to obtain a job as a transcriptionist!

    My mother was strict with me and my sisters regarding grammar and was extremely judgmental about any grammatical errors, written or verbal. She proofread everything my father wrote for his job. She corrected some aspects of his verbal English, which he didn't appreciate. He would say what he wanted, just to annoy her.

    An example of her judgmental streak that was brought to my attention recently was when a doctor related to us was writing a genealogy book and contacted her and my uncle to fill in blanks in the extensive family tree he was building. Just yesterday, I was just looking at the letters the doctor wrote to her. She had circled his spelling and grammatical errors and, based on those errors, was extremely suspicious of him and refused to communicate with him. This was in the 1970s. I am grateful to have found, on the internet, a copy of the wonderful genealogy book he wrote. Clearly he had a good proofreader! No grammatical or spelling errors in the entire book and a wealth of information about my mother's German ancestors, going back to the 1700s.

    When I do catch one of my writing errors after posting on my blog, I have a physical experience of something like PTSD from all the years I worked as a transcriptionist and was penalized monetarily for the slightest error. It's no exaggeration to say that I am horrified initially and feel acute shame at making a mistake on a blog post or comment. Fortunately, I'm getting over that!!!!

    I didn't expect to write so much. I've proofread this several times and am wondering if I've missed an error (-:

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    1. "Babyless" for "Bayless" -- I can appreciate doing that. Glad you're relaxing more in your writing. Medical transcription would require considerable care. Your mother was very exacting. Glad you found the book the Dr. relative wrote about the family.

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  8. ! Forgot to say "Good question" and that I loved hearing Ella Fitzgerald sing Accentuate The Positive."

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  9. Yes! I find myself confusing the spelling of that same word (their/there/they're) even though, as you say, I know better. And even after all these years I have to stop and think if it's "it's or its".

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    1. Ah, I'm not alone! Since I'm thinking more about these homophones, last night I caught myself writing one for won. I was never aware of doing that before.

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  10. I thought that I made more mistakes inputting a homonym for the word that I meant - until - I went through some old letters that I had handwritten to my husband in the 1950s and 1960s. I made atrocious spelling and homonym errors in those letters!

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    1. Maybe we do this more than we realize.

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  11. Ella is a classic.

    After decades of teaching English and Creative Writing I and II, and years of freelance editing and writing, I cannot, sadly, just read anything anymore. It's horrid. I'm constantly editing and proofing; it even happens when I read for pleasure, so much so that I rarely do the latter anymore.

    But that is *my* baggage. I certainly don't bring the writer to task or pass judgment while I read blogs. Those writers aren't writing for a grade, and I am not their editor. I think about the person behind the content, and that's the gift.

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    1. Oh, we shouldn't put you through that! Another motivation for taking more care.

      I'm mostly able to overlook speech, voice issues in others, except I do sometimes become annoyed with those professionals reporting the radio or TV news making gross pronunciation or other delivery errors.

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  12. We all do it, and at least we KNOW we do it. If not this mistake, then another. Years ago, before the days of blogging (for most of us at least), I put together a genealogy as a gift to my mom. I wrote a letter that went along with it. A few years ago I pulled it out and read the letter, and found just such an error! Imagine my horror, sending such a thing to my mother! I'm sure she noticed, but she was a gentle mother most of the time, and did not mention it to me.

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    1. Ah, your genealogy effort likely far outweighed any error to your mother, but I can imagine how you felt when you found the glitch.

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  13. Dear Joared, I suspect that many reasons exist for our having to say, "I know better than this!" Sometimes it's the rush of getting a blog, family letter, or e-mail completed before having to take a shower and leave for a doctor's appointment. Sometimes, perhaps, pure brain tiredness or even physical weariness. Sometimes, vision can impair our reading of the words we've written.

    And sometimes, I think that when tired we all have a little bit of dyslexia. For myself I discover that I type "now" when I mean to type "know" and "her" when I mean to type "here." It's as if the profundity of possible letter arrangements eludes me! So I'm hoping we can all cut ourselves some slack and just enjoy the gist of the writing while ignoring a finger that slipped off a key or a brain derailment of a nanosecond!

    Thanks so much for your two recent comments on my blog postings. I can no longer leave responses because I'm unable "to sign in with Google." But I do so appreciate the thoughts you share. Peace.

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    1. I like that "brain derailment" description of what happens. Thanks for adding your name due to Anon.

      Blogger is surely being discouraged with all the difficulty as you experience plus those commenting here having to do so as Anon. cease to have a link to their blog.

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  14. Dear Joared, that last comment was from Dee Ready.

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  15. My English is pretty good and I don't think I make any major errors when I'm writing, but maybe they just haven't been pointed out to me? The error I notice a lot is confusing lay and lie. You don't lay on a bed, you lie on it. The only thing you could lay on a bed is an egg! Then there's the confusion of your and you're. I could go on!

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    1. Those words can be confusing. The errors I fret about making aren't because I don't know the difference in meaning but seem to occur despite that , but in the process of typing them during rapid composition.

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  16. I always find those mistakes after I publish, even when I have read something over more than once. There and their can be hard for the checker to find also as it is what was meant.

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    1. That seems to be what happens to many of us.

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  17. I can understand how you feel. Writing has been my bread and butter for many years and it really bothers me if I find an error but I have to tell myself (and you) that I am not without errors and it makes me human.You should be very proud of all you write and I know it always comes with lots of fact searching before you click on "send".

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    1. Thanks, Ginnie. I always enjoy reading what you write and the stories of your life experiences.

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  18. Does two apostrophes in isn’’t count?

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    1. I'm laughing really hard! Yes, it counts! I just checked the sentence above where I did that which is ironic in itself, so I underlined it. I have been aware I sometimes hit the quote accidentally instead of the apostrophe. Has sometimes been hard for me to spot when I read through. Looks like I make more mistakes than I thought I did.

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  19. My comment disappeared but I'll keep trying. My grammar and spelling are good though there sometimes are typos. Gigi hawaii

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    1. Glad your comment finally came through.

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