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Subject:Re: Ain't nothin' wrong with me gramma' From:Matthew Wong <wong -at- ACEC -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 9 Feb 1994 09:41:29 PST
While it is true that technical writers must nitpick about grammar (the
misplacement of a comma can produce a different meaning), I don't believe
that nitpicking is appropriate for e-mail.
E-mail is closer to spoken text than written text. Just as we would not
correct (unless asked to) someone's spoken words, we should also not take
this liberty with e-mail. In addition, e-mail is typed, and most of us, I
expect, do make mistakes typing. Given the lack of capabilities with our
system editors, it is often difficult to correct these mistakes. In short,
nitpicking is not appropriate and perhaps impolite given the context and
medium of e-mail.
