atw: Dinosaurs and punctuation
- From: "Christine Kent" <cmkentau@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2011 17:58:39 +1000
I have just made another observation regarding the problem of whether "our
grammar" is defunct.
I was listening to a very young newsreader and finding her uncomfortable to
listen to and difficult to understand, so I paid attention. Something was
"wrong" with the "rhythm" of what she was saying. It is something I have
wondered about with younger people - why I can find some of them really
difficult to follow, but I have never really paid attention before now.
I had a teacher in year 12 who, instead of teaching us grammar, told us to
put commas where we wanted the reader to take a short breath and a full stop
where we wanted them to take a longer breath. In effect our punctuation
told the reader when to breathe. It's an excellent system, even if it is
technically incorrect at times.
This newsreader was putting all her pauses in the wrong place. She would
run-on at the end of sentences with no pause at all, and put short or long
pauses in the middle of clauses.
I struggled to follow what she was saying. Did she follow it herself? Was
she reading for meaning or just reading words? Is there some internal logic
comprehended by other young people? Or does no-one care anymore whether
we/they understand what is said or not?
Someone must be researching this.
Christine
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Christine Kent
Sent: Wednesday, 30 March 2011 6:56 PM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Dinosaurs
One of the reasons I keep disappearing from this list, is that many of you
old men (yes I know you are younger than me, most of you) come across as
dinosaurs, but it is something I am struggling to come to grips with myself.
I think that, despite my bests efforts, I am also a dinosaur and it is about
the way my brain thinks, not what it thinks.
I'm not convinced that the world is the same as it was when I was growing
up, or that the human brain is the same since computerisation. Whilst I
stick to something approximating the "the old ways" regarding language
myself, I find that I am more and more out of sync with the world in
general. If I advertise for something to buy or to sell, it doesn't work,
but if I get someone much younger to place the ads for me, it does work. I
can't see what it is, but I realise that even though I work with computers,
have a blog, twitter, spend hours on facebook and collaborate on-line,
something inside me IS a dinosaur.
Maybe these semi-illiterates are readable to other semi-illiterates. Maybe
they are moving into a different style of mental functioning - one that is
utterly alien and virtually incomprehensible to us. Heaven help us if they
ever start writing aircraft maintenance manuals, but who are we to judge if
their work is doing no-one any harm?
Too philosophical for tech writers on a Wednesday?
Christine
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