Job Adverts

[Marcus Brody]

purely an observation that there is no excuse for those problems to appear in finished archaeological reports? That's just sloppy and unprofessional and curators should be kicking them back (assuming they could even understand them in the first place!).

I completely agree with the first part of this statement - often, the report will have been written by one person, someone higher up will be credited as having edited it, and a third person will have signed off on it for 'quality assurance' (or some other similarly w***y management term). While it's possible to believe that one of those people may have problems with spelling (for whatever reason), it's surely not credible that they'd all be dyslexic, so the only conclusion that I can draw is therefore that the editor and 'quality assurance' person haven't actually read the document before rubber-stamping their name to it.

I agree that this looks sloppy and unprofessional, and reflects badly on the company concerned, but I'm not convinced that it's the curator's job to correct errors of this type. As long as the archaeological information can be understood, I'd suggest that the curator probably has to accept the report - he or she could mention spelling or grammatical mistakes, but if the contractor decides not to make the changes, it's really their look-out. After all, if the contractor wishes to submit a report that makes it look like they can't write decent English, or that their quality-control process exists purely in name only, that only reflects badly on the company concerned.

[P Prentice]

......those who consider themselves well educated literate and numerate tend to see bad spelling and other educational problems as either laziness or inherent mental deficiency. These are attitudes that I thought were now all but obsolete, ........ I'd also like to point out that 'infinate' as used by P Prentice, is actually spelt 'infinite'. Strangely no one here seemed to pick up on this, but anybody can make a mistake so I'll give the benefit of doubt to this. Perhaps in future you may all consider doing the same.

yep - yer right - i cant spell for shit. but i have never poked fun at anyones spelling or use of grammer on this forum as i dont think it is in anyway relevant. but i when i send a publication out the door i will have done my utmost to make sure it is completely understandable - cus that is its function. spelling and grammer are intended to aid understanding and anybody doing business needs to be understood.....unless they want it sent back for oft costly amendments

as for illuminated educational needs - me and bodger would say you should get what you pay for

[Dinosaur]

I concur with all of that, except for the last bit (scholarship boy) :face-approve:

[pdurdin]

I tend to agree with Wax, those who consider themselves well educated literate and numerate tend to see bad spelling and other educational problems as either laziness or inherent mental deficiency.

Do I count as well educated if, according to pieces of paper, I have no education at all? And I didn't have any of the vast array of resources available to me that were available to my generation in schools here? :face-stir:

These are attitudes that I thought were now all but obsolete, what with a more illuminated approach to educational needs now being the norm within most educational establishments.

Dyslexia aside, if this "more illuminated approach" is sending high school kids to uni who can't spell -- or worse, don't make an effort to correct their spelling when they do make mistakes -- then there's either a problem with the students or the system (or both).

...but a significant barrier to learning is negative attitudes much as those displayed here.

This is such a cop-out! "So-and-so has a negative attitude towards my poor spelling, so it's harder for me to fix MY MISTAKES." They should be saying "my spelling is poor, so I'll use a spell checker/ask a friend or colleague to proof-read/use a dictionary to make sure it's right."

But...going off topic. Bad spelling should not be seen in:
job adverts
archaeological reports
university assignments

And if it IS (regularly, in the last case) present, then yes, that is going to affect my opinion of the person producing the work.

[Wax]

The bad spelling of an individual for what ever reason should be compensated for within any professional company. There should be several people within an organisation who can act as proof readers for the rest. it is this sort of intergrated team work that produces a professional product. Though I cannot spell several of my colleagues can and they are more than willing to proof read (and have a good giggle at my some what cavalier approach to the English language ). As a client I would expect to see a product that is presented in a professional manner. Though a grammatically correct report can be as meaningless as a badly written one if it does not get across the information needed by the client.

I wonder what a report written in Text speak would look like? it would make perfect sense to the texting generation but might leave some of us struggling to read it. language both spoken and written is constantly evolving

[Jack]

I wonder what a report written in Text speak would look like? it would make perfect sense to the texting generation but might leave some of us struggling to read it. language both spoken and written is constantly evolving

Huuurrrr. Shiver.

Even thinking about that makes me feel ill.

[pdurdin]

"FOUR THN OFF-CTS OF TMBRS IN A MSM CLLCTN WR SPPLIED. THS HD BEEN TKN FRM AN EXCVTN OF A RMN ST MNY DCDS PRVOUSLY AND STRD. AL TH SMPLS WR OF OK. TH SMPLS WR PLSHD USNG PRGRSSVLY FNR GRTS DWN 2 400 2 ALLW TH MEASRMNT OF RNG-WDTHS 2 TH NEARST 0.01 MM. TH SMPLS WR MEASRD UNDR A BNCLR MCRSCP ON A PRPS-BLT MVNG STG WTH A LNEAR TRNSDCR ATTCHD 2 A DSKTP CMPTR. MEASRMNTS AND SBSQNT ANLYSS WR CRRIED OUT USNG DNDR FR WNDWS WRTTN BY IN TYRS."

:face-huh:

[P Prentice]

"FOUR THN OFF-CTS OF TMBRS IN A MSM CLLCTN WR SPPLIED. THS HD BEEN TKN FRM AN EXCVTN OF A RMN ST MNY DCDS PRVOUSLY AND STRD. AL TH SMPLS WR OF OK. TH SMPLS WR PLSHD USNG PRGRSSVLY FNR GRTS DWN 2 400 2 ALLW TH MEASRMNT OF RNG-WDTHS 2 TH NEARST 0.01 MM. TH SMPLS WR MEASRD UNDR A BNCLR MCRSCP ON A PRPS-BLT MVNG STG WTH A LNEAR TRNSDCR ATTCHD 2 A DSKTP CMPTR. MEASRMNTS AND SBSQNT ANLYSS WR CRRIED OUT USNG DNDR FR WNDWS WRTTN BY IN TYRS."

:face-huh:

now you just sound like our bajr

[Dinosaur]

"FOUR THN OFF-CTS OF TMBRS IN A MSM CLLCTN WR SPPLIED. THS HD BEEN TKN FRM AN EXCVTN OF A RMN ST MNY DCDS PRVOUSLY AND STRD. AL TH SMPLS WR OF OK. TH SMPLS WR PLSHD USNG PRGRSSVLY FNR GRTS DWN 2 400 2 ALLW TH MEASRMNT OF RNG-WDTHS 2 TH NEARST 0.01 MM. TH SMPLS WR MEASRD UNDR A BNCLR MCRSCP ON A PRPS-BLT MVNG STG WTH A LNEAR TRNSDCR ATTCHD 2 A DSKTP CMPTR. MEASRMNTS AND SBSQNT ANLYSS WR CRRIED OUT USNG DNDR FR WNDWS WRTTN BY IN TYRS."

:face-huh:

Absolutely none the wiser (?something about wood?) - presumably some sort of secret language? Just goes to show why English is so popular still

[pdurdin]

Let's inscribe it on a slab of rock and bury it for archaeologists a thousand years from now to discover!