Friday, July 6, 2007

A word about e-mail

Today’s society is all about instant gratification, and e-mail has made communication that much quicker. Don’t get me wrong, e-mail is great – I love e-mail – but there is one pitfall.

AIM (AOL Instant Messanger) has helped to cripple the youth of our nation, grammatically (and socially). People get used to saying ‘brb’ instead of ‘be right back’ and about a thousand other shorthand slang phrases. This makes for a very bad habbit.

People get used to communicating in this shorthand way (it’s hilarious to listen when people talk like they type!), and it creeps into the should-be-more-professional areas of their lives.

This may not seem like a big deal to you, but it really is a huge problem. You should not, under any circumstances, use shorthand when communicating with a boss, potential employer, or even a professor. E-mail is just a letter sent electronically, but people think that they don’t need to sound professional in such communications – WRONG!

ALWAYS use proper format for your e-mails, meaning: heading, body, closing. Always use a respectful greeting and include the appropriate title (Dr. for many professors). Always proofread your work before you hit send – you make more mistakes than you think.

You want to sound like an intelligent human being, not a young person gabbing with some friends on the internet.

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