Grammar etiquette on the web and beyond...

April 17, 2010 at 10:20 am (Uncategorized)

Like most past journalism students, I am a bit of a stickler for proper grammar. This isn’t to say that I don’t make a spelling error or misuse a phrase now and then – no one’s perfect – but I find it more than irritating to read a message or story with blatant errors or sheer laziness in writing. Even when I text, I attempt to spell out words in their entirety, and use correct punctuation. Only when I’m low on space and I need to squish a message into 140 characters will I sacrifice grammar; it breaks my heart every time. I can’t stand to receive texts or emails asking, “When R U comin 2 da partay?”. If you are shortening ‘are’, ‘you’, and ‘to’, why lengthen ‘party’? Did you get to the end and realize that you saved ample space, and you may as well use it up? This baffles me.

And while I’m on the subject, ’4get’, ‘gr8′, and ’2gether’ are not words. They are random mash-ups of letters and numbers. Spell it out.

Proper grammar clears up any confusion jargon creates. Missing commas in contracts have cost companies millions. If you want to send a clear, compelling message spell words right, punctuate where needed, and, please, do not use number-word concoctions to spice up a boring message.

L8r all!

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