| Pages: [1] :: one page |
| Author |
Thread Statistics | Show CCP posts - 0 post(s) |
Synapse Archae
   |
Posted - 2004.04.02 07:49:00 -
[1]
Edited by: Synapse Archae on 02/04/2004 08:39:29
Edited by: Synapse Archae on 02/04/2004 07:53:00
Regarding the latest news post: "Federation seeks answers to terrorist atrocity – entertainment industry a shambles"
A more proficient English speaker would have written "in shambles" as in "in dire straits," rather than "a shambles" like "a mess."
I know its a small correction but I see these go by fairly often and I figure the least you can do if you're posting news for 40,000-plus people is make sure your post is grammatically correct.
This comes in continuation of a line of errors such as:
"did not go down to well with the [forgot which] empire"
"The Kingdom, or Dark Amarr as it is better known as, has always been a strange mismatch of old Amarrian traditions coupled with brand new theories in technology and economics, creating a society that may seem decidedly schizophrenic to the untrained eye. "
I know there aren't too many errors and that many of the news posts are very well done, but some of them seem particularly rushed and unedited. No doubt there are some errors in my own post here; but I still think that if you are posting news for over 40,000 people in English, you should at least be up to a level where you are at least indistinguishable from a native speaker.
Its a rant on small things, I know, but it shouldn't happen in the first place.
Edit: Found an error 
---------------------------------------------
[/IMG]http://millerfam.org/eve/synapse_logo.jpg[/IMG]
Everyone deserves a chance to live.
My job is to make sure they get it. |
Synapse Archae
|
Posted - 2004.04.02 07:59:00 -
[2]
On an unrelated note: www.engrish.com is pretty good for killing time.
---------------------------------------------
[/IMG]http://millerfam.org/eve/synapse_logo.jpg[/IMG]
Everyone deserves a chance to live.
My job is to make sure they get it. |
Rubra
|
Posted - 2004.04.02 08:15:00 -
[3]
My favorite has always been the dragonball toy.
|
Dekar
|
Posted - 2004.04.02 08:22:00 -
[4]
Edited by: Dekar on 02/04/2004 08:24:08
whoops, html doesn't work :p
Even though the topic starter herself makes way too many mistakes, her point is a fair one.
Spell checking your stuff is a must. And it must be scoring pretty high on the grammatical level.
-------------------------------------------------
Lying Scumbag |
Synapse Archae
|
Posted - 2004.04.02 08:36:00 -
[5]
Edited by: Synapse Archae on 02/04/2004 08:38:42
Agreed, and fixed.
Edit: 3 is "way too many" for a standard forum post?
---------------------------------------------
[/IMG]http://millerfam.org/eve/synapse_logo.jpg[/IMG]
Everyone deserves a chance to live.
My job is to make sure they get it. |
Andromedus
|
Posted - 2004.04.02 09:03:00 -
[6]
Edited by: Andromedus on 02/04/2004 09:04:38
that is actually one of the correct ways to use that line
|
Athule Snanm
|
Posted - 2004.04.02 09:08:00 -
[7]
 Quote:
A more proficient English speaker would have written "in shambles" as in "in dire straits," rather than "a shambles" like "a mess."
I'm not quite sure what type of proficient English speaker that you're thinking of there in reference to 'shambles', but they'd be wrong:
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=shambles
_______________________________
Doomheim - EVE's only hygiene! |
Etoile Chercheur
|
Posted - 2004.04.02 10:17:00 -
[8]
Quote:
Quote:
A more proficient English speaker would have written "in shambles" as in "in dire straits," rather than "a shambles" like "a mess."
I'm not quite sure what type of proficient English speaker that you're thinking of there in reference to 'shambles', but they'd be wrong:
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=shambles
did a little research. describing something as being "a shambles" is correct, but describing something as being "in shambles" is widely used. i have to admit i've heard the latter more than the former, so it just might be a common usage thing.
but let's not argue the point. we humans make our languages up as we go along, changing them decade after decade. not really important.
there are grammatic goofs that really stick out like a sore thumb, however. i'd suggest to CCP that all text that goes into the game and into the news gets reviewed by someone in the United States (i notice the game uses US spelling for words) for spelling and grammer. could even just run it through a really good word processor and have it check for you. wouldn't be that much trouble.
an awkward sentence or misspelled word can be a real immersion killer. 
i myself do not have a word processor with a spell check at the moment, so as for any spelling errors on my part, you can all get stuffed.
Midshipman Etoile Chercheur - Logistics Division (M&T) | Hadean Drive Yards
|
Vistilantus
|
Posted - 2004.04.02 10:41:00 -
[9]
sad, who actually gives a damn if they spell stuff right, or use proper grammer?
It's a game, in games, grammer and spelling go out the window, English is not a first language for many people who play, so give them a break.
It's pretty CLEAR what they were saying, so why go *****ing about it....
meh, can't be bothered ranting, your not going to listen.
~Vistilantus
~I don't Have an attitude problem, YOU have a perception problem. |
Bogenhagen
|
Posted - 2004.04.02 11:35:00 -
[10]
If you think CCP is bad...check out the Yahoo news articles. All I heard yesterday was my wife ***** about how a fifth grader could do better than their news writers.
|
Kaillam
|
Posted - 2004.04.02 11:36:00 -
[11]
Actually, your first example is standard 'newspaper style' media headline language.
|
Jessica Logan
|
Posted - 2004.04.02 11:38:00 -
[12]
Does it really matter?
A great deal of the playerbase come across as illiterate ****s ayway.
|
Jebidus Skari
|
Posted - 2004.04.02 11:42:00 -
[13]
,o/ 
|
Mitawyn
|
Posted - 2004.04.02 11:46:00 -
[14]
Aw, who cares that much anyway? I should have better things to do with my time than worry about or even care about someone's spelling or grammar. I read it for what news or interest it might have in it. How someone expresses it is so low on my list of importance, I don't think I can see it. They do a good job and that is enough. 
|
Adriana
|
Posted - 2004.04.02 11:47:00 -
[15]
OMFG!!!! NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The solution is clear. IMMEDIATLY STOP PLAYING EVE!!! Your talents are needed far more in the teaching profession. PLEASE!!!!!!! For the children...
There isn't a moment to lose. You must go teach them, or they will continue to put out perfectly easy to understand informational releases...with horrid grammatical errors.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU MUST GO IMMEDIATLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
...Only you can save us.
Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
-Napoleon Bonaparte |
Ryoji Tanakama
|
Posted - 2004.04.02 12:02:00 -
[16]
Quote:
Edited by: Synapse Archae on 02/04/2004 08:39:29
Edited by: Synapse Archae on 02/04/2004 07:53:00
"Federation seeks answers to terrorist atrocity û entertainment industry a shambles"
Shambles meaning:
A scene or event of disorder or ruin.
So in actual fact the above quote is perfectly alright, given that it is written in a news headline style.
~ Ryoji Tanakama |
FlareZFX
|
Posted - 2004.04.02 12:12:00 -
[17]
Come on, who really cares if they make small grammatical errors and spelling mistakes in their posts? People have the special ability to intepret meanings even from the smallest clues, and interpreting CCP's news posts isn't that tough, is it?
Would you rather have them use the time for double-checking their newsposts instead of hunting bugs or using it for actual customer support?
|
Beringe
|
Posted - 2004.04.02 12:17:00 -
[18]
Quote:
Its a rant on small things, I know, but it shouldn't happen in the first place.
Oh, for a perfect world.
Now I have a dilemma: Is this rant more petty than a rant about ore thieves or not? Oh, for a perfect world.
-------------------------------------------
"My main griveance with the Caldari state was that once I had finished my work for them, they wanted me dead."
"No, it's none of your business." |
Ishkur
|
Posted - 2004.04.02 20:40:00 -
[19]
Some people get very angry when you try to correct grammar. I realize not everyone cares about such things, but I do (as those of you who know me already know). I've noticed this as well -- sometimes the mistakes are rather glaring.
RE: "a shambles" vs. "in shambles" --
A quick Google search (which is perfectly legitimate, even William Safire uses Google) reveals that "a shambles" seems to be a preferred British usage. Since CCP is European, it seems rather obvious that they'd prefer British usage, although this player thinks they ought to remain consistent and (mis)spell words the way Brits do as well, like "honour" and "colour," etc.
Google "a shambles" and you'll get 75,500 results mostly from BBC headlines at the top. Google "in shambles" and you'll get 75,500 results mostly from North American headlines at the top.
So it would appear that either is fine, though "a shambles" would almost certainly get you ridiculed here in America.
|
Danton Marcellus
|
Posted - 2004.04.02 21:04:00 -
[20]
At least it's not in tabloid form, 'the end is nigh' pieces they've yet managed to avoid, cudos.
Should the EVE news reports make like a Fox I'll be signing up to lie my ass off in a heartbeat and use as many maxed out high threat phrasings I can before my clone license suddenly expires. 
Convert Stations
|
Baldour Ngarr
|
Posted - 2004.04.02 21:33:00 -
[21]
Quote:
So it would appear that either is fine, though "a shambles" would almost certainly get you ridiculed here in America.
Maybe so, but this thread was started by one who specifically states they want *English*, not American.
_______
"Soon" is an ancient Icelandic word meaning "some time before the next Ice Age." |
Athule Snanm
|
Posted - 2004.04.02 21:44:00 -
[22]
Quote:
So it would appear that either is fine, though "a shambles" would almost certainly get you ridiculed here in America.
Take a look at some online dictionaries based on Websters (the standardish American dictionary) and you'll find 'in a shambles' is the correct form. Do a search for "it's to hot today" or something similar in google and I'd bet you'd find thousands of hits too.
_______________________________
Doomheim - EVE's only hygiene! |
XeQtR
|
Posted - 2004.04.03 01:11:00 -
[23]
Just be happy the news posts aren't in Icelandic.
|
Styrmir
|
Posted - 2004.04.03 03:18:00 -
[24]
Quote:
Just be happy the news posts aren't in Icelandic.
lol I would like that 
Founder and Manager of The Misneden Shuttle Museum |
ElCoCo
|
Posted - 2004.04.03 05:18:00 -
[25]
Even if it's right or wrong... you think most of the eve playerbase knows what shambles means without reffering to a dictionary?
Not everyone was born english-speaking you know (me included)
Give the guys a break...or NOT
HOW ABOUT MORE FREQUENT EVENTS PLZ KTHXBYE
|
Managalar
|
Posted - 2004.04.03 06:04:00 -
[26]
I think it is fairly obvious that there are a lot of non-native english speakers writing the various messages and stories. Spelling errors are easy to overlook, same goes for brits and their fancy pants spellings of words, but grammar errors always make me do a double take, and I agree it is annoying.
=======Abaddon=======
=======Abaddon======= |
JP Beauregard
|
Posted - 2004.04.03 06:29:00 -
[27]
Quote:
Take a look at some online dictionaries based on Websters (the standardish American dictionary) and you'll find 'in a shambles' is the correct form.
Here's the Webster's entry in full, withtout any hint of the W. Bruce Lincoln quote found in every other online dictionary (?The economy was in a shambles?):
Quote:
Main Entry: shamÀbles
Pronunciation: 'sham-b&lz
Function: noun plural but singular or plural in construction
Etymology: Middle English shameles, plural of schamel vendor's table, footstool, from Old English sceamol stool, from Latin scamillum, diminutive of scamnum stool, bench; perhaps akin to Sanskrit skambha pillar
1 archaic : a meat market
2 : SLAUGHTERHOUSE
3 a : a place of mass slaughter or bloodshed b : a scene or a state of great destruction : WRECKAGE c (1) : a scene or a state of great disorder or confusion (2) : great confusion : MESS
That seems to suggest that the use of "shambles" in the news entry is at least misleading, in so far as "in a shambles" might easily be taken literally based on meanings 2, 3a & b, especially by a non-native speaker unfamiliar with both idiomatic expressions. In any case, it sounds rather clumsy.
Ambiguous writing is often sloppy writing and in that category, many "news items" certainly make the grade.
|
| |
|
| Pages: [1] :: one page |
| First page | Previous page | Next page | Last page |