I don't think that argument really works. You need to look at the number of mistakes per article, i.e. the relative number of mistakes you make. And more practice = fewer mistakes, relatively speaking (I hope).

We're talking about the publishing industry here: it's job is to produce good writing. Part of quality publishing is that you have a quality control process (as you would, I imagine, with software development and other things that you produce professionally).

A lot of the journalists are taught by the 'misclennous' teachers. And the quality control process is seriously lacking, not just with spelling, language and punctuation. An entertainment pullout should not talk about Meryl Steep, or write that Eve (the rapper) dated Gambia's president's son.

You could argue that it doesn't matter whether someone writes 'misclennous' or not because we can figure out that it's meant to say 'miscellaneous', but I wonder how carefully done the content is, and what sort of quality control process exists at all.

I'd imagine if you do coding, or if you run a firm that develops software, you want to deliver a good product and keep mistakes minimal. That ambition should be no different for professional writer

But ultimately it depends where you set your own quality standards: whether you're fine with maggots turning up, or whether you set up processes that will eliminate (or at the very least control) the appearance of maggots. Do you go for the lowest common denominator or do you set your sights a bit higher?

On 10 October 2011 10:54, Agosta Liko <agostal@gmail.com> wrote:
Lets just say writing articles ... is like writing software.

If you are writing alot of code you are going to make mistakes ...

If you write one article a month, you are less likely to make mistakes than if you are expected to write 30

just like ... if you are writing alot of code, there are going to be mistakes ...

What we are doing with this grammer thread is "throwing out the baby with the bathwater"

:)



Ps: When served a plate of rice in Kenya and you see one maggot - what do you do ?

Throw out the plate or remove the maggot silently and engage


If there are any typos ... pole sana :)


On Mon, Oct 10, 2011 at 10:36 AM, luke mulunda <lmulunda@yahoo.com> wrote:
Hi all,
I would personally blame it on cost-cutting. We have journalism and English experts in newsrooms, but they have too much on their hands to spot the most obvious and embarrassing mistakes in our publications.

Mistakes can be costly. Remember during Amini's time in Uganda, the dictator had criticised a female MP, and so the paper splashed the following morning "Amini rapes MP" when he meant "RAPS". I hear, he was killed at down as he brushed his teeth in his house.


LUKE M

 
<em style="background-color:rgb(0, 0, 191);"><strong><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:underline;">WWW.SMARTBIZAFRICA.COM
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...For Investors, Entrepreneurs, Managers, Marketers, CEOs, IT Experts, HR & Finance Managers and Students.... Plus Stocks and Business News and Career Guidance</span></font></strong></em><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.smartbizafrica.com/"></a>

From: Catherine Adeya <elizaslider@yahoo.com>
To: luke <lmulunda@yahoo.com>

Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Sent: Monday, October 10, 2011 10:18 AM

Subject: Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint

James,
The PS has a point and I am not disputing yours either but I would simply respond to your email below that generalizations is what has got us where we are. Specificity can help more.....

Nyaki

From: james ratemo <jratemo@gmail.com>
To: elizaslider@yahoo.com
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Sent: Tuesday, October 4, 2011 11:16 PM
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint

Bwana PS what are you insinuating? We open our newsrooms fro the so called English majors? Some of them are in the newsrooms already...maybe they are sleeping on the job...my opinion

On Tue, Oct 4, 2011 at 11:11 PM, <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
All of today's newspapers had several grammatical errors.  At this time and age of ICT, is it not too embarrasing to have such errors?  We have  thousands of English majors without jobs.  It is time for media to be thorough in what they do by utilizing our many graduates without jobs.  As a Kenyan I get embarrased to see such errors.

Ndemo.




Sent from my BlackBerry®

-----Original Message-----
From: Grace Githaiga <ggithaiga@hotmail.com>
Sender: kictanet-bounces+bitange=jambo.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke
Date: Sun, 2 Oct 2011 13:32:57
To: <bitange@jambo.co.ke>
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Subject: [kictanet] GSMA: Calls will remain high between African countries

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