17 June, 2009

No, it doesn't really say that...


I can't begin to tell you how many times I come to work in the morning, and within half an hour am approached by someone relatively important with an English grammar question. I am by no means an English grammar expert, but fortunately, these are not generally very difficult questions. In the beginning I felt important: "wow, good thing I came in today, or he never wou
ld have known that designed and designated aren't the same word." Then I started to take the kindly, motherly approach: "no, I can see how you might have thought so, but type is not actually an abbreviation for typical."

But time went on, and as I've continued trying to explain the rules, I've truly been getting more and more fed up with the English language. There are just too many nuances, too many obstacles. How can anyone who isn't a native speaker really be expected to understand why sometimes you might say "in accordance with" and sometimes "according to" but that any other combinatio
n, such as "in according with " will make you sound like an absolute idiot? Sure, I know when it's correct - whenever it sounds right - but that's hardly helpful advice to anyone else. Here and there I try to fix small things, in the hope that I'm making the world a better place. It's scrap, not scrop. You're trying to say powered, not energized - we're not in a Star Trek movie. That LED is blinking, not winking. And on and on.

But the fact is, when my well-meaning friends at work write a
ny documentation, it's generally destined to be filed away somewhere, unread. And if it is read, it's likely to be read by another non-native English speaker who won't even notice the grammar blunders. So why do I even care? Why does it even matter?

This is a long introduction, I know. I was shopping this evening when I came across this:

These guys clearly do not have the same excuse that I can grant my colleagues - this is on the shelf in a major supermarket, not filed away in a drawer somewhere. But this is exactly the kind of thing they would have asked me...

8 comments:

little sheep said...

lol

Altie said...

ya but in hebrew they say it backwards, so translated to ebglish its not too bad.

u live in israel but are american?

toby said...

little sheep - thanks!

Altie - right, in Hebrew it's the opposite order, but most of the other packages managed to get it the right way in English :) And yes, you caught me - I grew up in America and live in Israel.

Altie said...

well cool, i just discovered a new blog! we learn new things every day....

toby said...

Altie - welcome, and enjoy!

He Who Fights Monsters said...

Pasta, Vehicle Shaped

newshiny said...

I've seen that a lot in Shufersal.

I've seen :
gilded breadcrumbs (very posh!)

grounded cocnut (had it been naughty?)

Personal sponge cakes (I don't want to know!)

I have photos if you want to post!

toby said...

newshiny - the grounded coconut I found, here: http://atimeofthesigns.blogspot.com/2009/02/misbehaving-again.html

And the sponge cakes I have photographed and am hoping to post soon, but gilded breadcrumbs? Nope, I haven't seen those yet. If you send me a photo, I will happily credit you!