Thoughts on Obama, technology, and our future

Beyond the enormous significance for race relations that Obama's win represents, it also holds huge significance for education in the US and probably elsewhere. US voters chose to reject ignorance and the anti-intellectual, boozy, Joe 6-pack ideal that Bush and Palin represented and go for the sober, study and work hard model presented by Obama. Children everywhere now have a worthy example to emulate, and they may even want to! It will be a good time for teachers and education for the next four years. It is a good time to invest in America.

Aesop's fable of the ant and the grasshopper comes to mind... voters chose the hard-working ant as they faced the economic winter quickly descending upon us all. I believe there will be an enormous surge in the US economy. But then, one has to factor in the reaction of Republicans who hold the reins of finance. Who knows...

The impact of YouTube, the Web and social networking has been incalculable. It's impossible to even imagine what the next election will be like. Who knows what uninvented technology will blow us this way and that? Sometimes I feel that we are all specks of dust floating in the air being buffeted by the first gusts of an enormous storm gathering on the horizon. Not a happy image, I admit, but it reflects my feeling that our lives are being driven by the power of our technologies rather than vice versa. We are becoming the Borg, one enormous interconnected organism. Where will it lead?

The other image that comes to mind is that of a heavy space-ship as it gathers speed on its way to breaking free of gravity. Let me point out that gravity refers not only to the force that keeps us earth-bound. It also means seriousness, as in the phrase gravity of purpose.

The role of the written word as the way to share information may be shrinking. Oral histories were gradually abandoned when writing was invented. As new technologies allow us to communicate directly with masses of people, many are now forgoing the essay, the informal e-mail, and even the SMS in favor of videos, skype teleconferences, and the ephemeral twitter. I ask you, how can one transmit a reasoned argument about anything on twitter?

The exponential rate of acceleration in the creation of new knowledge and new platforms for distributing that knowledge is mind-boggling. Obama won by leveraging technologies such as YouTube that didn't even exist during the last election. Chew on that little tidbit for awhile.

We live in interesting times. Let's hope not in the sense of the Chinese curse.

Mondegreens and Eggcorns

"*Fast paste personality, highly creative, team spirit"

Do you have a fast paste personality?

Huh?

Don't worry. This is a classic mondegreen from a listserve I was reading yesterday. The writer, a woman whose native language is not English, misheard the actual word in the phrase "fast-paced" and concluded that the word was "paste." She's probably been writing it that way for years.

Children are the source of many mondegreens. The one I like best is the first line of The Star-Spangled Banner, "Jose, can you see?" Makes sense to me!

Our minds try to decipher what our ears hear. Most of the time, the context will help us out. Sometimes, our brains come to a mistaken conclusion, but there's some logic involved nonetheless. If many people come to the same wrong conclusion and a new usage emerges, it is called an eggcorn.

An example? How about in the rears instead of in arrears? Arrears is an accounting term to describe someone who is behind in payment, but many people who aren't familiar with the accounting term have concluded that to be behind in payment is to be in the rears. This phrase can be found on many forums discussing alimony and other court-ordered payments. If it keeps showing up all over the Internet, there is a good chance that it will become an established usage.

By the way, eggcorns and mondegreens are classic examples of errors that are not found by spell checkers. All the words are spelled correctly, but they're the wrong words for the context.

Most of us use eggcorns without ever knowing what the original phrase was. We're totally unaware that we're making a mistake. Don't believe me? I invite you to visit the Eggcorns
site and take a look around. It has a delightful collection of eggcorns heard in the wild.

Have fun!

Life's Little Ironies

It's always a pleasant surprise when I stumble across a new link to my website. Today, I found that an academic newsletter reprinted an old piece of mine in its entirety and even included a link to its page on my website. But there's more to the story.

The short article both explains and demonstrates why spell checkers don't work and why it is so important to proofread before publishing. The problem with spell checkers is that if a piece of text uses a legitimate word in the wrong context, the spell checker won't notice. This often happens when someone happens to make a typo that results in a correctly spelled word. It could also happen if a writer doesn't know which homonym to choose. Should it be there or their, it's or its, then or than? The spell checker will accept any correctly spelled word, even if it's the wrong one.

So why am I writing about this? After all, as a publication of a reputable academic institution, the newsletter provided the appropriate acknowledgement of the source of the piece: "Complements of http://www.cmiiw.com/mistakes.htm"

Ironic, right? The author added only two words and the spell checker missed the error.

I wrote the editors to let them know that they should have written "Compliments of ..." instead of "Complements of ..." After all, why should I let such nice people look bad? They were a bit red-faced but gracious and grateful. And they corrected the spelling immediately.

Penny Wise, Pound Foolish

Today, I heard a very sad story about a start-up that was trying to save money. The principals were non-native English speakers. They decided to do without anyone's help in writing an introductory letter to a potential strategic partner. They got a Dear John form letter instead of the appointment they wanted. Why? Because they wrote to a Christian outlet about the New Testimony instead of the New Testament.

Everything with your signature on it is a reflection of you.

Whether you’re sending a thank you note or a proposal to the EEC, the way it is written will say whether you are trustworthy, credible, considerate, thorough, and careful – or not.

Who checks your writing before it goes out?

Do you leave that job to the printer who makes you sign that you’ve checked it? Do you give it to your secretary whose favorite reading material is Cosmo? Do you ask the tech writer to look it over – after all, his experience should qualify him to check what you wrote on that prospectus, shouldn’t it? Or, do you just wing it and hope for the best?

No one to turn to?

Sometimes there really is no one close by to turn to. No one to make sure that you’ve said what you intended to say... In the tone you intended... In the appropriate format… Sometimes you’re working on something confidential that can’t be known within the company. Sometimes…

But why beat a dead horse? You know the problem all too well. To get your writing checked, you have to hunt all over the office to find someone whose expertise you actually trust and then you have to ask for a favor. It’s time-consuming. And a little humiliating. But what choice do you have? Let your customers or Board of Directors or colleagues see you at less than your best?

Do yourself a favor. If your signature or the name of your company is on material about to make its way into the world, get a qualified reviewer to look it over BEFORE it leaves the premises. It may even cost you a little. But better to put your hand in your pocket than your foot in your mouth.