English for the Dummy Client (Seekyt Week 4)

Tracking corrections in MS Word

"Physician heal thyself!" may have originally been a literal suggestion to Jesus Christ (Luke 4:23), but these days its use is rather snarkier. It means something along the lines of "don't criticize others for what you do yourself." Perhaps the more accurate Biblical quotation would be something about motes and beams... Today's dumbass, courtesy of the truly moronic site Seekyt.com, is one Victoria Trix ("real" name Victoria Carella? publishing under the pseudonym "Trixxie," perhaps out of shame?) We caught the lovely Victoria lecturing her potential clients about whom they should hire for freelancing jobs (why, it's her of course!) in "Benefits of an English Speaking Writer vs. Non-English Speaking Writers."

Of course, according to Trixxie, English-speaking writers are better than non-English-speaking writers. That makes sense, since anything you write in a language you don't speak at all will probably end up total gibberish. So what Trixxie probably means is "non-native English speakers"; though we can't be sure. But let's face it: Trixxie is definitely a dumbass for having written this balderdash:

"Hiring an English speaking writer will not only get you a freelance writer who understands most of the concepts of what you need written about..."

The Antisocial Network regularly documents some of the thousands of freelance writers who didn't understand the concepts, and we have lists of many more waiting to be exposed. Come on, Trixxie: don't pee on our shoe and claim it's raining!  Now suppose you were to hire a freelancer (whatever his or her native language): wouldn't you prefer one with impeccable grammar? In other words, not something like "For example if you hire an English speaking writer and you want to sell elevators or impart information about elevators then you want them to know what an elevator is whereas an English writer who lived in the UK may not understand the concept because they understand lifts instead."

We won't belabor the concept beyond pointing out that Trixxie certainly needs to work on her punctuation before offering her services as a freelance writer – and perhaps improve her vocabulary as well ("understand"? really?). Want some more? OK:

"Just because a person speaks well it does not translate that they also can write well. Writing is difficult. Getting the grammar correct is much more obvious in the written word then is noticeable when speaking. When speaking you don’t have to choose between a colon and a semi-colon." Hmmm.... let's see: Misuse of "translate" Wouldn't "getting the grammar incorrect" be an improvement? At least she spelled "grammar" right – thank heavens for spell-check... ...though spell-check won't correct her misuse of "then" Trixxie may well be the first self-nominated Dumbass of the Day, After all, she's the one who says

"Even an English speaking writer who is not a good writer or can’t put their verbal concepts into a more formal written article will not be an effective writer..." Got that, Trixxie? Whether you did or not, you did get the Dumbass of the Day award!

copyright © 2015-2022 scmrak

DD - WRITING