This post is dedicated to some of the comments from my readers and the answers I have given in response to those comments.  I will answer them all in time. I will.

 

First, I must respond to the many expressions of appreciation for the site, the posts and for your having stopped by to read. But here’s a question for you who have recently found the site, Say What?  Would you tell me how you happened upon this site?  I’m interested and, at the same time, extremely pleased that you found it.

Say What? is the name of my recently published book about Effective  Communication. Please take a moment sometime soon to read this book: Say What? Here's How You Can Say and Write it Better

 

In Chapter Three of Say What, I dealt with a number of words that I named “non-words”. These are words like irregardless and conversate.  Now, tell me honestly, what else could we call them? They are not words, but some people use them, never-the-less.  Yet, who knows what is in the future of these words that today evoke such merriment when we hear them, English being the "crazy", wonderful, living language that it is? I still think those two are outside the realms of such a possibility.

 

But I digress. Back in May 2010, my blog "Let's Wage War on the Non-word" appeared here and one commenter asked this question:

 

Question

 Do you differentiate between spoken and written "non words"?  For example, you would rarely see bidness (business) or strimp (shrimp) in the written form. Surely, these are mainly spoken.

 

Are we communicating?

My Answer

This is true, and I must confess that although I have heard strimp, I have never seen someone actually write the word strimp. The same is true for bidness.

 

However, I have found that the way someone pronounces a word is exactly the way that person will painstakingly attempt to write it. As a result, written or spoken, the effect on communication remains the same—ineffective; unless, of course, you and the speaker or writer belong to the same speech community. By that I mean, you speak the same dialect.

We know that communication, in order to be effective, must deliver the same message to the listener that the sender intended. Therefore, since in most cases, what people say is what they write, this habit often leaves “outsiders” (of the speech community) completely unaware of what is being communicated.  Communication, therefore, becomes ineffective.

 

Quite often the problem goes beyond the “non-word”. Let’s take as an example, the word, F-e-b-ru-a-r-y. Many people say F-e-b-u-a-r-y, completely ignoring the little “r” that’s dying to be heard, and, as a result, they also write F-e-b-u-a-r-y. Then they look completely astonished when you gently break it to them that the word is really Feb-ru-ary, and not Feb-u-ary.  

After such a discussion, one person glibly told me, “Well, I think you’ll just have to give up on me with this one.” She had become so accustomed to saying Feb-u-ary, that none of the methods I was using at the time was going to help her break the habit.  Changing to another method seemed to produce the result we needed.

 

The same goes for words like re-cog-nize. People who say this word without the “g” sound tend to write it without the letter “g”. And I’m also quite sure you are aware that some people write and say “Old Timers” when they really should be writing and saying “Alzheimer’s”. 

 

This has been my experience, but I would not be in the least bit surprised if there are instances in which some people say one thing and do, I mean write, another.

 

Let's replace the silence with effective communication


Question

Have you thought of making a video?  and

Have you thought of adding a video so as to keep your readers entertained?

                             

My Answer

I promise I will eventually add videos. And although I cannot guarantee your entertainment, I can promise you will find them worthwhile and informative. I'll be working on your suggestion and thank you.

 

Comment

I do have to admit that I appreciate studying your weblog, even when I do not agree with you. . . .

 

My Response

Wonderful! Let’s hear your points of disagreement, CC.  I am far from perfect; and would like to hear the dissenting points. But I promise you, I can argue myself out of a corner if you place me in one.

 

 

Some readers have expressed a desire to bookmark the site.  Although subscribing is an option, you may not want to receive an email message each time a new post is out. There is also the relatively new-to-me rss feed, which, apparently, is the real answer to this question. But I must first have it set up on my blog. So what am I waiting for, you say; especially since some readers are already asking for it?  I’ll get to it. 

 

Before I end this post, I would like to give “Christmas Bells” my permission to use what is needed from these articles with a link back to me as suggested. 

 

Finally, here is a warm thank you again to everyone for your kind words and your great interest in what I enjoy doing. I will write a regular post next time.

I wish you all peace, light and love.