Spelling & Grammar

[hvacmd2002]

Well, actually, before I began working for myself, I was both a good tech and a good speller. They do exist. I also kept my shirt tucked in and didn't show my ass crack. What more can you ask for?

[snewman24]

>What do you what a good tech with bad spelling or A good >speller & a bad tech?

Why not both?

>You couldn't afford the guys you would like to have because >they went to school to become a doctor,lawer, & scientist

You don't learn spelling in college. You learn while you're in
K-12.

> or they owen there owen company.

OWEN?

>Have you techs put a spelling ace word finder in there vans.

Would they even use it? The biggest problem is some just don't care. Some here don't even proofread their posts. Sure, some us make a mistake here or there but some posters murder the english language without mercy.

[absrbrtek]

Beins diss is abut grammer Ill tries me bestest to git it rite. The butt krack advertisement was Yorks. It inferred that no one butt York had decent techs. Again my point is, one day they work for a butt krack co as an average tech, next day they go to a manufacturer, dress em up and they think there gods. Oh I fergetted dis wuz abot grammer!!!!

Originally posted by twosticks
Saw an ad in a trade journal. Picture of two guys, one
was bent over a piece of equipment wearing jeans and a
tee shirt, kinda dirty, bubba type. The other was in a nice
uniform, creases, carrying an invoice book. Point of the
ad was which would you prefer working on your equipment.
I remember thinking I only saw one person working.
Appearances (vans, clothes, speech, grammar, spelling, etc.)
may make one "appear" professional or not. Appearances can
be deceiving.

[NormChris]

Originally posted by framehvac
What do you what a good tech with bad spelling or A good speller & a bad tech?You couldn't afford the guys you would like to have because they went to school to become a doctor,lawer, & scientist or they owen there owen company.Have you techs put a spelling ace word finder in there vans.

Lawyer
Own
Their instead of there


I supplied dictionaries in the vans plus put together a 4 page list of the most commonly misspelled words occuring on service work orders.

[rob10]

Of one's writing tends to establish his or hers personification to someone one. Our society as a whole has lost quite a few steps in literary quality. There are no contemporaries that are Kiplings or Hemingways.

[framehvac]

NormChris you are a lot like my sister she corrects everything you say wrong or spell wrong she thank no my bad she knows she is better then everybody else no one likes her.You know when you correct someone for spelling they aren't going to like you.
HVAC Instructor, seminar speaker, technical writer and author

So NormChris what did I spell wrong or do wrong?

[dec]

Well I will tell you what, At what they are paying these pro football players and pro baseball pitchers ( 18 million a year ) I wonder what their spelling is like and the interviews after the game, such grammer. I would think that with their college educations that their grammer would be better. Do you think their coaches get on them for that, you know they are profesionals and are suppose to set examples for our kids like Randy Moss does. As we all see what you get paid has little to do with your spelling and grammar. I have no problem with trying to do better as far as trying to use the correct spelling and grammar but if it got to a point that someone in the office was spending too much of their time correcting it or pointing it out unless it was totally illegible to the customer or office, I would be questioning how much I need that office person. It reminds me of most of the building inspectors that were builders that went broke being they were not efficant or not running their business right and now their telling you what is right or wrong not even knowing why some things are done the way they are. This may have gotten a little bit away from the subject but so has the subject of grammer and spelling if it gets to a point of that being more important than a tech that knows his job. Yes I would not be unhappy to have techs that have great grammar and spelling but I would not turn them away unless it was real bad. If it was real bad then in that case, well yes that might be a problem but I wont jump on them for not being perfect being Im far from it.

[Edited by dec on 01-23-2005 at 06:33 PM]

[framehvac]

NormChris I have never have a doctor that I could read his or her hand writing & I don't think less of there or "their" work.But it makes me thank do they write bad because they cann't spell?

So NormChris there or their?What do you thank of a doctors hand writing should I make sure they have good hand writing before I go to them?

[newcooler]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by framehvac
NormChris you are a lot like my sister she corrects everything you say wrong or spell wrong she thank no my bad she knows she is better then everybody else no one likes her.You know when you correct someone for spelling they aren't going to like you.
HVAC Instructor, seminar speaker, technical writer and author

So NormChris what did I spell wrong or do wrong? [/QUOTE

Point driven home and hopefully so was the "poster".

[NormChris]

A number of you have made a decision to misunderstand and/or fail to get the point.

A few others actually do understand my point and made good comments indicating they have a grasp of the concept, its application and importance to the technician.

Norm

[framehvac]

I get your point "Spelling and grammar seem to have become a lost art."I disagree with you I thank people can spell better then ever.What point in time could they spell better you tell me?Don't go by this web site or any other we type it & go with it we don't have time to check it.But as a installer I work hard & in some bad places I don't have time for a lot of paper work so all I have to do is the bill.A service tech should do a better job if you give them time?Don't be to hard on your guys if they show up & work hard everyday then they are a head of most.

[texan30]

Ever watch one of those documentary films where they 'read' letters sent from civil war soldiers to their families back home? We are talking about men who were farmers, blacksmiths, and laborers. The difference in the ability of those men to express themselves and anyone today is quite large. I cannot express myself as well as they did, so I am not riding a high horse here.

Digging through my office filing cabinet, I ran across business letters between our office and various vendors just discussing things like shipment dates of products, price quotations, and the like. Even these letters from 1963 show a huge decline in mastery of english skills and letter form of today.

I'd say it is safe to say it can be demonstrated a time when people spoke differently. Whether it was better would be a personal opinion. I myself think it was better back then.

[framehvac]

Most documentaries films or letters the spelling has been corrected for you.Most of the war letters one soldiers in the unit will write for all the guy because most couldn't read or write you should have learned this in history class.And as far as farmers, blacksmiths, and laborers in history most couldn't read or write at all.In the usa history I thank we can read & write better thenever as far as overseas I don't know?

[dorrmann]

I fully disagree that Americans can read and write better than ever. The illiteracy rate in this country is higher than it's been in a LONG time. Maybe in the time of the Civil War the rate of educated people was much lower, but we're doing worse today than we did in the 50's, 60's, etc.

As for the actual topic of this thread, I believe that spelling and grammar has a huge impact on the customer’s impression of us as a tech and a company. It goes hand in hand with the York ad. Assuming that all else is even, who would you rather have working in your house? The slob, or the professional? The tech who could speak and spell correctly, or the one who can’t?

There shouldn’t be any reason to use wrong form of the word. The ones I see most often is were instead of we’re, your instead of you’re, and there instead of their. Those are things that we all learned in elementary school. It’s not even a high school thing. I can’t remember even having a spelling test in high school.

With technology today, there should be even less of a reason to misspell words. Granted, not everyone carries a laptop in their van. I’m one who doesn’t. There are handheld spell checkers as low as $15 at one website I visited. I’m sure there are even cheaper models available at Wal-Mart or other retail stores. I’ll put the link at the bottom of this post.

framehvac – I did not want to bring this up, because I thought it was a typo at first, but the word you are looking for is “think,” not “thank.” Nothing personal.

http://www.franklin.com/estore/categ...type=handhelds

[framehvac]

The slob, or the professional what are you talking about slobs spell bad I don,t udder stand.This post is about
Spelling and grammar seem to have become a lost art.I am not the best speller I spell thing wrong all the time some what.What is your point i have a franklin spelling ace so if I write a letter the spelling will be right so you said I spelled think wrong I put it in the spelling ace & it said it was right I may have used it wrong I will look latter.

Think synoyms deem esteem hold opine suppose consider account reckon regard

But you are slamming someone that doesn't care if every word in this post is spelled right.Look at all the other post you can find all kinds of post with bad spelling.But in the usa history my opine is that people in the usa spell better thenever we just disagree.

[MadeinUSA]

Use peeple haff too beez poolin mie legg hear on dis thred. Wuts proefessenalizm gots to doo wiff spelin.

[troyorr]

I beleive the skill level of the technician, in grammer and spelling, is a direct reflection of the demographic of the population they serve. Rural, Middle Class and Inner-City customers only care about getting their equipment going. A good technician needs to be able to verbally communicate with the customer at hand. I have both a technicial as well as management degree and I can communicate with the homeowner that dropped out of school in the forth grade as well as the college professor holding their PhD. I understand Norms' point and agree that scribbles and chicken tracks randomly moving across a service order send a non-verbal message to the customer.

[icemeister]

I found this article which directly addresses the spelling issues that we are all discussing here. This is a short excerpt:

"But what is the answer? How do we correct the spelling problems of our children? How do we restore language in a way which enables users to speak it and write it consistently?

The answer is that we must stop being ambivalent about language, and especially about our own language. Either there are correct answers in language, or there are none. Either we allow ourselves to choose a "fixed" form of the language we speak, and teach that variations are incorrect, or we permit the language to change in every direction it will and cease to teach that there are any rules at all. And either way, we must understand the consequences of our decision."

This ambivalence toward proper use of language shows itself in responses throughout this thread, so one might infer that we, as contractors and employers are indeed part of the problem rather than part of the solution.

Here's a link to the entire piece if you care enough to read it.

http://www.mjyoung.net/misc/spelling.htm

[hi-tork]

Originally posted by lmtd

Originally posted by NormChris


I supplied dictionaries in the vans plus put together a 4 page list of the most commonly misspelled words occuring on service work orders.

occurring
occurring
occurring
occurring
occurring

Type it five times correctly in a row and you reduce your error rate.

I agree it is professional. I also agree it is important. I usually will ignore it, but the irony of finding it in a thread dedicated to the subject just flips the switch.

Poor speeeeelin is a hurdle one should try and overcome; however, it is the core reason an industry of proof-readers are employed.

I had a student as me if I was going to be teaching the "psychosematic class" this phase. It is a border line call to correct or just respond. I opted to respond and then told him how to say it in private later.

I think most folks see corrections like that as using them as a scapegoat and it is unpopular.

Hey LMTD, didn't you have to tell him how to spell technician on another website as well (technition - or something like that)? And now we'll add occurring...

[simpleman]

I surely hold no ill will towards the teacher.I would expect nothing less from Norm,that his job he's a teacher.

I have about ten customer that are teacher and everyone
of them gets on my case,and some of them now that we have
know one another for years will let me have it.

I got one customer whos been a teacher for over 50 years,last time I was at her house she pulled my ear and
set me down at the table.

After that she gets billed with a type invoices in the mail.

Too bad she was not younger,I would have let her give me a spanking.