Posts
It's been a good bit since I posted, which is largely due to focusing on my career for the time being.
Recently, the muse part of my brain got up in the middle of the night, punched me in the face and shouted "OI! You're ignoring me!"
I felt compelled to shut him up, so I gave him a pen and paper, sent him to the corner and told him to write me something.
Unfortunately my muse is a little bit unstable, so his unintelligible rantings met my shredder and I had to come up with something myself.
Today's topics are grammar, spelling and manners.
I'm not exactly old fashioned, but I'm wondering what happened to being able to speak and write properly, and conduct oneself appropriately in public.
Facebook is the main offender here. I don't mean txtspk, which I've covered before, and my thoughts on this are well documented. Guys, our phones can handle more than 144 characters in an sms now, we do not need to to shorten our messages like that.
I'm referring to the inability to differentiate between you, you're and your, and their, there and they're. Then there's the amazingly idiotic "could of" instead of "could have". Regional dialects are ok, but please spell them properly. "Cannae" is not the same as "canny". That word has an altogether discrete meaning. Before you jump on that, discrete and discreet are different too.
For all who will play the "bt iz Facebook, hoo carez?' card, you should.
Employers will google your name to see if they can find your Facebook. Do you really want the person considering you for job you're applying for at the law firm/accountancy firm/hospital/insert job type here to see you shotgunning a bottle of tequila? Or comparing your "good communication skills" with your status updates that rung along the lines of "ZOMG look at this it so cute your gonna luv it!" or "Y do sum ppl neva get tha messag!" and so on.
Please, just stop it. It makes you look like a moron.
As for etiquette, when did it become ok to become a dick in public? Apologies for my profanity, but there's no easier way to say it. I'm talking about allowing your kids to run rampant while you gab on about hairspray in the aisles; talking or texting on your mobile phone while I'm trying to hold a conversation; calling me pal or buddy or mate when I don't even know you; speaking really loudly on your mobile on public transport; and my pet hate, poor table manners.
Since when was talking while you eat, chewing with your mouth open, and burping loudly at table acceptable? It's not, and never has been. Stop it now.
I despair at this, not because it's "the yoof of today" that are doing this, but it's the bloody adults! The ones who complain loudly about kids these days being louts and antisocial and all the rest. Newsflash: you're just as bad as they are. Scratch that, you're worse, since you should know better and are being hypocritical.
Etiquette is important, and unless you're attending Ascot or moving in the upper circles of society (a hierarchical society blog will follow soon), then it's basic, simple and easy. People tend to shy away from etiquette, thinking it stuffy, old fashioned and elitist, when in fact etiquette and manners are simple, easy and help everyone around you to have a pleasant and enjoyable time whether in your direct company or otherwise.
In a nutshell, knowingly being ignorant is not acceptable, rudeness less so. I'm convinced that continually observing this is what's going to turn my liver into pate, as my coping mechanism appears to be a stiff martini at the end of the day: stirred of course, never shaken.
