Loading ...
I write well, i rite gud
Personal, Professional, Technology Comments (0)
You would think that the Internet, and the rise of weblogs in particular, would mean a renaissance in writing and writing skills. You might be wrong then.
The unfortunate fact is that the rise of the Internet, and instant text messaging has resulted in a smaller pool of people who are able to write correctly. Now people who have grown up sending SMS messages using such lucid prose as “r u 4 real” are writing email. There is an entire written dialect used by some people known as “l33t” (the “3″s are really “e”s, and it’s supposed to be short for “elite”) which consists entirely of poorly written shorthand, and it’s widespread enough that someone has started working on “translating” Shakespeare into it.
Here’s an example from C|Net’s story on the phenomenon:
“i need help i am writing a essay on writing i work for this company and my boss want me to help improve the workers writing skills can yall help me with some information thank you”.
You might expect that a company seeking to improve the writing skills of its workforce would ask the best writer to lead the endeavor. But if that example is a sample of the best writer’s abilities, then perhaps they should just hire an elementary school English teacher to start them all over again with lessons in English grammar.
A study, by the National Commission on Writing, concluded that businesses were spending as much as $3.1 billion annually on remedial training. One company estimates its costs to range between $2,500 and $3,500 per individual.
That’s a lot of money per person in order to train them to do things they should have learned already in school.
MickC @ December 8, 2004