Fic lament

[feliciakw]

I . . . I just don't have the energy to do a full-blown rant. My brain is so tired right now, and there's no end in sight. Why, why, WHY can't people learn the basics of proofreading--or having someone proofread for them--before they post a story to the internet?

" . . . he needed his families help."

" . . . he was avoiding his fathers eyes . . . "

I don't think anyone recognizes the word led anymore. "She lead the way down the hall."

And since when is an apostrophe the standard for showing pluralization? "Well aren't the FBI and math community lucky to have you two genius's."

Forget capitalizing where it should be, and do capitalize when it's not needed. "We'd find a way father." "He looked at his Dad."

Commas? What are those?

I just . . . okay, yes. Everyone makes mistakes. I know that. I've posted things that have had typos I didn't find until later. But stories and essays are supposed to be thought through, presented with a certain amount of quality and literacy. Grammar *is* important. Spelling *does* matter.

And when I'm taking a college level writing class wherein the teacher has to specifically state that incorrect grammar and formatting (e.g., placement of paragraph breaks) are unacceptable . . . That's just . . .

*sigh*

Comments

[kerravonsen]

One that drives me crazy is "... they would just have to make due." It's "make do", you morons! Arrrggh!

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

We should compile a list of often mis-worded phrases like that. There are about 10 or 15 that I see crop up on a regular basis in fic, and which always make me blame the beta for not reading closely enough. Heh.

[kerravonsen]

But the beta could well be just as ignorant.

I think the reason why it drives me to distraction is that it isn't a typo, it's the mangling of the English, through sheer ignorance.

Though I think the worst example was one I read in a zine many years ago: "they formed a dual triumvirate".

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

it isn't a typo, it's the mangling of the English, through sheer ignorance.

Indeed.

"they formed a dual triumvirate".

Six people, two groups of three, working together? In tandem? Because anything else doesn't make sense. Certainly they didn't mean that two people comprise a triumvirate. *eye roll*

[kerravonsen]

Certainly they didn't mean that two people comprise a triumvirate.

Yes they did... it was clear that they only understood half the meaning of "triumvirate", that is, as a group of people who lead or rule, but didn't know enough about roots to recognise that "tri" means "three"...

The same story had this other gem "his decapitated hands". Again, demonstrating that they didn't know how to look up a dictionary, but that they did know half the meaning of decapitate: something gets cut off...

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

I think the reason why it drives me to distraction is that it isn't a typo, it's the mangling of the English, through sheer ignorance.

See, here we may have a difference of opinion. If the fic only contains one or two slips like this, I give them the benefit of the doubt, because I've known my own fingers to slip and spell things phonetically rather than correcting (such as due for do or vice versa). Usually I catch those in one of my last read-throughs, or my beta catches them.

But sometimes it really is just a typo.

Which does not, of course, excuse most fic, where linguistic offenses such as this run rampant.

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

*psstt* Did you notice I split an infinitive in my original post? :-) See? I can walk on the wild side, too. Ha!

I'm starting to think I should tack a bibliography at the end of my fic, citing my grammar and spelling resources. I use my Holt Handbook when grammar issues arise, and I have an Oxford American Dictionary on my desktop.

Seriously, the Internet is one of the worst things ever to happen to the written word. Add in text messaging, and I fear for the literacy of future generations.

I'd love to see the mangled phrases you run into on a regular basis.

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

One of my favorites is "a sorted affair."

I mentioned this on one of my lists where we occasionally mock bad fic and received in return a rather risqué little ditty with laundry imagery. It was hilarious.

Because sometimes the only thing you can do is laugh.

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

*snicker*