WE DON'T KNOW WHAT WE DON'T KNOW!
Therefore, with love and the truest desire to help anyone
interested in improving their image, it needs to be known that nothing sounds worse than someone
using the WRONG word incorrectly!
Misuse of a word - no matter how small or simple makes one sound (with much
thought put into this to avoid hurting feelings) many would say
"stupid" or "unintelligent", "dense",
"brainless", "dumb", "ridiculous", etc. and the
list did go on and on and on! This is why I am doing this site! We don't know
what we don't know!
Knowing the right word and using it properly are two entirely different
things and also very
important..
It’s what they call “The
Elephant In The Room” syndrome
(a problem or difficult issue that is very obvious, but is ignored for the
convenience or comfort of those involved).
We’re talking two different scenarios here.
1). A person often will use a word that is so wrong that it is not
even related to the topic of conversation!
2). A person may say a word and they may in fact have the right
idea - but they say the word in the wrong way or use the wrong pronunciation of
the word!
Either way sounds just as bad!
When this is done - some listener(s) will display a look of shock
and horror - while others will pretend like they didn’t hear it - out of
respect for the speaker.
Your more articulate speaking people will want to approach
the speaker and point out the error that was made but usually won’t for fear of
embarrassing the speaker or even worse, rejection.
You do have to be careful how you approach someone that you feel
may not receive your unsolicited advice well. I personally would like
to think that one would appreciate this very important and caring information
because you are helping to them “save face” and keep them from further
embarrassment. However, there are those that just don’t accept “constructive”
criticism well at all and they will - unfortunately continue to look and sound
foolish when they speak.
I hope that this site might be a way to help anyone that would
like to improve their knowledge and their grammar. Believe me, it is not just
the uneducated - or under educated people that have this problem. I’m amazed at
the professionals that I have met that cannot speak or spell well at all. As
someone said to me recently - “it makes you want to cringe!”