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From: welsch@houxu.UUCP (Larry Welsch)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: RE: better part of valor
Message-ID: <261@houxu.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 17-Dec-83 10:07:55 EST
Article-I.D.: houxu.261
Posted: Sat Dec 17 10:07:55 1983
Date-Received: Sun, 18-Dec-83 06:23:19 EST
Organization: Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ
Lines: 47


Some Random thoughts on grammar and spelling stimulated by the
article "better part of valor" signed by Reed Fire.

Companies that "reject" job applicants who cannot spell well or
who have difficulty with English grammar would have rejected
Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, and Nelson Rockefeller; none of
whom could spell well and all of whom made numerous grammatical
errors.

I have read many respected technical journals and technical
books are filled with grammatical constructions that would make
a purist shudder, but are quite understandable. I have also read
grammatically correct though totally meaningless articles. 

Rather than worry about grammar it is better to be concerned
about understanding.  The statement:

(1)
	"if X were applying for  employment at my company, and I had any
	say in the matter, he would be accepted when grammatical  errors
	disappear from the net!"

may be grammatically correct but lacks common sense. I think
what the writer meant to say was:

(2)
	"if X were applying for  employment at my company, X makes 
	grammatical errors on the net and I had any say in the matter, 
	then X would be accepted when X no longer makes grammatical errors 
	on the net"

Perhaps not grammatically correct but at least it doesn't make
hiring X dependent on an event that is unlikely to occur. 

To change the subject to flora and fauna, I took a look in
"Webster's Third New International Dictionary Unabridged" (c)
1981 for flora, fauna, defloration, deflowered, enfauned, etc.
First, there is no word enfauned! I suggest Reed Fire check the
dictionary referenced above.  Second, flora and fauna refer to
animal and plant life.  Third, while defloration refers to loss
of a hymen which can only happen to a woman, deflowering is loss
of virginity which can happen to a man.  I suggest that what
Reed Fire says is known to a few, is known only to him.

				Larry Welsch
				houxu!welsch