As a writer, and more specifically a technical writer, I’m judged—at least I feel I’m judged—on my writing all the time. I take a lot of pride in writing consistent, grammatically-correct and correctly spelled text all the time. In fact, I will confirm usage and spelling even for emails and short notes. (I should probably put together a personal style guide to save me time.)

I happened to catch Ron Creel’s post on Your Writing Dept Blog referring to Twitter posts and the (high) potential for cutting corners. I really liked his “hallowed ground” in terms of shortcuts he’s not willing to take, for example:

• Using 2 instead of two, to or too (remember, you spell out numbers until you get to ten or 10)
• Thru instead of through (thru just ain’t a word…never was and never will be)

To the first point I’ll add using 4 instead of for, R instead of are, and U instead of you. And to the second, till instead of until (I’ll accept ’til).

Thanks, Ron, I think Twitter, email and instant messaging are changing language for the worse!

Although it turns out this story is a few days old, I only just picked it up on Techdirt. I don’t think this is a technical writing story, but the majority of freelance writing jobs I’ve seen lately are all about creating content for search engine optimization (SEO). If this isn’t a story about SEO, I don’t know what is.

I certainly hope that Eu, France, does not change its name, it would be a tragedy. The world cannot bow down to the search engine and throw its history away for the sake of search hits. If anything, the town is infinitely more popular now for its struggle.

At the same time, the town seems to overlook the fact that people rarely use only one keyword for a search. If someone is looking for the town on the French coast, that person is not going to be satisfied with page after page of information about the European Union (EU), he’ll clarify his search terms. Although in my case, searching for “eu” in Google Maps was immediately successful.

Are you writing SEO content? Do you have to contend with similar ambiguity with web searches?

My name still is Craig. How did that question become a part of the English language? I can’t think of a single instance where a living person’s name exists in the past.

I fully understand that English doesn’t make any sense. Our grammar, spelling and usage evolve and have evolved from multiple other languages, but how did that evolution include something so contradictory?

Sure, maybe I provided my name previously and someone has forgotten it, but the question then becomes, “What is your name, again?” I suppose it’s possible that my name has actually changed, in which case someone may need to the name I formerly had. But I don’t think that evolution applies to this phrase.

There is a similar situation in a restaurant: “Were you finished with your plate?” “Why, yes, I was, but now I’m not.”

If anyone has answers, or more examples, let me know!

Interesting information about the @ symbol. Well, in my opinion, anyway.