Archive for September, 2008
Accuracy is Key to Communication… and Of Course, Spelling Counts!
by rita lite on Sep.17, 2008, under More SEOMatrix
I admit it. I’m a stickler. No, actually, truth be told: I’m downright anal retentive about punctuation. And spelling. But, go ahead and start a sentence with the word “and”; I won’t mind. Hey, it’s a stylistic thing.
No, not a Stylistics thing - this isn’t ’70s radio, you know! This is the internet… and no, “internet” doesn’t need to be capitalized. Neither does “web.” So there.
But before I take this where I was intending to go, let me say a word or two about literacy. Our national literacy rate is higher than it’s ever been. In fact, those amusing Wikipedia folks had the following to say about it:
“The literacy rate of the United States is estimated to be 99.7%.”
Call me cynical, but I can’t believe it’s that high. Oh, it’s pretty high, that’s a given… but 99.7%? That just seems… Gee - is it just me or does everything look kinda rosy to you, too? Oh, wait - let me take off these glasses…
Huh… 99.7%. You’d never know it, given the regular butchery of the English language that seems to be rampant these days. Granted, literacy has not a thing to do with being able to carry on a conversation in proper English.
It’s time we got back to basics regarding how to speak and spell and punctuate. That said, on to what I intended to say in the first place:
The manager of my grocery store hates me.
You’re probably saying, “Oh, go on, Rita… I’m sure he doesn’t hate you. What, do you use too many coupons? Try to sneak through with 13 items in the 10-or-less-items aisle? That sort of thing? No, no, nothing that mundane. And anyway, it should be “10 or fewer items.” GRRR!
No, he hates me (yeah, he really does!) because I shop with a red Sharpie. Honest. Wanna see? It’s right here in my purse somewhere… down at the bottom… amid those dingy bits of fluff that used to be KleenexTM-brand facial tissues (I’m not gonna mess with brand-name misuse, no-siree-bob, not this chickie!)… I just saw it there this morning…
But I digress…
It really is in there; trust me. And when I go into the Big Y grocery store (there, maybe a nice plug will appease the snarling, balding fellow a smidgen), I go armed with my Big Y card in my pocket and my broad-tip red Sharpie gripped in one sweaty little paw. My left one; I am “left pawed,” after all.
And I go hunting. But not for bargains. No, no, my friend. Some things are more important than two-for-one specials on the family-size box of Rice Krispies.
It’s there… I know it is. I can feel it in my bones… and in the red ink that doubtless surges through my veins. It’s only a matter of time before I find it. Sometimes, there’s more than one… and those are the days when I absolutely bellow in punctuation frustration or slip into an editorial coma right smack in the middle of seven varieties of mushrooms. Or 47 different cold remedies.
For there, among all the oh-so-tempting specials, it lurks, taunting me. Perched innocuously beneath the garam masala, wedged between the dehydrated minced onions and the crushed rosemary… a hand-lettered 4×6-inch sign proudly proclaims: “Parsley compliments potatoes!”
Aaaarrrrghhhhhh!
It lashes out with its would-be death blow to my editorial sensibilities. Fortunately, I’m made of hardier stuff than it anticipates - and I’m armed with my trusty Sharpie. <cue the blaring trumpets>
Don’t get me wrong. I’m delighted that the parsley has such splendid things to say about the potatoes (”That’s a lovely red skin you’re wearing,” I imagine one such compliment might be; yet another, “My, what firm but tender flesh you have…”). However, I’m fairly certain that what that sign was meant to convey is that parsley goes well with - complements - potatoes. That’s complements, with an E, not an I.
Oh, speaking of Es and Is… Do you know how Old MacDonald spells farm? That’s right: E-I-E-I-O.
Seriously, though… your fourth-grade teacher was right: Correct spelling and punctuation are absolutely key to effective communication! Think about it: If your website is riddled with spelling, syntax and punctuation errors, that reflects badly on your company. Your website represents you… shouldn’t it depict you in the best-possible light? Of course! That’s why - now more than ever - spelling counts.
Ethical Search Engine Marketing / More Linguistic Fodder
by admin on Sep.08, 2008, under More SEOMatrix
– a peripheral or alternative definition could be — ethical search engine marketing is about unearthing the clients’ goals and understanding how to most efficiently achieve them.
