Another business boss who judges people by their grammar

Earlier this month, we discussed a Wall Street Journal article on grammar in the workplace. And in 2012, we discussed Kyle Wiens, a CEO who will not hire anyone whose grammar is weak. Now here’s another businessperson who respects good grammar: entrepreneur Cheryl Conner. In an article she wrote for Forbes, Ms. Conner says,

“Actually, I do tolerate poor grammar; I just don’t do it willingly. I have never fired an employee for poor grammar or hired for grammar and writing alone (although like Kyle, I now screen language ability heavily in anybody who walks through our door.) I’ve never corrected anybody in public or in front of a client. But I cringe inside on a daily basis when I edit the same mistakes in the same kinds of writing again and again.” (Italics in original.)

Notice that Ms. Conner is polite and considerate; she does not correct her employees in public or in front of clients. But notice also that she (1) privately corrects her employees’ grammar, while editing their work; (2) cringes at incorrect grammar; (3) uses grammar as a standard while screening new employees. In other words, she does judge people by their grammar.

The Takeaway: Not everyone judges you by your grammar. However, the smart people do, and aren’t those the people whose judgement you most care about?

See disclaimer.

A plague of “issues”

In several posts I’ve called attention to the widespread misuse of the word issues; for example, here. Many people seem determined to misuse the word hundreds of times per day. That’s why I was pleased to see the misuse discussed by Dorothy Rabinowitz (pictured):

“David Chase’s ‘Sopranos’ was, happily, written before the ludicrous ‘issues’ plague (‘My doctor tells me I have issues with my liver’) had fully infested the nation’s speech. In the world of ‘The Sopranos’ nobody talks about having issues – they have problems.”

The Takeaway: Don’t use issues as a catchall; it’s lazy and inconsiderate.

See disclaimer.