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Original poster

Pedant alert!

37 replies

JanH · 05/12/2006 00:17

Outraged of Tunbridge Wells is now apoplectic after reading the following (for a £625K house with an upmarket estate agent )

generous proportioned
well tendered
lawn garden
private boarders
aromthapy
dissected
once again...boarders

never mind the many absent hyphens and the superfluous quotation marks round hot tub...

Have the vendors not read this or are they philistines too???

OP posts:
soooobored · 05/12/2006 00:20

lol, but 4?

HunkerTheInternetPhenomenon · 05/12/2006 00:23

I actually winced reading that, Jan!

Original poster
JanH · 05/12/2006 00:31

It's dreadful, isn't it, hunker?

Looks like a summer picture - maybe it was a Y10 work experience student...??? [clutching at straws]

(Try not to read the rest of the description )

OP posts:
welliemum · 05/12/2006 00:38

Dunno, really. I mean, if I were house hunting, the idea of deep private boarders would definitely attract me.

I'd far prefer them to shallow, extrovert boarders who wanted to party all night long.

No, seriously, it does make me want to dance about making retching noises.

welliemum · 05/12/2006 00:41

It's fascinating in a horrible way, actually, in the way so many words are used to convey such a vague idea of what it all looks like.

Original poster
JanH · 05/12/2006 00:45

I suppose we should be thankful that apart from boarders and aromthapy (and Fleur de Lyes if you do read the bit I told you not to), everything is spelt more or less correctly?

OP posts:
soooobored · 05/12/2006 00:46

snob alert

I can see the errors but I really don't see the needto post it.

I can write wery well when necessary but I really am getting sick of mn pedants who jst seem to feel the need to get one up on someone even it it be total stranger.

fortyplus · 05/12/2006 00:49

sooooo PMT, obviously!

Original poster
JanH · 05/12/2006 00:50

So glad you can write wery well when necessary

Why read the thread if pedants make you sick? I think the title was explicit enough to be avoided.

OP posts:
soooobored · 05/12/2006 00:54

hardly! been on for the last 4 weeks actually! Just got more serious probs to worry abt than other ppls grammar and spelling, and it irritates me.

welliemum · 05/12/2006 00:54

I disagree, sooobored.

It's bad writing and in this context, bad writing could lose the house owners a big chunk of money (if prospective buyers think that the estate agents are unprofessional numpties for example).

In a wider context, if people can't write clearly then they can't communicate clearly, which really is an important problem.

Spelling and grammar aren't the most important elements in writing clearly, but they do have a part to play.

welliemum · 05/12/2006 00:55

errrghhh, this 1-handed typing is slow! Cross-posted with you, bored person, sorry!

soooobored · 05/12/2006 00:56

but if correct english irritates you so much why read it and post it on mn, It feels like onemansupship to me.
Not everybody had the ability to write correctly even if they wish to.

fortyplus · 05/12/2006 01:00

But if they can't then they shouldn't be employed writing ads, should they?

welliemum · 05/12/2006 01:02

Agree, but writing correctly is this person's job. That's different from critcising someone writing informally, on mn for example.

fortyplus · 05/12/2006 01:06

Wasn't that what I just said?

BahHunkBug · 05/12/2006 01:12

Let's have newspapers in txtspk then.

God, can you IMAGINE?!

welliemum · 05/12/2006 01:19

Blimey, you've got to be quick round here, fortyplus!

soooobored · 05/12/2006 01:21

I agree entirely welliemum and if the OP had the home ower's intersts at heart the most sensible thing to do do is to notify the agent, noy to post on mn for al to dicule.

Who would n]d like to take bets on whether she ha doen so?

fortyplus · 05/12/2006 01:24

Now, now, sooooooo - if she'd done that she might've got someone the sack - that wouldn't be nice, would it?

A bit of a larf on mn hasn't done any harm apart from winding you up!

soooobored · 05/12/2006 01:31

lol, ok, fair enough. It just seems rather prtty that's all.

Even under my usual name my grammar and spelling is atrocious so aybe it is a sore point!

but i have been having bad time to ignore me! [fgin[ I 'know' most of the posters here from prev psots and I d0't have anything against them so I am sorry if I p£ssed anyone off.

soooobored · 05/12/2006 01:32

bloodey npra can't even start a fight when i try to

welliemum · 05/12/2006 01:38

Hmmm... I enjoy reading terrible writing actually. Not because I can pat myself on the back and feel all smug, but because it can be quite interesting to work out why something is so bad.

fwiw, in this advert, the worst thing (to me) is not so much the well-behaved boarders, but the repeated use of "benefits from" which is just a silly way of saying "has", and that sort of sums it up to me.... the writing is all fluff and no information.

I should get a life, right???

welliemum · 05/12/2006 01:39

Sorry to hear you're having a bad time, soooooo.

I'm sure you can start a fight if you really, really try!

fortyplus · 05/12/2006 01:41

You're Cod, aren't you?!