I saw ‘whatsoever’ spelt as three words, ‘itself’ spelt
‘it’s self’ and ‘definitely’ spelt ‘defanatly.’ There was an almost total lack
of punctuation and some of the weirdest grammar I’ve ever come across. If
anything, they were even worse than YouTube commenters.
The fact is, however, that customer reviewers are not
professional writers, nor do they make any pretence at so being, so what does
it matter if the educational system failed in its duty of care to the language?
As long as the meaning was clear, which it mostly was, I could let it go.
What disturbs me more is the seemingly increasing linguistic
ineptitude of professional journalists. I’ve seen both ‘comprised of’ and ‘from
whence’ crop up in news reports recently, which means that the writers in
question apparently don’t know that ‘comprised’ means ‘consisted of,’ or that
‘whence’ means ‘from where.’ That’s worrying because its part of a wider trend
I’ve been noticing over recent years: that professionals in all sorts of fields
appear to be becoming ever less professional. I’ve seen this in plumbers,
electricians, builders, refrigeration engineers, an architect and a couple of
building surveyors – and probably several others that I don’t remember off the
top of my head.
So who do you trust nowadays, especially when you’re paying
for their services? And how does it correlate with the increasing mania for
higher education that’s been gaining ground in recent decades?
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