[Jewelry making - Article 00157] - Re: [Orchid] How to present yourself in writing

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From: "Karen Bahr" <rocklady AT nucleus.com>

    Hello Kate and others 

>     Aoccdrnig to a rseearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer
>     in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng
>     is  taht  the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. 

    Check out this website http://www.bisso.com/ujg_archives/000227.html
    as it actually describes this phenomenon. Karen Bahr   "the
    Rocklady"  (rocklady AT nucleus.com) 

From: Randolph Post <repost AT ji-net.com> 

	Writing is easy!
	By Randolph Post

    It's really quite simple to present yourself in writing, and do so
    with a flair that is both interesting and communicative. 

    Think about the way you design jewelry. Perhaps visual images of a
    design idea thump around in your head for a few days, or a few weeks
    if you are old like me. This design may evolve from the original
    idea as it becomes more concrete, and perhaps more sophisticated to
    your creative thinking. 

    Eventually, your design may make it onto paper, becoming a physical
    illustration of what you have in mind. Over the course of time, you
    may modify this as the concept becomes clearer to your creative
    sense now that there is an image before your eyes. The lines become
    more compelling to your own sense of style. 

    Some time later, the idea is translated into physicality, perhaps in
    wax, or some other easy to work with medium (I really have no idea
    what you people use, I am a writer by trade.) 

    This is then "played with" some more, until you sense that your
    vision has been achieved (in my trade we call it "polishing.") Now
    you are ready to translate the result into precious metal, perhaps
    embellishing it with gems that round out your concept into a work of
    art that will both delight the eye of the viewer and cause him/her
    to reach for a credit card or purchase order. The bottom line is
    that the end result is the sum total of your own creative thought,
    you have "forced through your vision" into reality. 

    Writing is much the same. First there is a dialogue in your head as
    you express your ideas to yourself. These are mentally rewritten as
    you clarify the point you wish to make, and the manner in which you
    wish to express it. This can be done over a matter of hours (or days
    etc. etc.) until you feel compelled to place your ideas on paper. 

    By this time, you should be able to sit at the keyboard, empty your
    head of all conflicting thoughts, and just let it flow. Do not
    concern yourself with typos, spelling, or grammar at this point;
    just get it onto the page. This, like your jewelry design idea, is a
    rough illustration. 

    What you have now is just like your paper or wax design, something
    to be played with (or polished if you want to use writer's jargon.)
    And this is exactly what you do, you play with it (or polish it)
    until you find that there is nothing left to change, modify, or
    restructure. Along the way, spelling and grammar corrections should
    be included. The end result is the sum total of your own creative
    thought, you have "forced through your vision" into reality, just
    like your jewelry designs. 

    The point to remember is:  you have used the same process you always
    use to create. 

    See how easy it is? 


From: "Terri May" <toymasters AT hotmail.com>

    This is a silly thread.  I know that I read Orchid for information,
    not for great literature.  Now shall we get angry and intemperate
    with our colleagues for the use of slang? 

    Loosen up.  A bulletin board on the Internet is more easily compared
    to a casual telephone conversation or a post-it note; both of which
    are often communicated as linked fragments, not as correctly
    expressed and grammatically correct sentences and paragraphs.  Pick
    your battles, and choose wisely. 

    That said, I believe the original post was something more about
    business correspondence.  I think that it was either a job offer, or
    a response to an offer.  In either case, it is totally to the
    discretion of the writer as to how casual or formal, or how
    spontaneous or pompous, the writer might wish to convey his/her
    thoughts by the chosen writing style.  If the recipient doesn't like
    it, that is the recipient's problem; and I believe this is a matter
    to be dealt with by it's participants.  If the correspondent wishes
    to convey a spontaneous, carefree, "hip-to-the-internet" style, and
    the recipient has more of a conservative, formal, "by-the-book"
    style; well, they probably are not suited for an employment
    relationship anyhow. 

    O please release me from the tedium of rants!  (Guess I'll just have
    to stop reading them.  Hmmm....what a concept....) 

    --Terri 

From: "Cynthia Wiig" <ocean AT hawaii.rr.com>

    Hello All - 

    It's been a long time since I've written to Orchid.  Hope all is
    well in John Burgess' recovery.  I'm so glad he can still type with
    all lower case! Please keep typing, John, you are truly an amazingly
    wonderful addition to Orchid! 

    Jewelers do tend to be very detail oriented - it is the nature of
    our medium.  I'm sure this quality carries over to the written word
    for many readers.  However, I totally agree with Kate Wolf.  I would
    hate to see individuals hesitate to write to Orchid - either with
    information or with questions because they are uncomfortable with the
    written word. 

    And, yes, I agree with Daniel, that resumes and cover letters are
    very important documents that warrant correct English and grammar. 
    Yes, everything we type here does go to the Orchid archives and yet,
    I also agree with April's comments - that email as a means of
    communication is closer to "talking" than say, writing an article,
    paper for school or a formal letter. And, yes, I do agree that having
    correct spelling - especially of jewelry terms in the "subject"
    header is important - especially for future searching of the
    archives.  Still, with the origin of this forum in Thailand, I'm
    sure that the individuals that help Hanuman (and, many many thanks
    for the long hours you all must spend on this forum!) must have
    English as a second (or third language.  English is very difficult -
    many words that sound the same with different spellings and have very
    different meanings.  Spellcheck doesn't help with that level of
    error. 

    It's amazing how many times I have written something - spent time in
    rereading it and press that "send" button and then, find a big
    error!  I have to be comfortable with "perfectly imperfect". 

    I do feel that the focus of this forum is not for editing as we
    read, but for sharing information.  I especially would not want
    individuals with English as their second or third language to be
    intimidated to participate on Orchid.  This is a global forum - and
    Orchid is one of the most amazing experiences I have been fortunate
    to be a part of.  English was not one of my better subjects in
    school.  Writing a "Jewelry Journal" article for Lapidary Journal was
    a real stretch for my writing abilities.  It is very difficult to
    describe how to hammer metal in words - with the sensitivity to
    "feel" and "listen" to the sounds of the hammer blows.  (I can't
    remember if I even mentioned that part of the process in the
    article.) 

    As a moderate "techie" person - I get by with email, word documents,
    excel and photoshop - but, I have no idea what some of these codes
    mean, ie:  HTH, IMPO, OTOH?  Other than that, I don't mind reading
    lower case.  I do appreciate when people add an extra space line
    between paragraphs, because the Ganoksin receiving program
    automatically runs all the text together unless there is an extra
    space line between paragraphs. 

    In respect to those who are bothered by spelling errors, I am trying
    to get in the habit of using spellcheck.  Hey, I never knew that I
    was spelling "wierd" wrong all my life. . .  it's weird!  So,
    spellcheck is fun, actually - but, it needs to become a habit.  I
    still forget to use it sometimes, and prefer not to have it on
    constantly. 

    Okay, yes, I am too wordy and I do use a lot of dashes when writing
    email - definitely not, when writing a formal letter.  I am really
    fanatic for documents that warrant accuracy!  I do know the code,
    IMHO (in my humble opinion), and "imho", email is actually closer to
    talking.  That is one of the phenomenons of email communication that
    I find especially interesting - is to experience the "personalities"
    through the text.  Also, I love knowing where people are writing from
    in our global community. 

    Aloha and best wishes for the holidays! Cynthia (in Honolulu) 

    p.s  Hey, I just did spell check and it found no errors!  Grammar
    check would be another story, I'm sure!  :) 


From: "Cynthia Wiig" <ocean AT hawaii.rr.com>

    Okay - this is a perfect example of what my comments were trying to
    express: 

>     p.s  Hey, I just did spell check and it found no errors!  Grammar
>     check would be another story, I'm sure!  :) 

    I had just sent this comment in an email to Orchid and after
    rereading it again just now, found the above gross grammatical error
    in my message. Ironic, because it was even in a statement about
    grammatical errors.  (It was not an intentional error to make a
    point!) 

    It probably should have read:  "Hey, I just did spell check and it
    didn't find any errors!" or maybe, "and there were no errors". 

    Oh well, I had already pressed the "send" button.  Ordinarily, I
    would just let it slide (along with all the other "errors" in my
    original message) - but, because of the subject of this piece of
    communication, I wanted to let whomever is reading it know that there
    is a LOT of room for error in writing email.  To me, it's better to
    just let a lot of the grammatical errors slide as long as the
    information is conveyed correctly.  I sure don't have enough time in
    my day to keep editing.   Speaking of time . . . it's time to travel
    on . . . 

    Have a productive December everyone . . . 

    Cynthia 

From: "Annette Andres" <readwow AT hotmail.com>

>     IMPO.

    This gives me an opportunity to ask a question about an abbreviation
    I see on some Orchid posts.  What does the (Yak) stand for in the
    subject line? Annette 

From: "Patricia Hicks" <earthings AT worldnet.att.net>

    Perhaps if more people used the Archives and noticed that postings
    are there from the beginning, now and ever shall be, for posterity,
    they might feel just a little more inclined to make an effort at
    correctness.  Give it a try everyone .   You'll be amazed. Pat 

From: "Christine Denayer" <cdenayer AT highvision.net>

    Hi All, I just arrived in Belgium, still having a headache. I read
    Daniel Spirer's message and cannot resist to drop a note. Daniel, I
    absolutely agree with you - we're not talking about people here like
    myself who's first language is not English - I still find it hard, I
    still make mistakes and I still hate it - but about people who think
    they don't have to respect punctuation and don't use capitals.
    Frankly, I think it's a question of being lazy and disrespectful to
    language, because, after all, what is the advantage of not using
    punctuation or capitals? I do not know any details about this, but I
    know that almost everywhere in the world, a lot of thesises are being
    written about the question what the new media do to our language
    skills and I believe that the picture - although double of course -
    is ultimately quite gloomy. Call me a conservative if you want -
    which would be the first time ever I think - but I would never engage
    someone who's letter or email is without correct punctuation. A
    couple of years ago, a student wrote a thesis which I had to
    evaluate. He absolutely refused to use any capitals, but he was an
    anarchist and had come up with dozens and dozens of articles proving
    - completley incorrectly in my view - the link between conformism in
    authoritarian societies on the one hand and the use of 'belles
    lettres' in these societies - I let it go. For the rest, a sentence
    begins with a capital and ends with a period. Then another sentence
    begins, developing an argument or a message. Furthermore, any text is
    always an amalgam of many 'texts'. Any change changes everything.
    This is easy to understand: suppose that you and me are in a room
    having a discussion. The discussion is recorded and subsequently
    typed out on a page without anything more. Now suppose that the
    discussion is typed out again, but this time the secretary adds
    information like the one you can find in the text of a theatre piece
    - he sighs - long silence - gets nervous, etc. Now suppose you let
    these texts read by several people, asking them to explain what is
    going on. Their interpretation will differ according to the
    information given. Now suppose that you will give the text with and
    without punctuation - the interpretation will differ again, due to
    all sorts of effects. I for example, will be inclined to take it less
    serious. Maybe I'm getting old - which could make sense on my
    birthday - but I believe that something like civilization is at stake
    in these matters. Bon, let's eat - :. Best, Will 



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