a grammar tangent (was Re: HTML, etc,)

[Thomas G. Lammers]

At 07:13 PM 03-24-99 -0800, you wrote:

 Can anyone tell me *why* this particular class of
>mistake has become so popular only in the last decade? Another thing to
>blame on spell-checker software (like using "their" for "they're")?

In the 1960's and 1970's, many many US school districts began to
de-emphasize the rules and mechanics of composition.  It was believed that
rigid over-emphasis on punctuation, spelling, syntax, grammar, etc. was
stifling children's creativity.  Instead of letting their imaginations soar,
they were struggling under the burden of "i before e except after c" and
other schoolmarmish doctrines.    A hallmark of the '60's attitude was that
appearances didn't matter, only substance counted.   The idea was to let
their creative little thoughts flow and blossom, and worry about prettying
it up later. Only problem was, "later" never came.  Typical of many
movements at the time, this new approach threw out the baby  with the bath.
As a result, you have an entire generation of otherwise intelligent people
who appear to be sloppy and careless when they write.  And, it goes without
saying, I haven't noticed any overwhelming flood of creativity as a result
of this de-emphasis on rules.

Perhaps there *is* a lesson in all this for taxonomists. as re:
nomenclature, Codes, etc.?


Thomas G. Lammers

Classification, Nomenclature, Phylogeny and Biogeography
of the Campanulaceae, s. lat.

Department of Botany
Field Museum of Natural History
Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, Illinois 60605-2496 USA

e-mail:    tlammers at fmnh.org
office:          312-922-9410 ext. 317 (voice-mail)
fax:                312-427-2530

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"The most important thing to learn is how
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