There was an article in The Times today about the difficulty some students have in stringing a sentence together, basic errors resulting from, the article surmises, the tendency to teach subjects in 'bite-sized chunks'. Consequently many students are unable to write a coherent essay because to do so requires a level of application that they're unaccustomed to.

So, I would say, no, many people do not know not to do that.

We had an email round the office the other day asking people to communicate with one another in words rather than code. It ended "KTHXBAI". (That last sentence was a lie.)

Maybe it would be best if I could suggest some book on how to write professionally.

If you're willing to take the time and effort to respond, then it's useful to be truthful about the impression the email makes. As stated by essexjan, some younger folks don't know that this method isn't proper communication.

I'd start by saying something along the lines you've included here:

"can i chat with u" which I ordinarily would have deleted immediately

This make it clear to the person just what isn't up to snuff...

And, I do think it's nice of you to be concerned and willing to help the unknown person.

I have this conversation with my graduate students all the time. No, they don't know not to do that. Yes, they should know better. I am shocked that they don't. If this student has asked you for mentoring advice, you should tell her that chatspeak in an email, particularly a blind email, makes a very poor impression.

Even if for nothing else, the Internet has justified it's existence through the creation of the word KTHXBYE. I just love it to death and can't use it enough. It's the perfect embodiment of the modern communication in just 7 letters. On the other hand, "u" for you just sux.

≡ Click to see image ≡

@Atom Eyes: ROFFLE

Email subject line "can i chat with u": never appropriate.

Limecat: ALWAYS appropriate!

I wrote the following letter to a very wealthy, very posh, presumeably very educated client. included is her (ridiculous) reply:



you''ll have it tomorrow



>Subject: RE: Checking in
>Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2007 15:16:12 -0700
>
>Hello [Client],
>
>Thanks very much for dropping off a check this morning, we appreciate
>your payment. However, the check amount does not cover your
>outstanding balance.
>
>We have not billed you since May 31, and over 100 hours of design hours
>have been accrued since then. (This is somewhere between $8,500 and
>$10,000 worth of billable time that [boss] is granting as courtesy to
>you.) We are still diligently working on your project and making sure
>that the City and the General Contractor have every last detail they
>need.
>
>Technically your account has been delinquent since June 10th, but we
>have not charged any interest on your account, as is our standard
>policy. We have also given you leniency with another of our standard
>policy, namely that we ordinarily do not release the final and
>completed construction documents until we have received payment in full.
>
>Enclosed please find your most recent statement. I ask that you pay
>off the remaining balance of $4,374.42 immediately.
>
>A copy of this note and your statement will go out in the mail tomorrow.
>
>
>Thank you very much,
>[Specklet]

D'oh typo! How embarrassing.

I think a lot of people don't think of email as a "professional voice" medium, so I'm not sure you need to lecture the person on professional writing.

If it were me, I'd wait a few days to respond, and start the reply with "Sorry for the delay, but your message got put in my spam folder because of its subject line and I just now saw it" and probably end with a request to use standard English in future correspondence so you don't have to deal with that hassle again.

But I have no problem lying to strangers in an effort to teach them lessons while remaining reasonably polite, so.... yeah.

I can fluctuate pretty easily between old school and nu-skool forms with email. My main bugbears are overly worded emails and emails that come with (possibly) spyware infested novelty wallpapers and smileys.

Overly worded emails tend to come from people who seem to think that every email needs a beginning, middle and end and that communication is something that should be convoluted by whatever oblique business speak is currently in vogue.

The best emails I get are from a customer over in London. They usually follow the form of ...

him: This is what I want.
me: Here You go.
him: thanks.

Simple, effective. Say what you need without the unneeded pleasantries.

Also, on an intellectual level, I'm confused by a couple of things.
1) Why the hatred of emoticons? They can add complex semantic meaning to an email simply and effectively.
2) Who got to decide which acronyms/shortenings are "professional" and which are not? "C U Tomorrow" is lazy teenager speak, but "BTW", "etc" and using peoples initials is perfectly acceptable in the business arena.

There's no excuse for ambiguity, but the push against it should apply equally to chatspeak and business bullshit.

I think a lot of people don't think of email as a "professional voice" medium

That's exactly why they need to be taught that it is. Because in this field almost everyone else treats e-mail professionally. If your main concern is getting a PhD in the U.S., and one of a U.S. science graduate program's concerns is whether you will be able to teach discussion sections in English, then you'll be in trouble if your first inquiries make it look like you have no command of the language.

That's exactly why they need to be taught that it is.

I agree, I just think a suggestion on books on professional writing in general -- as opposed to a targeted comment about how that professional writing needs to extend to email as well -- will miss your target.

The person might be completely capable of writing professionally, so I think it'd be overreaching of you to assume otherwise in this instance, since this person contacted you in a could-be-construed-as social way. Your beef is that they wrote an email in an unprofessional way, not necessarily that they have no sense of what a "professional way" would look like.

(Does that make sense? I'm not disagreeing with you that the email's inappropriate, just suggesting you target what's actually wrong rather than making bigger assumptions, at least at this point, and especially if you're trying to be helpful rather than dismissive. (Though if your goal is to be dismissive (which would be understandable), then ignore me.)

)

That's the parenthesis I left off above. Wanted to make sure it existed in the universe somewhere.

I heart occhi.

Yes, that makes sense.

... but "BTW", "etc" and using peoples initials is perfectly acceptable in the business arena
Maybe in your world. If any one of my team members used any of those (well, maybe etc would be OK , but only if I'm in a good mood) in a report, I would kick their arse include a tersely worded comment when I send it back to them.

But then, I often respond to e-mailed questions from my team saying "can you do x?" With "Yes, I can. Now ask me if I will." This is a useful place for smiley emoticons in the business world. Not long ago, I almost drove someone to physical violence because I was in a playful mood and kept that kind of e-mail ping-pong going over about 20 exchanges until they managed to phrase their request accurately and unambiguously. Yeah, I'm one of those people ;-)