Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters How has your writing changed as you've aged?

Interesting subject, writing.

I remember when I began to frequent sites such as this one back in 1999. Most of the writing I saw was awful. It seemed that no one knew or cared about grammar, punctuation, complete sentences, or clarity. Contrasting that with what I see 21 years later, the difference is really remarkable. Maybe practice has made the difference.

I can't say whether my writing has improved over the last 13 years, but I've had to learn to be much more conscientious in my writing over that time. This began when I took on my current and ongoing project, which requires a lot of correspondence with German nationals who happen to be engineers for the most part. I found out early on that if there is a way to misconstrue an intended meaning, they will certainly find and employ it. I often compose an email then save a draft for review a few minutes later, editing several times before finally sending it. An email the length of this post often takes two hours to compose and edit.


Edit: actually, this post looks much longer than it actually is when viewed on my phone. It looks like a lot less text on a PC.

Ma spellin suks. Ya gotta cut me sum slak cus ah be lerned ta spel in da publik skoos.

Great question and thread.

I've had more notable trouble with liner thought, and as such my writing...sucks.

Thank you kind Sir,

Commas amaze me.

Seems the Euro folks like to use them instead of periods at times, as in 1,005" which in European I do believe means one and five thousandths inches, not one thousand five inches.

My CZ and Swedes shoot 9,3mm and 6,5mm projectiles according to the folks on the other side of the pond.

And what's with the Mexicans and Spaniards and such. Upside down question and exclamation marks??? What's up with that. At least I got an early start in writing Spanish and sorta know where to put those and accent marks.

With the evolution of language, and because of the ongoing confusion, dashes have entered into the magical equation of language.

For some reason, fewer people have problems with dashes.

With the evolution of language - and because of the ongoing confusion - dashes have entered into the magical equation of language.

Dashes help - until an editor changes some into commas. There are still rules after all.
Dashes help, until an editor changes some into commas.

I would have loved to have a one on one conversation with Elmer Keith's editors.

Steve,

I have had conversations with people who edited Elmer Keith's typewritten copy. More than one has said that (perhaps due a quirk in his typewriter) the word "shot" often appeared with an "i" instead of the "o". This is understandable, since "i" and "o" are next to each other on the standard keyboard.

I wrote Elmer around 40 years ago, when I was getting a 1903 Springfield rebored to .338 OKH, asking about loads. I still have his letter, and while it isn't perfectly typed, unfortunately it does not contain that particular error.

Slumlord says I write like shiet !

😁😁

Steve,

it has always amazed me listening to folks read aloud something I was reading along with them to myself.

Commas, semicolons, periods, and yes - even dashes mean something when reading. Exclamation points TOO!

I'd be willing to bet teaching that stuff went out the window along with memorizing the times tables.

Reading and editing Elmer, or anyone else for that matter, might get interesting. And could be fun - maybe?

I-O mistakes happen to me frequently John.

Due to the wonders of modern technology I can correct it easily enough with a "backspace".

Thank the powers that be I no longer have to type on mom's old Remington.

My mother had beautiful handwriting, even when she did not know her own name.

That gene missed me by a mile.

John, I read that Elmer got the words out, but left it to the editor to.polish. I'll write the damn story and you make it look pretty!

Punctuation has changed markedly. You. Can. Write. Like. Bill. Shatner.

Or socialmedia write and never bother with puncticating because it makes things faster to write so they say.

Or, if you're older, remember what Miss Grammar Lady tried to teach you.

Or, OMG, rite texty! lol.

u r fny

The recent change I have encountered which bothers me unreasonably is the substitution of periods in place of dashes which separate parts of a phone number.
Jim

Yes, that can be annoying. Some others want the 10 numbers - xxxxxxxxxx - with no dashes or periods.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


THIS



But if the OP is referring to written work-i.e. articles/presentations etc. that I can type out on the computer, then my writing, like a fine wine, has improved with age.

Can you imagine learning to write left handed at 58 years old? I couldn’t write right handed legible to begin with!! 😁