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Nov. 27, 2005 I am not bilingual in the true sense of that word. I can read in a couple of other languages other than my own native English but where the spoken or written word is concerned I stick to what I know best. One of my guilty pleasures is reading magazines published in Britain and I have often been shocked at the different dialects and how poor their use of the English language can be. I always looked to the Brits as examples of how we are all supposed to speak properly. I was surprised to read more slang coming from across the pond than I hear right here in the USA. There are times when I have to use my language skills carefully and where slang, off-color references and other word usage is unacceptable. I would never use swear words when writing a professional paper, speaking to the press (which I do often because of the clinical study my husband is a part of) or even writing a letter to one of my grandchildren. There are other times when I speak to friends and I use what I call "the people's language". Some of us swear like Sailors and some of us pepper regular conversation with a few sprinkles of expletives on occasion. I would only do this when I know that I will not offend. On here, I have tried to stick to the "people's language sans the swearing" with the exception of my "Throw Up" article. It was appropriate in my mind to express the way that I was feeling at that moment in time and to be as honest as I could be. I received several emails regarding that article and they were ALL supportive of what I said and NONE questioned how I said it. That was a first, because when I write about N.H. I get an equal amount of supportive and non-supportive email. I obviously caused Tom Keyes (who I respect and think is a wonderfully talented writer) some distress as a result of the use of certain words that were not appropriate in his opinion. I re-read my article and even though Tom thought that some of it was so out of line that he refused to quote me, I had absolutely no regrets in how I phrased my words or feelings. As I stated above, I was angry and when one is angry a few words from "The people's language" may slipped out. Okay, I'll be even more honest, they didn't just slip out; they were deliberate and actually I think that our Editor may even have changed a few that I had in the original article. I know that I never used the word "heck" anywhere in that article!! I understood his reasoning and had no objection to the edits, after all, that's his job. I was grateful that he published it at all. So, the bottom line here is that although I make no apologies for using swear words or for expressing my anger in the way that I did, I do apologize to Tom. I would never seek to offend him personally via my choice of language or vocabulary. I also make NO apologies for the points that I covered in the article because they needed to be said. Sadly, I don't think that I made much headway with some of the people who I targeted but I did try. I don't have any problem with people being proud of their experience or intelligence or anything else that they want to write about. I simply have a problem with using those attributes as a weapon against other writers. I cannot compete with those who employ perfect writing techniques and I cannot equal the experiences of many of the writers on this site and I won't even try. The issue I had and still have is when those people demand that I do so and that others do so for their articles to have validity and worth. There is now a new group here who are going to try to fix the problems that exist on the site and I hope that the "fix" will include the opportunity for all writers who wish to contribute to do so as long as they do the best job that they can with or without previous experience or genius IQ's. Less boasting and chest pounding and a little more respect for our fellow writers would be greatly appreciated. Also, if you are so perfect and proper that a few swear words offend you than perhaps you should be writing ONLY for religious publications and stay away from a forum such as this one where real people write from their hearts. After all, this is a public forum and not everyone in the public arena is perfect. Gosh darn and golly gee whiz, this turned out to be a longer than I had originally planned. Drats!!! ------------ About the author: Meri has a Medical/Legal background and is a former forensic researcher specializing in psychological profiling. https://www2.xlibris.com/bookstore/bookdisplay.asp?bookid=27335 Email: writers2@cox.net Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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