Hatrack River Forum: When memos go bad...

This is topic When memos go bad... in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by MandyM (Member # 8375) on :

After the discussion about using proper English, I thought I would give an example of why it is so important to at least attempt to avoid mistakes.

This is an actual email from one of my superiors posted to the entire building where I work.

quote:
Thanks for making this month's fire Drill go well. However, there a few things we need to be conscience of during our next drill. There were a few doors and or lights left on , especially in the 300 hall. Please remember to shut the lights off and close the door or designate a couple of students to be responsible for this task. Also, please take your Rosters to make sure everyone is accounted for while our side. Thank.

This man has written me a disciplinary letter free of glaring errors so I know the man CAN write well enough to get by; he just chooses not to. Now I ask you, do you think he sounds like the leader of a campus? Do you think we have any respect for him?

(Did I use that semicolon correctly? Now I am paranoid.)

Posted by MandyM (Member # 8375) on :

Oh and he signed it "MR." Hisname, because he is so important. Or maybe he was shouting?

Posted by Katarain (Member # 6659) on :

Are you sure his administrative assistant didn't write the disciplinary letter?

I almost wrote secretary... can you believe that?!

Posted by MandyM (Member # 8375) on :

I'm positive. He doesn't have an assistant or secretary or anyone else to write his stuff for him.

Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :

What's wrong with the word secretary?

Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :

Oh dear. Just, oh dear!

That is so wrong.

Posted by Brinestone (Member # 5755) on :

People at my workplace write like that all the time. Intelligence and ability to capitalize, spell, and punctuate are not necessarily the same.

Posted by Architraz Warden (Member # 4285) on :

This was part of a fairly official e-mail I received several months ago. I think this is what it looks like in text when someone goes off the deep end:

quote:
Please understand that this is a concept that can be enhanced. We would like to meet with the Design of the track can be enhanced with

And that was the end. In my mind, I started wondering what sort of fatal exception codes human beings would have suffered at that point.

Posted by Katarain (Member # 6659) on :

Secretary is supposedly an un-PC term. I think because the word is thought to belittle the job because of the historical connotation? Or perhaps it is the idea that a secretary can only be a female assistant when the profession is also open to men.

Of course, anybody with any sense knows that secretaries are the lifeblood of any organization.

(And my comment was only meant to be slightly humorous. Only very slightly.)

Posted by MandyM (Member # 8375) on :

I work in a public school. We still call them the very un-PC secretaries. They send emails with similar errors but their mistakes are overlooked. In their cases, they have less education, more responsibilities and get paid a lot less to do it all so they get a break.

quote:
People at my workplace write like that all the time. Intelligence and ability to capitalize, spell, and punctuate are not necessarily the same.

Well, actually there are other examples of his lack of intelligence. This is just the most glaring one. Also, I work in a school so I think the people at the top should present themselves better. It just gives the impression that he doesn't care much about education if he can't be bothered to write correctly.

Posted by Katarain (Member # 6659) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Brinestone:
People at my workplace write like that all the time. Intelligence and ability to capitalize, spell, and punctuate are not necessarily the same.

See, this is what I'm not sure about. I'm not the best at spelling, but I pretty much have capitalization down. Punctuation is a little tougher. But I can usually tell if a word is spelled wrong, and I can look up the correct spelling. It just takes a little extra time. In addition, if I'm not sure how to punctuate a sentence, I will usually rephrase it in a way I do know how to punctuate properly.

I'm not saying I do this all the time, but I certainly try to when I'm sending out a mass email to my coworkers. It's embarrassing when I send out an error! And I've done it before. I didn't know that liaison had a second i. When my boss pointed it out to me (in a nice way in a private email), I decided not to mention it to the list. Maybe they just thought it was a typo... Here's hoping... [Smile]

Anyway, I generally think that intelligent people have the ability to capitalize, spell, and punctuate properly--or at least know where to look when they're not sure. I think it is more accurate to say that intelligence doesn't have anything to do with the inclination a person has to correct their errors.

Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :

Katarain, secretary and administrative assistant (at least in my experience) are not terms used interchangeably. Administrative assistants have graduated with an associate's degree in that field, a secretary usually receives on the job training.

Posted by Artemisia Tridentata (Member # 8746) on :

Several years ago, I recieved a letter from the head of the English Dept. at our little High School. She invited me, as a business person, to sit on a committee to review the English curriculum in the school The letter was two-thirds of a page long and consisted of only one sentence. I replied that I would be willing to serve if she could diagram the sentence. I never heard from her again.

Posted by Epictetus (Member # 6235) on :

I feel your pain. I just looked over an application at my work that was loaded with spelling errors. She used words like "dubble shift" and "I was vary nice, the atmosfere was grate."
*shudder*

Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :

There are degrees for administrative assistants? [Eek!]

Wow, I learned something today.

Posted by JLM (Member # 7800) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Architraz Warden:
This was part of a fairly official e-mail I received several months ago. I think this is what it looks like in text when someone goes off the deep end:

quote:
Please understand that this is a concept that can be enhanced. We would like to meet with the Design of the track can be enhanced with
And that was the end. In my mind, I started wondering what sort of fatal exception codes human beings would have suffered at that point.

I do stuff like this all the time. I go back and restructure a paragraph in the middle a sentence and forget to delete the preceeding part that is now obsolete (<-spelling?), so I end up with two mismatched half sentences smashed together.
Anyway, if I am composing a document for an official release, I make sure to read it aloud to my self. I catch a lot of errors this way.

Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :

quote:
Of course, anybody with any sense knows that secretaries are the lifeblood of any organization.

Oh yes we are!!! My primary attorney has repeatedly told his clients that he'd be completely lost without me. He's a techno-zero and freely admits it; it falls to me to restore his settings on at least a weekly basis. And today we took delivery on a brand new, digital, network-ready, multi-function copy machine... I'm waiting for him to blow it up. LOL

[ February 15, 2006, 10:57 PM: Message edited by: Goody Scrivener ]

Posted by Celaeno (Member # 8562) on :

Oh, how awful. I get emails like that from my religious studies professor all the time; I don't know what to make of it. She wrote our class a memo stressing the importance of "perfect" grammar in which she misspelled grammar, had two extra commas, misused a semicolon, and used "then" instead of "than." It was distressing.

And Mandy, your use of the semicolon was perfect. [Smile]

Posted by Shan (Member # 4550) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Katarain:
Secretary is supposedly an un-PC term. I think because the word is thought to belittle the job because of the historical connotation? Or perhaps it is the idea that a secretary can only be a female assistant when the profession is also open to men.

Considering that mostly only men provided the functions of clerk or secretary up until the 20th century -- it was not open to women, I find that statement a wee bit humorous. [Wink]

The un-PC part of it is that once it "became" a woman's occupation, it also devolved into a low-pay position.

From my understanding.

*shrugs*

Edit to add:

[Laugh]

quote:
Several years ago, I recieved a letter from the head of the English Dept. at our little High School. She invited me, as a business person, to sit on a committee to review the English curriculum in the school The letter was two-thirds of a page long and consisted of only one sentence. I replied that I would be willing to serve if she could diagram the sentence. I never heard from her again.

Posted by Juxtapose (Member # 8837) on :

I don't really see what's so bad about that note, Mandy. I read it through once and understood what he was talking about; it looks like he was just in a rush to get it out. If it's unreadable that's one thing, as in Artemisia's letter example, but I thought the meaning came through just fine in your memo.

Posted by Carrie (Member # 394) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Architraz Warden:
And that was the end. In my mind, I started wondering what sort of fatal exception codes human beings would have suffered at that point.

I'm thankful that, at least so far, I've not had to deal with crap like this in official communications. I guess that's all part and parcel of belonging to the group of people who read dead languages and study grammar for fun.

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Valentine014:
Katarain, secretary and administrative assistant (at least in my experience) are not terms used interchangeably. Administrative assistants have graduated with an associate's degree in that field, a secretary usually receives on the job training.

*blink*

IME, they are virtually interchangeable . . . and most people with either title have a four-year college degree.

Posted by Celaeno (Member # 8562) on :

It seems to me that according to the Department of Labor, they're two words for the same position.

Posted by MandyM (Member # 8375) on :

Juxtapose, it would not be so bad if this were an isolated event. Almost everything this man puts out is like that or worse. I remember a message last year where he meant to put gesture and he wrote jester. Every memo he sends, every powerpoint he presents, even the textbook forms he has us fill out have mistakes on them. Maybe I should start posting a memo of the week.

quote:
If a student has a cell phone that is on or goes off during class, please collect the phone and bring it to me ASAP for the parent can come get it.

Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :

There was a terrible article in the university paper last week; this is the opening line of paragraph two.

UCD Aggie

"The problems that are in the music industry can be translated to our computer resources here at UCD."

The article is about computer piracy, and I think the author was trying to be very clear on the originality of her work. It was definetly not stolen, or edited.

Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :

[/qb][/QUOTE]I do stuff like this all the time. I go back and restructure a paragraph in the middle a sentence and forget to delete the preceeding part that is now obsolete (<-spelling?), so I end up with two mismatched half sentences smashed together.
. [/QB][/QUOTE]

When I'm edit, best is find that reading bad. Best is express idea in not longer 6 seconds when I edit.

If you edit, remember, reading if not understanding is appropriate without time if your editing.

I find syntax works best after ideas express themselves with complete honestly I don't see why you can't possibly believe me when I say why not go to the store and buy three times as much milk as bread crumbles if you leave it alone.

Posted by suminonA (Member # 8757) on :

When I read what you wrote I can't understand nothing of what you wrote.

[edit: this post has been edited, do you think I could write something like this deliberately like this?]