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All Over Again.... 
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I sometimes wonder at how I got here. Not in the biological sense, I mean the long strange trip that ended up here ... with websites like Ask Leo! and podcasts such as this one.
And if I had to do it all over again, what one thing would I change?
I would have paid more attention in English class. Heck, I would have taken more English, grammar and writing classes.
The bottom line is that regardless of your profession, writing, especially in this internet-enabled age, is becoming more and more critical. The ability to express yourself clearly and even entertainingly, is often a key differentiator between being good at a job and being great at it.
I hated writing in school - absolutely hated it. It wasn't until I started working a real job that I discovered that not only could I write relatively well (though I couldn't spell to save my life - I still can't), I actually kinda sorta enjoyed it.
What I hated in school wasn't writing. It was writing about things I knew nothing about and wasn't interested in. Once I got past that words started to ... well, to trickle out. I'm certainly not about to write the next great American novel. But write I do.
I bring this up because of the number of people who write to me who, to put it bluntly, can't. They fall into two camps: non-native speakers, for whom English is a second language, and those who've grown up speaking English, but still couldn't write their way out of a paper bag. While I have a lot of sympathy for the first group (technically, English is my second language too), I have very little for the second.
Sad as it is, both groups are at a severe disadvantage. It may not be fair, it may not be politically correct, but the practical reality of the internet is that speaking and writing English well, matters.
There used to be a commercial for some vocabulary product that began "People judge you by the words you use ...". It's not fair, but it's very, very true. You may be the smartest, coolest, most wonderful and professional person on the planet, but if your email and your internet posts and your other writings sound like a spoiled teenager that didn't finish high school, don't be surprised if that exactly how you're treated.
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Article C2567 - February 23, 2006
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
Great article. I am a lost cause in math and far from perfect in writing, but I had the best of all possible English teachers in middle school; she gave five years worth of help in two years... God bless you, Mrs. Raley!
Here is one of her secrets. For those wanting to build writing skills, try increasing the amount of book reading you do, in subjects you really like. Check your own writing (usage, grammar, spelling etc.) against what you read.
Posted by: Bonita at March 7, 2009 7:31 PMMy brother: he has worked for IBM (and a few other big companies) but he cannot be bothered to spell or capitalize worth a d*mn in his E-Mails. How on Earth he manages to get away with this, I cannot begin to imagine. Me, I see this and tear my hair out -- which I can't spare, as I'm going bald as it is! :(
Posted by: Glenn P. at January 26, 2010 2:00 PMJust like Leo's technical advice, he's once again "spot-on" by acknowledging that people form opinions of you by the way in which you write. At least, that's the case with me and with most other people I know.
Although I don't expect all the things I read to be perfect insofar as spelling and grammar, it's clear when someone hasn't even made an effort. If that's how the writer feels, that's when I don't take the time to read his words.
Where I come from, if you wouldn't even take a moment to spell-check your message nor make the effort to capitalize and punctuate, this is akin to . . . Well, what's the point? Just imagine your own list of ill-mannered behaviors and you'll get an idea of how I feel when someone writes in a manner indicating he didn't give a hoot. Just my penny's worth.
Thanks, Leo. As always, a great, great article.
P.S.: Use Firefox and enable the built-in spell-checker. You'll wonder how you ever managed without it. Does Internet Explorer spell-check yet? I don't see that feature in IE and that's a small part of why I don't use it.
Posted by: Tony M. at January 26, 2010 8:00 PMWith the contacts made these days on the Internet (without face-to-face contact), all too frequently it's your written (er, typed) words that represent who you are. Like you, Leo, I hated writing in school, and I think you hit the nail on the head as far as my reason for hating it. I can't write about something I'm unfamiliar with, or disinterested in learning about. But give me a cause near and dear to my heart, or ask me to write about a subject I do know, and I can do a pretty respectable job of writing.
All lower-case in online writing drives me nuts, as does WRITING IN ALL CAPS. Ugh!!
Posted by: Sue K at January 29, 2010 6:51 PMMy daughter thougt she was buying a raffle ticket for a crochet set--turns out it was a CROQUET set.
Posted by: Lee Nelson Guptill at February 26, 2010 8:21 AM