Estate agents and capital letters - just irks me

hazyjo

Every EA should at least run a spell check over what they've typed. I'm not the grammar police, I couldn't give a flying whatever if someone's spelling on any forum, email or whatever is terrible, but it does wind me up when you see things like 'dinning room' and 'accomodation' and 'seperate' (all common errors). All would be picked up by a simple spell check. They're providing a professional service and getting paid a lot for doing it (IMO). Our current agents (who we're selling through and the ones we're buying through) are pretty damn great. The last ones we tried selling through were bloody awful. I had to hand back the draft details covered in red pen twice (should've been a teacher). I don't expect them to necessarily know where an apostrophe goes, I'll happily say which ones should come out, but it really shouldn't be too much effort to run a spell check over a set of sales particulars.

Apologies for any spelling mistakes - not spell checking this lol

Jx

Out,_Vile_Jelly

There were three spelling and grammar errors in the last letter my agent sent me. Even using i instead of I- isn't this literally one of the first things you learn at school?

Orpheo

The "language liberals" push their agenda of the ever-evolving tongue; this is true, only to a certain extent. The reason that we have standard English is that it is set apart from regional accent, dialect, colloquialism and slang. All of these things exist now as they did before standard English, occasionally words from these infiltrate standard English, but only if standard English demands it. Standard English is the language of learning, communication and business. Non-standard English is the language of social situations, posting on forums, texting your mates, home, play and cultural identity. They are separate but occasionally overlap. To say that this is a recent thing, of just 300 years, is a mistake, division in langauge has existed for a lot longer. Latin was the language of Christianity and rulership since the days of the Roman occupation, it is still the language of law. Standard English is necessary and the language liberals do us a disservice by suggesting that it should be let go. Have your slang and dialect, but keep it where appropriate. In the meantime, don't take the standards out of standard English.

Beware the language liberals. We all know what happens to liberals when they attain power.

sonastin

Orpheo wrote: »

The "language liberals" push their agenda of the ever-evolving tongue; this is true, only to a certain extent. The reason that we have standard English is that it is set apart from regional accent, dialect, colloquialism and slang. All of these things exist now as they did before standard English, occasionally words from these infiltrate standard English, but only if standard English demands it. Standard English is the language of learning, communication and business. Non-standard English is the language of social situations, posting on forums, texting your mates, home, play and cultural identity. They are separate but occasionally overlap. To say that this is a recent thing, of just 300 years, is a mistake, division in langauge has existed for a lot longer. Latin was the language of Christianity and rulership since the days of the Roman occupation, it is still the language of law. Standard English is necessary and the language liberals do us a disservice by suggesting that it should be let go. Have your slang and dialect, but keep it where appropriate. In the meantime, don't take the standards out of standard English.

Beware the language liberals. We all know what happens to liberals when they attain power.

If everyone were intelligent, I would be all in favour of liberalism in language. After all, language is all about communication and as long as the message comes across, it doesn't matter about the detail of spelling and grammar. But unfortunately, not everyone is clever. So not everyone is capable of assessing if there is an alternate meaning to what they've written, and they won't be able to judge if their message comes across. The "rules" were devised as an easy way of making sure that things were (as much as possible) interpreted as intended.

Otherwise intelligent people who don't feel the need to use standard English are saying "I know what I mean and I don't care whether you understand it or not"

rippenburn

N79 wrote: »

The other type of "month" is a lunar month. English tenancy law supports both statutory and common law tenancies with periods of "calendar" months or "lunar" months. There is no automatic default to one type or the other.

Therefore explicitly referring to calendar months is not mindless or stupidity but is, in fact, the mark of an agent that has a better than basic grasp of English tenancy law. All good LLs should ensure that their tenancy agreement clearly defines the tenancy period!

Perhaps an apology to those agents is called for?:D

You are joking, aren't you? Since the Gregorian calendar has been accepted as the civil calendar throughout the Western world it would only be necessary in law to state when a different calendar was in use, in which case you should state the alternate calendar (e.g. Per Mayan Calendar Month). Simply stating "lunar" is not enough as there are so many lunar calendars. Saying "Per Calendar Month" is another attempt by estate agents to portray their business as some kind of mystical art. I really had hoped the Internet would put an end to their trade like it has insurance brokers and travel agents.