Pronunciation of manufacturers' names

[walpurgis]

Pretentious, n'est-ce-pas?

As is the inexcusable bunging in of Gallicisms!

[walpurgis]

This is surprising, as a lot of us here are, or were engineers, and engineers often used to have poor written English. lol!

That's true across most professions I think.

[Marco]

I agree with that Marco.

Most members seem reasonably educated and literate, so any lack of coherence and intelligibilty in posts is probably laziness.

Indeed. I'm not talking about folks who aren't able to write any better, but those who clearly could *if* they wanted to!

And btw, it's 'intelligibility'

[Pedant mode off].

The main bugbear for me and others I'm sure, is the regular lack of paragraphing.

Absolutely! What those guilty of such perhaps don't realise is that, upon encountering it, probably 90% of people will simply bypass what's written, without even attempting to read it, as reams of prose, minus paragraphs, is simply hard on the eyes and requires too much effort to decipher.

Therefore, it's completely counterproductive if you want people to actually READ what you've written...........

We should start a national campaign, encouraging the lazy sods to 'get jiggy' with their [return] key!

Marco.

[Marco]

This is surprising, as a lot of us here are, or were engineers, and engineers often used to have poor written English. lol!

Yes, that's very true! So what is it then with engineers: are they otherwise intelligent people who simply failed their English exams?

As teacher would say: 'Must do better'!

Marco.

[spendorman]

Yes, that's very true! So what is it then with engineers: are they otherwise intelligent people who simply failed their English exams?

As teacher would say: 'Must do better'!

Marco.

Not only English, but I had problems with Maths, still do !!

[walpurgis]

I was booted from school at the age of fourteen, before I could take exams. I also recorded the lowest annual report score ever at my school, 3%. All due to boredom and laziness.

[spendorman]

I was booted from school at the age of fourteen, before I could take exams. I also recorded the lowest annual report score ever at my school, 3%. All due to boredom and laziness.

At school I was told that I'd never pass O levels, so was put in for CSE's. It was a crap school. Left and went to Technical College. Along with the City and Guilds Engineering course, I took O levels, got all those too, went on to OND and then higher level courses.

[walpurgis]

Yeah. I did well at college too from the age of 21. Passed everything with credits (bit annoyed, my mate got distinctions ). City and Guilds Streetworks. Went on to a lifetime working in highway engineering.

[Mike Reed]

As for 'fora', again we're in agreement. The term is grammatically correct, but simply too stilted for use within informal communication. There's a balance between using proper English, in order to make yourself understood, and sounding like a tit
Marco.

The term 'fora' can be used for more than one Roman meeting place. This is SUCH a commonplace use of the word, of course ). It is not correct for any other use, Marco. 'Tis written in O.E.D. stone.

[Mike Reed]

And btw, it's 'intelligibility'

[Pedant mode off].

Marco.

That's harsh. Typos (don't think that merits an apostrophe of omission nowadays) are very different to linguistic errors in my book. Okay, you can proof-read your post more than once, but typos have a habit of eluding poor eyesight. I would fail at the first hurdle on a hand-held appliance, and only just manage on this 'orribly sticky keyboard on mine.

Thought for the day; in hindsight or with hindsight? This prepositional error is just so widespread, including amongst broadcasters and others you'd expect better from. Furthermore, how did this erroneous change occur? This is current bugbear number one, but there are other similar grammatical abortions popping up from time to time.

You mention leeway for those who have difficulty, but I've found a correlation between poor written English and a reluctance to be subtly educated. Not here, I may add, but on other forums. I think there's a big difference between (lack of) prowess at school and a lack of realisation in middle age when one should have the benefit of hindsight.