I know that I tend to be somewhat tetchy about a lot of things, but the standard of English these days really annoys me. I have severe doubts about the state of modern education.
When I was at school, we did worksheets that were all about using the right version of words and using punctuation correctly. Apparently, these aren't used any more. The emphasis is now on trying to get children to write at all, without putting them off with technicalities like spelling. Don't get me wrong, I think that encouraging creative writing is a great thing, but without accurate spelling and punctuation, the meaning of a piece of writing can be completely lost. Most of the people working with me frequently make basic spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes. I don't point these out, because, if I do, I'm accused of being fussy (me?) and bothered about things that don't matter. The thing is, it does matter!
When the wrong version of words such as taught/taut, there/their/they're, where/wear, rein/reign/rain, etc. are used in books and magazine articles, this contributes to the idea that spelling doesn't matter as long as other people know what you mean.
Punctuation is used randomly, when at all. The misuse of apostrophes is especially bad. I've been known to rub misplaced apostrophes off chalked signs in pubs and shops. A pub where I occasionally drink has a chalked menu for the restaurant area which has such announcements as;
'Please take a seat and a member of the waiting staff will take your "order"'
and, on the dessert menu
'Ask us about today's "special"'
Once, when somewhat tipsy, I ended up removing all the offending punctuation...
Thankfully, signs in a cobbler's shop that I pass regularly have recently been replaced. Every time I went by, I would cringe at signs including;
'Key,s copied'
Bag,s repaired'
and 'Shoe,s Mended'.
It would be bad enough if they had apostrophes that were in the wrong place, but the commas almost made me want to stick labels on the outside of the window, correcting them.
I think that misuse of words is often caused by people's desire to appear more intelligent or educated than they really are. There is this idea that long words are automatically more 'right'.
Some of the magazines I read have a page for readers' household tips and hints. Recently, there have been two tips which particularly annoyed me.
'After having my guttering replaced I wished to recycle the old pieces...'
and
'I wished to liven up my old and redundant fireplace...'
No! No, you didn't! You
wanted to do these things. Unless you have a DIY genie, perhaps living in an old watering can or an empty paint tin, you don't 'wish' for these things - you want to do them. To me, this is a subtle but important difference.
'Required' is a word that is being used more and more often, almost always wrongly.
When some building work was being done on the roof of the building in which I work, a sign was put up to inform visitors of this fact.
It read 'As the bank is having work done on the roof, the builders will be requiring to put ladders up to the roof.'
Again, no! The builders
need to put ladders up to the roof. Almost every time 'require' is used, 'need' would be the right word to use.
A few weeks ago, a sign appeared in my local station which went one step further than the usual misuse of words.
They could have said 'when asked by a police officer'.
They could have said 'when requested by a police officer'.
If they want to sound like they mean business, they could have said 'when told' or 'when ordered', but instead they went for the option that sounds like the police patrolling the station really need a drink every now and then. The wording that they chose could be argued to be technically correct, but to me it looks clumsy and irritating.
Labels: rant
