Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: Notesfiles $Revision: 1.6.2.17 $; site uiucdcs.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxj!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!renner From: renner@uiucdcs.UUCP Newsgroups: net.flame Subject: Re: YAGF (Yet Another Grammar Flame) Message-ID: <36200161@uiucdcs.UUCP> Date: Wed, 10-Oct-84 06:23:00 EDT Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.36200161 Posted: Wed Oct 10 06:23:00 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 13-Oct-84 06:18:49 EDT References: <136@ssc-vax.UUCP> Lines: 38 Nf-ID: #R:ssc-vax:-13600:uiucdcs:36200161:000:1641 Nf-From: uiucdcs!renner Oct 10 05:23:00 1984 > > > And boy is your face red. > > > > Oh, bullsh*t, Ken. The original note was damn near unreadable. Marla's > > note contains one typographical error. If you can't tell any difference > > between the two -- if you think they are equally bad -- then you ought to > > pull the cable from the back of your terminal and play by yourself for a > > while. > > Scott Renner > > I believe Scott missed Ken's point. There is no such thing > as "correct" English. The problem is probably equivocation on > the term "grammatically correct..." I don't think Ken's point has much to do with "correct English." I see the exchange as: 1. Person A posts a badly-written, difficult-to-read article. 2. Person B complains about the writing in the above article. Person B's note happens to contain a typographical error. 3. Ken claims that Person B should be embarrassed on account of the typographical error. Conclusion: Ken believes that making any error in an article which criticizes the writing style of another is an act which brings shame on the author. > One particulary delightful aspect of the net is that people > often use a less formal writing style. I call it "conversational > writing." - Don Steiny (steiny@scc) The writer's goal should be to communicate to others (else the article could be sent to /dev/null with considerable savings of phone charges). The writer's responsibility is to make the reader's task as easy as possible. When "conversational writing" deteriorates into an abandonment of this responsibility, the rest of us have a problem. Scott Renner {pur-ee,ihnp4}!uiucdcs!renner