At 09:14 AM 2/12/97 -0800, Ray wrote:

>On the other hand, there is a slightly lower standard of expectation for
>e-mail which seems to be custom. This was reflected by several people
>both on line and in discussions I have had on the nature of English with
>students. There are words which are important to spell correctly as they
>are homophones or otherwise easily confused with other words, and we all
>should be careful...

In addition to what Ray has said (and I may have said this before), there
are people from foreign countries who belong to many of these lists. I, for
one, have struck up quite a friendship with a woman in Holland. If words
are not spelled correctly, it can be difficult for non-English speakers to
ascertain the correct meaning. Additionally, people learn grammar from each
other, and what kind of example are we setting for folks from other
countries if our grammar is poor?

However, I think it's not lack of ability in most cases, but lack of
proofreading that causes the problem. We do tend to fire off email messages
with lightening speed, not taking the time to reread or spell check our
messages.

Just a few thoughts.

Peggi
Ben & Peggi Rodgers
Aptos, CA (near Santa Cruz)
USA
woodduck at cruzio.com

"A bird does not sing because it has an answer,
It sings because it has a song"