Imagine you walk into a crowded room, full of influential people who could help make your business more successful. You go up to one of them and say, “ I me in the busyness consultancy a partner, with offices in the America and Asia also. Your been working with one of my partners only recently, that is tru, I belief.”
Yes, you’d sound like a fool.
Nobody talks like this, of course, but plenty of people write this way. Almost every day I read emails and blog posts that appear to be written by uneducated morons. Except they’re not. Usually, these are the utterances of senior management types who, you might hope, would have received a decent education and would usually have good communication skills when dealing with individuals one to one.
Yet, when they write something online, they seem to think that appalling grammar and child-like spelling mistakes are quite acceptable. I don’t expect every written message to be a literary masterpiece and everyone makes inadvertent errors now and then. (Besides, pedants who love to nit pick are very boring. ) What I frequently see and read though, verges on being described as incoherent drivel. Quite often, I don’t know what the author is even trying to convey, particularly when they are in rant mode. You’d have to wonder what their peers, colleagues and clients must make of their ramblings. Personally, I find it hard to take these writers opinions seriously and question their professionalism. Surely, I’m not alone in reaching these conclusions.
So, if you’re able to talk like an intelligent human being, but write like someone whose pants are permanently on fire, perhaps you should try reading your own words now and then. You might be surprised how inane your written words may appear. If this is the case, try giving yourself a few extra precious nanoseconds to consider what you want to convey. And think about the kind of impression you are making.
Do you want to be thought of as intelligent and insightful, or become a paid up member of, what I like to call, the new “illiterati”?
Posted by Ian Minter
