Grrrr

[flit_st_fanfic]

I am struggling to maintain my calm. People are Damaging It.

I'm a journalism major, so I love language. I want to be a copy editor, which is widely considered one of the most undervalued jobs in the journalism business - fixing spelling and grammatical errors and writing titles/subtitles. I have stated, mostly jokingly, that my life goal is to

Comments

[reasdream]

If people ask for corrections, then you can correct them. But in comms on lj? It's like trying to wash a cat. You end up frustrated and covered in scratches and the cat's just pissed off.

Now, if it's something really out there, a polite "hey, not sure if you knew this, but..." can be okay.

I know the feeling. Sometimes I get the "Augh! Must fix stupid!" at work. Of course, I can't even correct the people because they are higher up than me or in a completely different department.

Good luck.

[flit_st_fanfic]

Yeah, I had a letter like that to proof when I was an intern. A letter written by someone too important for me to meet. The guy who asked me to proof it then went over the proofs and got rid of a lot of the ones mentioning awkward wording because, well - wouldn't want to accuse them of not being able to write. Even if they couldn't. :/ oh, government.

And I really do try to be polite, except then I get worried that I'm coming off as patronizing, so it's...well. I just get frustrated. And it's a damn shame that there's no tone of voice in text. I feel like if I was having these conversations face to face there would be much less rancor.

[reasdream]

Yeah, people. *sigh*

Do you have any way of turning off your giveadamn? I only ask because I, personally, have found that my life is much easier when I take a deep breath and let go of all of the stupid on the news, the roads, and in stores. I swear it's the only reason I'm not a complete wreck.

The polite is the hard thing - tone just does not come across online. For instance, I am now being chatty and commiserative (is that a word?) with a slight southern accent. How could you know that unless I said so? :p

[flit_st_fanfic]

I'm getting better at turning off the giveadamn. And the snarky bitch voice. I write a reply and then I delete it before posting a lot. I wrote replies to the people that snarked at me, but deleted them.

As for commiserative; browser spellcheck recognizes it, which is a very good sign. Browser spellcheck errs on the side of being overzealous.

[leaper182]

I found where it happened. Maybe it was the way you phrased it? I mean, hell, what's with that one anon advising you to go find a textbook? :(

[flit_st_fanfic]

*snuggles* I dunno. I hope it was just the phrasing that came off badly. I don't think I've even correct that many people on the meme - just three prompts come to mind, one was an issue of clarity, and the other was the Valcun/Vulcan debacle. And I'm sorry, but people who can't spell the name of the planet that gets destroyed in the film, or the race that Spock belongs to - I am really tempted to say that they don't deserve posting rights. Not that there's any way to revoke them, but Jesus, talk about something so basic. It's like saying Scotty's from England or something. rawr.

Except I'm more in a ;_; mood than a rawr mood, and the rain's not helping that. Less tornado-y now, though. And, in the epic words of the Midwestern!Jim prompter "The sky's not even green!"

[leaper182]

It was definitely a question of tone there, because it ended up reading a bit snooty to me, but! It's over and done with. *nod*

I do remember someone posting a writing guide to Law & Order years and years ago, which included how to properly spells the names of characters and places frequently mentioned on the show. Maybe someone should create a similar post and throw it out there.

... I need more Chekov icons, methinks.

[flit_st_fanfic]

I think I'm a little bit in love with whoever corrected the second commenter.

"Valcun" bothered me a lot more than "Chekhov" because "Vulcan" is written in the little dateline things in the film. And only non-English speakers have any excuse for misspelling it; the spelling is a natural one for the pronunciation.

"Chekhov" is recognized as a proper spelling by my browser spell-check, so that one at least makes sense ("Chekov," by the way, is NOT recognized as a proper spelling). Still, anyone who reads the meme should have figured out by now how to spell those very, very common words.

A writing guide would be nice. I'm just really down, between the weather and the criticism. And the being in a car for four hours, with my parents. Blech. Family. I think I'm allergic.

[arcane_lark]

People need to put on their big girl panties and deal with being corrected, especially when they're flat-out wrong.

But then again, I'm a big giant bitch-- life's tough, so wear a helmet (and learn to spell/punctuate. Apostrophes do not mean "Look out! There's an s coming!").

[asimaiyat]

The thing that is driving me nuts right now is "in/on the TOS." T stands for THE.

It's right up there with ATM machine, PIN number and Grilled Carne Asada Steak (Daniel and I like to say "how would you like some grilled steak grilled steak?").

[flit_st_fanfic]

I don't think I've seen any "the TOS." I have, however, seen a shameful amount of ATM machine and PIN numbers. I have never even heard of Grilled Carne Asada Steak, though Carne just means "meat" as far as I know. I guess Asada must mean grilled?

I am still fighting the battle against "irregardless," personally. and other perversions of the English language.

[asimaiyat]

I would have more of a problem with "irregardless" if it wasn't the name of a pretty good restaurant here in Raleigh.

you probably think right now that I am a foodie who eats out too much, and if so you are not wrong. :D

[flit_st_fanfic]

lol. I am friends with several foodies, then. Or people related to foodies. Honestly, I'm kind of spoiled for good food. *had mum's delicious chili for dinner*

[shingo_the_pest]

Some people would welcome that time of openness, and are happy to have those things brought to their attention. =)