MEDIOCRITY ... its in the air ... its everywhere!
..... since 'Flame On' and I parted ways last week ... I've been suffering from a serious bout of tabanca ... and yuh know .... how when yuh have tabanca ... yuh mind does wander .... and yuh does start tuh tink .... of all kinda dotishness ..... well ..... other than the obvious thoughts ..... of wanting him back (Flame On that is) ..... in dat same thought bubble ..... I couldn't help but also think ..... about the mass of mediocrity ..... in our air ..... the mediocrity ....... that orbits us every day ...... and the indifference we exhibit towards it ....... it's so vast ....... that if I tried to cover all the different areas ...... plagued by mediocrity ..... in dis country!! ...... you'd be reading dis for the rest of the week ..... so for today ..... de focus is on de print media ......
as you may have figured out ..... I've become a professional newspaper reader ..... and more recently ..... a blog junkie ..... last week ..... while perusing some blogs ..... I came across a post about spelling errors in one of the new Carnival magazines on sale ..... I was horrified ...... the errors are numerous ..... and so obvious ...... it is just ridiculous ...... cuz this magazine isn't free yuh know ..... not that that would make the errors easier to swallow!! ...... the magazine is being SOLD ..... for TT$45 ...... 4tee5TT duh-lars!!!! ...... of course .... again ..... this item would have probably been a hot seller ..... after carnival ..... makin de rounds ...... includin some overseas trips etc. ...... shame, shame and more shame!!! ....... anyway ...... this got me thinking about the errors (spelling and otherwise) that I bounce up on a daily basis ......
you see ..... not only do I often get stuck in traffic ...... with nuff time to make out crap signs etc. ...... but every day ...... I try to read the 3 main daily newspapers ...... doh know why ...... cuz all of dem ..... have de same crap ...... except Newsday ..... dey does have de gory pics tuh go wit de articles ...... and EVERY DAY ...... I am guaranteed to encounter errors ..... of varying degrees ...... there are the obvious typos .... then there are the missing words ..... then there are the articles with plain incorrect content ..... then there's the incorrect grammar ...... then there's the mixed up captions ...... you name it ..... de error dey! ..... so ...... as expected ...... today's read was no different ..... among de stories ..... of Fidel resigning ..... school children sellin porn ...... and savin Boissiere House ....... I found about 18 errors in today's Express alone ..... and I didn't use a fine tooth comb ..... found em wit de zoom lens on meh eye ..... so imagine if ah did use ah comb!!!
..... what was most noticeable though ..... is that the majority of crap .... appeared in ads ..... now I have no idea how dat works ..... i.e. placing an ad ....... I assume it starts wit de company dat want de ad ..... then de ad agency would produce it .... then it would go back to the company to verify ...... then it hits the newspaper ...... in its print-worthy ...... proofread format ..... that's my layman logic .... but clearly ..... that is not what happens ..... cuz you cyah tell me ..... dat an ad passes thru ...... X-amount ah people ...... and could still end up in de papers with an error ....... although .... as a pseudo writer myself ...... when proofreading my rantings ...... I often read what is supposed to be there ..... and not necessarily what is (or isn't) ...... so maybe the problem is ..... dat de proofreader is also de writer ..... but whatever de case ..... I would think tho ...... that the onus is on the newspaper ....... to get it right .....cuz at de end of de day ..... is their publication de crap appearin in ...... I doh know ...... dat's just my unqualified opinion! ...... as it is .... hours later ...... I cyah tell yuh which ads had errors ...... but off de bat ....... ah could tell yuh ...... de Express Newspaper have real errors!!!!!
.... in dis era of email ...... and text messaging ...... and instant messaging ....... and social networks ...... and to a certain extent ..... blogging ..... all very informal methods of communication ..... language, spelling, grammar, composition, penmanship ...... all seem to be hiding in the shadow of lingo ..... dat new kid on da block ..... that is gradually overriding everything we've learned in primary school English class ...... and causing some level of deterioration in the written word ..... and by extension ....... conditioning our minds (and eyes) ...... to bypass blatant crap ..... but blah, blah, blah ...... not to sound like an old dog who can't be taught new tricks (tho I eh learn de trick of interpreting lingo yet!) ..... it's all well and good to accept that the only constant is change ..... however ..... this does not apply to a newspaper .... a newspaper ...... will never change ..... it will always be written in the queen's english !!! ...... and in our case ..... we just need it to be done in the accurate version ..... and perhaps have the proofreaders ..... provide ah lil more "proof" ...... that they can "read" .......
call me a perfectionist .... call me uptight ..... call me when yuh find ah newspaper wit no errors in it .....
...... all boils down to ...... lack of pride in what we do ...... but that's a whole other post ......
(Examples below)
PS: doh slam meh fuh any errors in dis post eh .... do so eh like so!
as you may have figured out ..... I've become a professional newspaper reader ..... and more recently ..... a blog junkie ..... last week ..... while perusing some blogs ..... I came across a post about spelling errors in one of the new Carnival magazines on sale ..... I was horrified ...... the errors are numerous ..... and so obvious ...... it is just ridiculous ...... cuz this magazine isn't free yuh know ..... not that that would make the errors easier to swallow!! ...... the magazine is being SOLD ..... for TT$45 ...... 4tee5TT duh-lars!!!! ...... of course .... again ..... this item would have probably been a hot seller ..... after carnival ..... makin de rounds ...... includin some overseas trips etc. ...... shame, shame and more shame!!! ....... anyway ...... this got me thinking about the errors (spelling and otherwise) that I bounce up on a daily basis ......
you see ..... not only do I often get stuck in traffic ...... with nuff time to make out crap signs etc. ...... but every day ...... I try to read the 3 main daily newspapers ...... doh know why ...... cuz all of dem ..... have de same crap ...... except Newsday ..... dey does have de gory pics tuh go wit de articles ...... and EVERY DAY ...... I am guaranteed to encounter errors ..... of varying degrees ...... there are the obvious typos .... then there are the missing words ..... then there are the articles with plain incorrect content ..... then there's the incorrect grammar ...... then there's the mixed up captions ...... you name it ..... de error dey! ..... so ...... as expected ...... today's read was no different ..... among de stories ..... of Fidel resigning ..... school children sellin porn ...... and savin Boissiere House ....... I found about 18 errors in today's Express alone ..... and I didn't use a fine tooth comb ..... found em wit de zoom lens on meh eye ..... so imagine if ah did use ah comb!!!
..... what was most noticeable though ..... is that the majority of crap .... appeared in ads ..... now I have no idea how dat works ..... i.e. placing an ad ....... I assume it starts wit de company dat want de ad ..... then de ad agency would produce it .... then it would go back to the company to verify ...... then it hits the newspaper ...... in its print-worthy ...... proofread format ..... that's my layman logic .... but clearly ..... that is not what happens ..... cuz you cyah tell me ..... dat an ad passes thru ...... X-amount ah people ...... and could still end up in de papers with an error ....... although .... as a pseudo writer myself ...... when proofreading my rantings ...... I often read what is supposed to be there ..... and not necessarily what is (or isn't) ...... so maybe the problem is ..... dat de proofreader is also de writer ..... but whatever de case ..... I would think tho ...... that the onus is on the newspaper ....... to get it right .....cuz at de end of de day ..... is their publication de crap appearin in ...... I doh know ...... dat's just my unqualified opinion! ...... as it is .... hours later ...... I cyah tell yuh which ads had errors ...... but off de bat ....... ah could tell yuh ...... de Express Newspaper have real errors!!!!!
.... in dis era of email ...... and text messaging ...... and instant messaging ....... and social networks ...... and to a certain extent ..... blogging ..... all very informal methods of communication ..... language, spelling, grammar, composition, penmanship ...... all seem to be hiding in the shadow of lingo ..... dat new kid on da block ..... that is gradually overriding everything we've learned in primary school English class ...... and causing some level of deterioration in the written word ..... and by extension ....... conditioning our minds (and eyes) ...... to bypass blatant crap ..... but blah, blah, blah ...... not to sound like an old dog who can't be taught new tricks (tho I eh learn de trick of interpreting lingo yet!) ..... it's all well and good to accept that the only constant is change ..... however ..... this does not apply to a newspaper .... a newspaper ...... will never change ..... it will always be written in the queen's english !!! ...... and in our case ..... we just need it to be done in the accurate version ..... and perhaps have the proofreaders ..... provide ah lil more "proof" ...... that they can "read" .......
call me a perfectionist .... call me uptight ..... call me when yuh find ah newspaper wit no errors in it .....
...... all boils down to ...... lack of pride in what we do ...... but that's a whole other post ......
(Examples below)
PS: doh slam meh fuh any errors in dis post eh .... do so eh like so!
LOL shame on those folks who get paid the big bucks to proof reed..oops..sorry read...i don't have a proof reader : P
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Well to the world of blogging...is about blasted time!
And I am glad that I am not the only one who notices dotish errors like these.
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Well...iz about time...so long ah tellin yuh to make it public....I know quite a few peeps who will enjoy these "rantings' immensely........looking forwrd to de new ones...........John will enjoy fuh sure.............
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