Re: professional approach to communication

Posted by Ron Anderson-4 on
URL: http://confocal-microscopy-list.275.s1.nabble.com/LSM-510-VS-LSM-710-tp2914140p2939672.html

Yes, I saw that and forwarded it to Charlie.

Carl echoes my sentiments exactly

Ron

Philip Oshel wrote:

> Thank you. Nice to know that there is at least one other person
> howling from the lonely cliff edge.
>
> Phil
>
>> Without any intention to single out one individual, I'd like to
>> address a worsening issue regarding electronic communication.  This
>> is not a diatribe about "artistic license", the difficulties of
>> English as a second language, regional differences in slang or syntax
>> or the subtleties of hanging participles.  What I would like to see
>> is less casual and more appropriate use of the fundamentals of
>> English by those who should know better.
>>
>> Professional communications should reflect not only the expertise of
>> the individual, but their intellectual acuity as well.  We are not
>> Twittering each other, so we should be writing in complete sentences
>> with proper capitalization and punctuation.  While I may be a Luddite
>> in this regard, doesn't it take more effort to purposely write
>> without these attributes than with them, as all our years of formal
>> training would dictate?
>>
>> We have enough trouble with the bastardization of the current
>> lexicon.  For instance, when was the last time you "migrated" a chair
>> from one room to another, or you asked yourself what "impacted" your
>> decision to buy a particular car?  In my opinion we should eschew the
>> tendency to accept trendy but lazy language and work to maintain some
>> semblance discipline, if only to slow the progression toward the use
>> of "like" three to five times in every sentence.  (Is that just in
>> America, or has this disheartening trend spread to other English
>> speaking countries?)
>>
>> I would propose that a given writing or language style should be
>> appropriate for the forum in which it is used.  In the case of this
>> forum, where intelligent and highly educated scientists predominate,
>> we should stick to that level of discourse.
>>
>> Rantingly yours,
>> Carl
>>
>> Carl A. Boswell, Ph.D.
>> Molecular and Cellular Biology
>> University of Arizona
>> 520-954-7053
>> FAX [phone]
>