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Originally Posted by Barney

“Must admit I haven't come across any spelling / grammar police on any forum for years now.....  ”

Neither had I, until lately, but never hurts to be 'helped'!

I think someone just misunderstood the use of the word 'rhubarb'?

Steve:

ahh ok, sorry thought you'd got the hump  apologies 

I knew you'd misinterpreted me!

Been one of those days today, everyone seems grumpy. Our man Clive hasn't stopped moaning all day, which is justified as he's been shouting at worldpay, dealing with multiple complaints, and trying to deal with moving house 

I should be grumpy because my personal email is on the blink, since last night (knew something was wrong when I wasn't receiving twitter notifications as usual).  I'm still waiting for it to be resolved.

.....as it seems I've blocked everyone in.

That's just plain bad manners and lack of consideration for others  

Clinton:

"I teach my children that no matter how they speak when with friends there is no excuse for not retaining the ability to use formal language when required, and no substitute for knowing when to use it."

FTFY

Julia - sorry about that, I skim read a lot

Clinton - loved the 'poles apart' bit!

You claim to have an eye for detail and you say you have assisted someone correct his CV. Yet in a thread about grammar you make every mistake in the book (including use of you're instead ofyour). We're not talking typos but mistakes demonstrating poor understanding of some basics. It would be remiss to not point them out. It's not personal.

I know it's not personal, it never has been, and I don't take offence.  I do have an eye for detail, but, with respect, I feel you are kind of missing the point here?  Whether someone does or does not spot an error, can depend on a number of different circumstances.  Quite often on forum posts, I can be typing quite fast, because I don't want to spend all day responding to posts... I have other things to do.  I that scenario, I can very easily miss things, because my focus and concentration isn't too sharp.

Barney - it won't be, I kind of agree with you, and btw I love the cat

Steve - think you've misunderstood my meaning there.  I was trying to be funny, hence the smileys

Clinton - I give up!  Not going to pursue this 'conflict' any more, you've got off lightly this time

So, I'm not going to elucidate.  Normally I would have said that I can't, because I don't know what that word means, sorry, however thanks to the power of Steve (AKA Google), I now do, so I'm still not going to eludicate.

Oh, and it's "see what I 'did' there?" not "done"  - and NO, sorry, I didn't!

Steve - I DIDN'T think that Clinton was having a pop at me personally, he just goes around correcting everyone's English.  Speaking of which, Clinton, if I had a hat, I'd take it off to you!  Considering you're from Poland, you're English is very very good!

Oh, and Steve, thanks for picking on me there!  "classic case of reading too much into something"  The bl**dy cheek of it!

Why are we talking about shoes all of a sudden?  As long as we haven't got off on the wrong foot on this thread, that'll be fine!  Sorry, couldn't resist that one!

Clinton:

Take a look at these two statement of yours:

It's not just about being understood. You're running a business. There will be some readers of your posts who judge you (and your business) on these things. While the odd mistake is often excused, a cavalier attitude may not be treated so lightly.

While professionals, from accountants to business consultants, can be severely impacted if they come across as semi-literate, I accept that plumbers, car mechanics and baby-sitters may not be so judged on the quality of their written communication. I wouldn't judge them harshly either.

Note that I've italicised the important bits.  Do you still not see what I'm getting at here?  Or I am getting it wrong?   Steve?  Steve?  Help? (but don't, if you're just gonna back Clinton up LOL  )

With CVs - that's a whole different ball game.  Yes, there are people who think their CV is brilliant. 

I actually know of one guy, who had/has a CV, and when I saw it, riddled with spelling mistakes and errors, so I went full throttle on it, and helped sorted it for him.  Whether he still uses that CV or not, I've no idea.  And no, I don't know if it helped him get a job or not.

I also think CVs are complicated beasts, and what I mean by that is that what one person thinks is a good CV, someone else might not.  However, spelling and grammar is still the same.

Whether it does or doesn't help a candidate is also debatable.  Some employers don't pay too much attention to the spelling/grammar 'quality' of a CV, others do.  I am sure that there are plenty of employers out there, that have taken on someone, based on a CV that DID have errors in it, but the employer didn't notice!

The fact that you don't get called for interview, can be due to many many reasons, some of which are often total b*ll*cks!

Customers who decide to go with a competitor is usually due to cost, or customer service, or other reasonable factors.  I wouldn't necessarily decide NOT to use a service or buy a product, purely because they happen to have made a spelling/grammatical error somewhere.

BTW, I'm not offended or upset by any means that you keep spotting my mistakes.  It'll take a LOT more than that to offend/upset me!

P.S. If you don't have friendly banter, things can become boring

Barney - I agree /  am familiar with everything you've said there (I think)

Clinton - thank you for spotting yet another mistake of mine (and I didn't put a quotes around it this time  )

I put quotes around the word originally, because it's not the kind of 'mistake' I take too seriously, with it being on a forum etc.  I still appreciate the advice though ;)

Steve - Heeelllloooooo!

I think we've found something we both agree on   (with reference to another post  , but I'm guessing you might of worked that out?)

It's not just about being understood. You're running a business. There will be some readers of your posts who judge you (and your business) on these things. While the odd mistake is often excused, a cavalier attitude may not be treated so lightly.

Yes, there will be some readers who DO judge me on these things.  Which is fine.  However, I always look at it this way... you can't please everyone!  Steve is quite right to point out that I would make sure that I retained the utmost professionalism on proper business correspondence.  I wouldn't necessarily class THIS forum as that though.  No disrespect to Steve or MyLS!

Most CVs I've received in my time, from graduates, had at least one mistake in them.

There's NO excuse for mistakes on CVs!

While professionals, from accountants to business consultants, can be severely impacted if they come across as semi-literate, I accept that plumbers, car mechanics and baby-sitters may not be so judged on the quality of their written communication. I wouldn't judge them harshly either.

I don't know if it's just me or not, but aren't you contradicting yourself slightly here Clinton??  You helpfully criticise me for my grammar (and I'm sure you know what I do), but you're also recognising that some professions "may not be so judged on the quality of their written communication" ??  (unless it's still too early in the morning for me?  )

Steve - I think you may of found your backup proof reader?

I also think it's acceptable to allow a certain bit of friendly 'banter' on forums too!

Originally Posted by Steve Richardson

“The good news is Rebecca our proof reader extraordinaire is off having a baby, so there is no one to pick up on my bad grammar and smelling ”

Maybe you should get a bath then Steve? 

Hello Clinton,

Thanks for pointing that out (it's probably not something I'd of ever recognised).  I have to say though, that as long as im nt tking in txt spk on a forum, and my msg is reasonably understood, I'm not really too bothered about 'mistakes' like that.  But thanks anyway ;)

I have to say, though, that second bit about a business... rather clever one that, and funny, but TRUE.  I'm gonna try and remember that one!