Saturday, July 30, 2011

Correct English

Another reason I've wanted to start a blog is to demonstrate correct English - spelling and use of words. The English language has sadly deteriorated and been bastardized, even by The New York Times, my favorite paper. One of my pet peeves is the use of 'reason' in a sentence. The word 'reason' already includes 'why', so to have 'the reason why' in a sentence is incorrect!!! "The reason why I blog is to show correct English." is wrong! The correct sentence should read, "The reason why I blog is to show correct English." One of the best books written on the English language is by the NBC newsman, Edwin Newman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Newman) who said the word "reason" already includes "why" so there is NO need for 'why' (superfluous)! An enthusiastic grammarian, Newman wrote four books on language, my favorite of which is, Strictly Speaking, Will America Be the Death of English? (1984)

Friday, July 29, 2011

DON'T sign up with Verizon!

No wonder verizon is behind att, and worst - in CUSTOMER SERVICE!!! I switched to verizon from att several years ago and may switch BACK now! I JUST added int'l feature to my phone 3 days ago because I needed to make int'l calls but had to change the account owner to my spouse this morning so verizon CANCELED our int'l feature WITHOUT INFORMING US - the CUSTOMER!!! I found out when i needed to make an urgent int'l call and was told by a 'recording' I had no such feature! After calling customer service i was told i had to wait for ONE MONTH prior to adding the intl feature (again!) because our account is now considered a 'NEW' account! We had to go through HELL to get our account add BACK the intl feature!!!