lydecker Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 At the risk of being attacked by anyone under 40 and/or being labelled the dreaded "Grammar/Punctuation Police" I have to say that most of the SUTS bios (haven't read them all but have read all through Raymond Massey Day) fail to use apostrophes when dealing with possessives. Massey's bio has a zillion mistakes in this regard and so does Menjou's. If whoever wrote/proofed the Massey and Menjou bios were writing this post the last sentence would have read (incorrectly): "Masseys bio has a zillion mistakes and so does Menjous." Oh, well. You'd think a big company spending a ton of money on its website might be able to properly proof punctuation on SUTS bios but, as we have all learned, "proofing" and/or correct use of punctuation and grammar is a lost art, much like the silent film. Lydecker 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scsu1975 Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 Your write OP, were all loosing our righting skilz, IMO, LOL. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 And here I THOUGHT this thread o' yours was gonna be about that Perry Mason episode where the lexicographer was beaten to death with a Funk & Wagnall dictionary!!! (...yeah, I think it first aired in '59 during Season 3) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedracer5 Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 As someone under 40, I am not going to attack you Lydecker. I am in complete agreement that people's writing skills these days are abysmal. A company like TCM should really strive to present well written and accurate information. To me, a poorly written article, (like the much maligned "Are They Really Stars?" article that we ripped apart) undermines the credibility of the information or opinion presented. Since newspapers have gone by the wayside, if you read a lot of the online versions of these publications, you will see many horribly written (and punctuated) articles. It's quite sad really. (Now for my "kids, get off my lawn!" moment...) Many technology dependent teenagers and 20-somethings these days feel that proper writing isn't important as "[their] phone has auto-correct" or whatever. Too bad auto-correct doesn't fix punctuation. Even though I own an iPhone and a tablet, I do know how to write and spell without needing the assistance of either device. I think it's a shame how dependent upon technology this new generation (we're no longer in the Millennial generation, it's generation Z now) is and how they don't seem to care about learning how to do things without it. I will agree that many of these recent technologies have been really great (where would I be without DVR?), but they've also been a detriment to society as well. There's something to be said for being able to do things manually (tell time on an analog clock, use pen and paper to solve math problems, write a note, count back change, read a real book, etc.). My biggest pet peeve related to apostrophes is when people "over-apostrophe" and add one to every word ending in a 'S.' An apostrophe does not denote plural! Ugh. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EugeniaH Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 At the risk of being attacked by anyone under 40 and/or being labelled the dreaded "Grammar/Punctuation Police" I have to say that most of the SUTS bios (haven't read them all but have read all through Raymond Massey Day) fail to use apostrophes when dealing with possessives. Massey's bio has a zillion mistakes in this regard and so does Menjou's. If whoever wrote/proofed the Massey and Menjou bios were writing this post the last sentence would have read (incorrectly): "Masseys bio has a zillion mistakes and so does Menjous." Oh, well. You'd think a big company spending a ton of money on its website might be able to properly proof punctuation on SUTS bios but, as we have all learned, "proofing" and/or correct use of punctuation and grammar is a lost art, much like the silent film. Lydecker And don't even get me started on the grammar and punctuation of some of today's "news" websites... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoldenIsHere Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 As someone under 40, I am not going to attack you Lydecker. I am in complete agreement that people's writing skills these days are abysmal. A company like TCM should really strive to present well written and accurate information. To me, a poorly written article, (like the much maligned "Are They Really Stars?" article that we ripped apart) undermines the credibility of the information or opinion presented. Since newspapers have gone by the wayside, if you read a lot of the online versions of these publications, you will see many horribly written (and punctuated) articles. Quite a few online articles are "published" without enough proofing. Many times I see duplicated and missing words or even entire phrases or sentences written twice. I've also seen instances where I tell the writer was taking his or her sentence in one direction and then changed the approach but failed to go back and remove all remnants the original attempt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lydecker Posted August 9, 2015 Author Share Posted August 9, 2015 And here I THOUGHT this thread o' yours was gonna be about that Perry Mason episode where the lexicographer was beaten to death with a Funk & Wagnall dictionary!!! (...yeah, I think it first aired in '59 during Season 3) Well, I was going to write about that PM episode but got distracted. I am sure Errol Stanley Gardner did pen The Case of Missing Apostrophe or was it The Case of the Missing Semi-Colon??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 Well, I was going to write about that PM episode but got distracted. I am sure Errol Stanley Gardner did pen The Case of Missing Apostrophe or was it The Case of the Missing Semi-Colon??? LOL Close anyway, but actually I think in Season 4 there WAS an episode titled "The Case of The Missing Colon", but it of course had nothin' at all to do with either proper punctuation, spelling, syntax or grammar in general. And as I recall the guilty party turned out to be...wait for it...Lt. Tragg's personal proctologist. (...word is this was actor Ray Collins' least favorite episode, and for obvious reasons) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capuchin Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 Years ago, I put "excellent poofreading skills" as a requirement for a position we had open. More than two dozen applicants, not one of them caught it. It's incredibly difficult to proofread your own writing because your brain automatically adds any words you out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoldenIsHere Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 Years ago, I put "excellent poofreading skills" as a requirement for a position we had open. More than two dozen applicants, not one of them caught it. It's incredibly difficult to proofread your own writing because your brain automatically adds any words you out. Did you point out the "poof" versus "proof" to the person you hired for the position? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scsu1975 Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 I am sure Errol Stanley Gardner did pen The Case of Missing Apostrophe or was it The Case of the Missing Semi-Colon??? Are you sure it's not "Erle"? Heh heh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lydecker Posted August 9, 2015 Author Share Posted August 9, 2015 Are you sure it's not "Erle"? Heh heh Right you are! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lydecker Posted August 9, 2015 Author Share Posted August 9, 2015 Years ago, I put "excellent poofreading skills" as a requirement for a position we had open. More than two dozen applicants, not one of them caught it. Now that's incredible and a little sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lydecker Posted August 9, 2015 Author Share Posted August 9, 2015 LOL Close anyway, but actually I think in Season 4 there WAS an episode titled "The Case of The Missing Colon", but it of course had nothin' at all to do with either proper punctuation, spelling, syntax or grammar in general. And as I recall the guilty party turned out to be...wait for it...Lt. Tragg's personal proctologist. (...word is this was actor Ray Collins' least favorite episode, and for obvious reasons) I was going to say "The Case of the Missing Period" but thought better of it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scsu1975 Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 It's incredibly difficult to proofread your own writing because your brain automatically adds any words you out. Very true. That's why many people proofread their own writing by reading it backwards, or having someone else proofread for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoldenIsHere Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 It's incredibly difficult to proofread your own writing because your brain automatically adds any words you out. Did you leave out "leave" on purpose here to test us? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesJazGuitar Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 I was going to say "The Case of the Missing Period" but thought better of it. Just don't ask Megyn Kelly about this. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scsu1975 Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 Just don't ask Megan Kelly about this. Megyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lydecker Posted August 9, 2015 Author Share Posted August 9, 2015 Very true. That's why many people proofread their own writing by reading it backwards, or having someone else proofread for them. Absolutely. You can't proofread your own stuff -- you can miss some giant error again and again. Proofreading always requires a "new set of eyes." 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesJazGuitar Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 Megyn I'm like Trump showing that gal no respect! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Absolutely. You can't proofread your own stuff -- you can miss some giant error again and again. Proofreading always requires a "new set of eyes." I understand that sprocketman is still available for consulting work. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scsu1975 Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 I understand that sprocketman is still available for consulting work. Actually, it was Sprocket_Man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capuchin Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 Did you leave out "leave" on purpose here to test us? Not to test you, specifically. It's just something I do when talking about proofreading, just like the way I purposely mispell some words. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoldenIsHere Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 Not to test you, specifically. It's just something I do when talking about proofreading, just like the way I purposely mispell some words. So did you ever inform the one you ultimately hired about the "poofreading" versus "proofreading" in the ad? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 Actually, it was Sprocket_Man. Didn't Elton John record a song called "Sprocket Man"? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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