The tongue that Shakespeare spoke has changed radically over 400 years but written and spoken English is an important tool in the commercial armoury. And while it is clearly true the language and the way it's used develops, the basic rules which define the speaker or the writer remain.
It's hard not to judge someone guilty of careless talk.
Don't you just hate it when somebody pronounces the letter 'h' as they would hash? Where does that come from? Until fairly recently only an Irishman would call a bank haitchessbecee!
Now so many people want to sound like byegone Cockneys who thought they're being polite! Ho no!
Likewise many people talk about being 'afraid to say' which makes no sense. Because if they were really afraid they wouldn't say whatever it is that frightens them. The correct and time-honoured phrase is 'I'm sorry to say'.
And there's the final 'k' stuck now for no reason on to the end of words like anything or something. Ask the speaker to spell the word and the chances are the errant 'k' would be missing.
Truth is we don't listen to ourselves, selling ourselves short when it comes to job interviews or pressing for promotion. Care is of primary importance in communication of all kinds, just one of the factors we stress in our Focus for Change Communication courses www.focus4change.co.uk
A shoddy email arrives from a competitor, offering effective communication seminars might have been written by someone with only a basic grasp of English. I'm no pedant, but the poor grammar and careless composition it reveals loses any integrity that company might have.
It's good to remember when preparing for that hard-won job interview - careless talk costs [the chance of] jobs!
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