I am aware another post beginning “Another thing I’m not going to miss… … ”
could be tedious. However, as:

1. It’s my blog
2. Nobody reads it

I’m going to write such a post anyway.

Ok, so at work (19 more days – yay!) I have received yet another report
from a colleague who wants me to believe they are clever and know what
they’re doing. Yet again it’s a heart-sink moment because they – like a
surprising number of my colleagues – can’t write properly.

Before you start calling me a pompous arrogant pedant, I would like to
acknowledge a view put forward by Stephen Fry. This actor, writer,
comedian and all round good-guy often states that we shouldn’t get too
hung up on errors people make when using language. He argues that as long
as we understand what someone is trying to convey, does it matter if bad
grammar and spelling are used? We should encourage people to write and
otherwise express themselves and not judge them for making school-boy
errors such as using “myself” or “yourself” when they mean “I/me” or
“you”.

To a certain extent I agree with Stephen; after all, if language use did
not change with time then we’d all still be talking like Chaucer. However,
I do find it distracting when people who are trying to convey some
information do it in a shoddy manner. The writing I see at work daily
often has badly formed sentences with poor punctuation. It seems most
don’t know the difference between proper and common nouns. Apostrophes -
if used at all – are invariably in the wrong place. It’s amazing how many
people don’t know the correct usage of “it’s” and “its”. Most of these
errors could be avoided if people took the time to re-read what they have
written as well as learn the basics. Then again, I suppose they think
their writing is ok even when it’s not, so why would they proof read?

I think one of the reasons I like doing websites is because even if I use
content written by others, I’m a sort of filter between them and it going
online. That’s going to be the norm when I’ve finished at the PCT so bring
it on.