I've weighed in on the Lois'/Lois's debate before, so I'll just be brief and say I think it's one of those issues that really isn't clear cut anymore and the most important thing is to be consistent. When I first started writing fanfic, I used Lois', if I were to start today or if I were to write an original fiction story using the name Lois, I'd probably use Lois's. But I continue to use Lois' out of habit. I really don't care either way.
To regress to what we were discussing earlier - about the need to write properly if you want people to take you seriously - I had to share this email I got today. This came across on one of my nanny listservs.
hi all if anyone in the manhattan (new york area) know of families looking for a wonderful nanny can u please refere them to me my name is <deleted> along with my email address at <deleted> thank you all so much have a blessed day
No capitalization. No punctuation. And I swear to god, my first reaction was the sarcastic thought, "Yes, I love to refere someone to u." Not to mention the fact that she makes to reference to any prior experience or training. Why in the world would I send any potential work her way?
Now, I'm sure that if I were to point this out to her, she'd say that I was taking it too seriously and that this is just an email and that her ability to write is in no way indicative of her ability to care for children. However, I'd have to disagree on both parts. Because it's not "just an email" it's an email asking for job leads - this listserv is full of potential job contacts for her, and this is her first impression. Secondly, while her ability to spell and write is no way indicative of her ability to love or care for a child, part of a nanny's job is to educate and be a good example. If she can't be bothered to proofread her email looking for a job, why would I refer her to a position where she would be helping children with homework and setting an example? The example she is setting here is that it is okay to be sloppy and lazy. Would it really have taken that much extra time/effort to write this out properly? I mean, it takes a split second longer to write "you" instead of "u". And I'm not asking for diagramming sentences, I'm asking that she use basic punctuation and capitalization.
Actually, on that point, I wanted to respond to this:
Everyone has their own talent and purpose on this Earth. Judging someone by their flaws does not solve the problem.
You're absolutely right, Laura. The thing is, what makes me irritated or upset is not lack of talent, but lack of effort. It doesn't take talent to run spellcheck. It doesn't take talent to have a proofreader look over your writing. There are a lot of people out there who struggle with grammar (and with writing in general). I don't expect them to love it and learn all the little quirks. I just expect them to make it presentable if they expect me to read it. When I was an editor, I had a writer who was severely dyslexic. He really struggled with writing, and I always admired his determination, even though he was not one of my best writers. I didn't expect his articles to come in flawless. However, I expected him to run spellcheck, just as I expected all my other writers to run spellcheck. I never made fun of any of my writers or acted condescendingly when they made what I thought were stupid errors. In fact, in my evaluations, my writers wrote over and over again that even though I was one of the toughest editors at the paper, they loved working with me because I never spoke down to them or tried to take over their stories. But I had no qualms about refusing to read a story that had glaring errors. There were a number of times that I'd read two paragraphs, get up and say, "Call me back over when you've edited this yourself." After a time or two of that, they knew what was expected.
Most of the errors I deal with on a daily basis (either when I was an editor or just in communication with random people) is not a result of a learning disability, but simply the result of laziness. There is no one out there (over the age of seven) who honestly believes the word you is spelled u. That's just laziness. I don't expect perfection from people, and I don't expect people to know all the technical terms for grammar. I freely admit that I don't know all the technical terms. I just expect people to either know how to do it correctly or find someone who does to edit their writing.
Annie
