After blogging for 7 months and visiting innumerable others, I have observed the unique "bloglish" that populates almost all of them (mine included). One of the reasons I started to blog was to improve my writing skills which had stagnated after my Masters dissertation work. I was desperate to return to writing and writing well. I love writing in English and this was one of my outlets (an enjoyable one, that) to exercise my rusty skills. The experience has been very interesting in that I have learnt how really poor my writing has gotten and how much I need to work on it. Blogs have helped me learn some mistakes and I have being working on correcting them. Emails have almost destroyed the sanctity of good writing and blogs were the last nail in the coffin. Before anyone jumps on me, remember, acceptance is the first step in fixing something.
I am not a lingual purist but I like reading a well written blog. With all the commas and periods and capitalizations in their rightful place and the proper use of grammar, its a readers delight. Agreed that certain posts require region specific answers that do not need to adhere to the general rule. Some posts of fellow bloggers Jagan and Saran are examples to the region issue where Tamil almost always shares equal space with English. Sometimes it appears more personal and casual to write without the rules in place. Very true and definitely not a problem. But in other cases, where the discussion is not regional but global in perspective and content, does it work ?. Does the habit of using one's own English, really take us down a path of no return ?
I am sure some of you feel strongly against my opinion and I shall be glad to hear them. But for those who feel like writing better, here are some suggested readings:
Strunk, William, Jr. "The Elements of Style". Fourth Edition.
This book is the platinum standard when it comes to writing well. Simple, very concise (akin to Ammani's quick tales) and never deviating from the point.
Aldred, Gerald.J, et al. "The Handbook of Technical Writing". Seventh Edition.
This is more for technical writing and less for casual writing.
Van Laan, Krista, et al. " The Complete Idiot's Guide to Technical Writing"
For those who like it the Idiot's way.
Truss, Lynne. "Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation"
I have not read this myself but it comes highly recommended for its engaging style in making its case.
Bryson, Bill. "Brysons Dictionary of Troublesome Words"
This is a thoroughly enjoyable tome on the oft repeated mistakes in written English.
Note:
Manoj recommends "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into values" by Robert.M.Pirsig for a good understanding of quality and all things thereof.
22 comments:
Ranga.
Like with most questions, I doubt if there is one true answer.
I guess, it depends on the perspective of the author. You are here to improve your writing ability and expressiveness. So you probably should avoid the Tanglish or transliterated Tamil styles of writing with a barge pole. But, at the same time, if your aim is to just have fun while writing your thoughts, Tanglish sure elevates the fun level of writing.
BTW, I just noted your post footers, they show up with a "Posted by ... at Thursday..
Without the time, shouldn't it be Posted By...on..?
Ranga, I'm writing for various reasons -- to share my thoughts, improve writing though thats not the only reason, and finally I would be forced to read more to blog.
As Daph said, tanglish makes the posts more funnier. but then it targets only a particular set of people and thats bad :( I'm trying to mix stuff, I don't know how its coming out though.
Off topic-
What do you guys think of this (www.kiruba.com). He is hanging up the boots after 5 years of active blogging.
yeah ranga, he is quite an influential blogger.
1) he hosted a open terrace cocktail party in his house some time back. a couple of officials (higher officials, i should add) from chennai american consulate attended it just to let their hair down and chill out.
2)He trains chennai police officers (AC,DC ranked officers) in computers and gives lectures to them on cyber crime.
3)he did a great job during the tsunami tragedy. gave the world a first hand knowledge about the situation on ground zero. was very informative.
all these made possible because of his blogs and its popularity .
Well, to me writing comes from my heart. More like a compelling force in me that makes me want to express. Do not quite care about grammar, or spelling - especially not on blogs. But good writing is a pleasure to read. Irrespective of individual styles, to me writing that seems to be coming from the heart and connects me with the author is a good form writing/art.
If you haven't read 'zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance' yet, read it asap, particularly the exposition on quality which pretty much sums up your situation.
if you think that rules will help you to enhance the quality of your posts, go for it.
Ramesh
Indeed it depends on the authors perspective. I am not saying that one should always follow the rules and so on.
I, for one totally enjoy the Tanglish used in many blogs. It kinda makes it much more personal. The point was, that blogging could be used an interesting means to better writing.
PS: The footer is indeed screwed up. Its blogspot template. Will fix that soon.
Saranyan, Ranj and Jagan
I guess I came across as trying to say that blogs without structure arent good. I love your respective blogs, sometimes just because of the usage of audience friendly language. As I noted earlier, it makes it all the more personal and coming from the heart. My take was that it would be a good way to improve one's writing by implementing some order and rules of the language in blogs. It still boils down to personal preference to use structure in blog posts.
Manoj
Thanks for the recommendation. I am adding the book to my list in my library as I write this comment.
I suspect SMSs and IM to be more responsible for the "destruction" you mentioned.
Eats, Shoots and Leaves is a particularly enjoyable book.
TLB,
I started to blog just to have fun and also to 'empty my brain'. It gives a lot of personal satisfaction to publish ( without being rejected ..! ). And even more, when you see people read your blog.
If it is a serious topic I would prefer to write in good ( decent) English. But to comments in Thanglish, I feel at home doing the same.
I also feel that emails and IM's have played an important role in people not able to write properly these days.
All said, I liked the latest blog of yours and thanks for the good suggested readings.
Harish
Thanks for the thumbs up on Eats, Shoots and Leaves.
And yes, IM and SMS are definitely a prime accused too.
Narayanan
As I mentioned earlier, thanglish comments definitely make a post more interesting and definitely much more enjoyable. Its the balance that I am more worried about, atleast from my perspective.
Hey,
Thanks for the mention in your blog and thanks again for coming by.
I don't like to get heavily bogged down by grammar, punctuation etc. I agree, it is always nice to come across something well-written. At least it shows that the person cares. However, we shouldn't lose sight of what the person is trying to say in the first place. A case of form over substance, it shouldn't be.
i totally agree and i also totally think everyone in this total world should do exactly as you say because you say it is worth and so everyone should follow as you say. thank you.
Anonymous
Thanks for that awesome comment. Since you did tell me that everyone should do as I say, I'll do just that and tell you, " Whats your problem ?".
I am sure the rest of the bloggers visiting here know and understand what I am talking about and dont require your esteemed opinion.
And hey, thanks for stopping by. It was a pleasure having you here.
Do I need to leave comments only in English?
hi last blogger, I can understand your urge to write good english writing, in fact that was one of the reasons why I decided to have a blog of my own.Gradually it also increased my interaction with the people. Being a profession like journalism, demands that we should always have correct spellings, expressions and grammar. I hope I am able to do that through my writing.
Last Blogger,
My previous comment was in bad taste. My apologies.
Ammani
Great point that the pursuit of better language should not be at the cost of substance.
Me
That was a real good one.
Amrita
Join the party.
Anonymous
Point taken. Thanks for the apology and sorry, if I was a bit too harsh in my response.
Hellboy
I guess your off-topic comment got lost in the midst of responses to this post. But I guess it doesnt hold the same meaning anymore, with not one but a whole lot of people being completely fooled by Kiruba.
Good lesson in "Never trust someone so much" for a few thousand bloggers huh !
yeah right, by the time people read it they learnt that it was a April 1 joke.
I believed that because I saw noticeable drop in the quality of his blogs. So when he posted that he is hanging it up, I said to myself "its about time".
Now, on to the tanglish posts. I never came across tanglish posts until this weekend. I ran into some of them and at first, it was interesting. Soon, it became difficult to read those posts. I enjoy reading English and Tamil blogs, but tanglish is a bit difficult.
In saran and jegan’s defense, I should say that they never post tanglish blogs. When people post comments in tanglish they respond the same way.
hey ranga,
Good thoughts. I have been consciously making an effort to improve my writings on that front, since my past few posts. Thanks for the links. I knew a few of them earlier. I am sure the rest will also make a good read.
Hellboy
I am on Jagan and Saran's side even if they are writing Tanglish blogs :)
But you are right, its the comments that are tanglish and not the posts themselves.
Renuka
Glad the links will be of help.
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