Playing fast and loose with facts, basic mistakes, typos, blunders, not proof reading carefully enough, rarely editing, forgetting to spell check…yep! Not proud of it and I can hold my hand up to all of the above, as well as (unknowingly) throwing in some American English phrasing, and spellings too.
I’m sorry if those of you, and I know you are out there, who actually write for a living, or have done so in the past, or who have a passion for the English Language (one of my monastic walking companions for example), have your powers of compassion regularly tested while reading here. Thank you for returning for the words, or what lies behind the words. And what ever words one might use to describe that, it’s what I regard as the most important aspect of Jade. AND I love the written word and would wish to do better at writing it.
Thanks to Gary for pointing out the typo in a name and to Angie for sending in the correct details about the photograph posted yesterday. Return here especially if you are a keen hiker, or runner.
I’ve tagged this post Teaching because it’s important to note ones mistakes, accept them, (refrain from mentally beating oneself up about them) and then do ones best to take greater care. AND it’s important to remember that practice/practise is not a path to a created perfection.
Ahhh, language! My friends giggle in the States now at some of my emails because British spelling has crept in and sometimes even British idioms instead of American! This is because I’m around more Brits here in Germany than Americans! Mon Dieu! But that is another aspect of language that is so absolutely wonderful, it can be played with and become such a wonderful way to show what IS there…in one’s hearts and thoughts. And since I speak a language most of the time that is not my mother tongue, other interesting things have begun to happen! And a fun story from my Chinese class…I wanted to say that I enjoy reading and by using the wrong tone it came out that I loved being constipated. As a language teacher and student, I’ve learned that a friendly smile and a giggle is the best way to be corrected and to learn!
Brilliant story from you Chinese class, bet that raised some titters in the back rows. And I know what you are saying about being corrected, written English and the like, with a light hand. However, big however, many of us equate learning with suffering, not fun. So mistakes and corrections as an adult can press buttons one didn’t even know were there ’till they get pressed. All that said the more we can approach expression, in any form, with playfullness and a light hand the more we can encourage people to at least HAVE A GO. I’m a bit of a cracked record in this regard, regularly encouraging people to write down their story, photograph it, video it, blog it…