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Re: I had to say it because I was afraid no one else would
Subject:Re: I had to say it because I was afraid no one else would From:Peter Neilson <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Fri, 06 Feb 2009 10:42:02 -0500
Michael West wrote:
>> About twenty years ago, I worked for a commercial baker (you know those
>> grocery store white boxes) as a secretary and had been asked to type ...
>
> As he should have. I hope in the intervening twenty years you've learned to
> do what your boss asks instead of taking it upon yourself to save the
> language. You were asked to type--not to rewrite. ...
I beg to differ.
At one time a secretary was expected to turn out a polished letter from
anyone's draft copy or from dictation. Not all bosses, however, could
stand the thought that their spelling, grammar or style was broken.
Secretaries would swap jokes about the stuff they had to send out, and
whether or not they would affix their initials to it. Some had fake
initials for letters so bad they couldn't bear to use their own
initials. (For those too young to remember, a letter by J Random
Bigboss, typed by Jane The Typist, usually bore JRB:jtt somewhere near
the bottom.) There were variations on the pattern. Some bosses would
type their own letters (invariably with two fingers), and have the
secretary address the envelope. Sometimes the entire letter would be
generated by the secretary, perhaps even to the signature, usually--but
not always--with the secretary's initials underneath it. Bosses reveling
in their own importance were know to sign letters, "Signed but not
read." Some secretaries ran the company in the boss's absence. Some
still do.
Some bosses expected any woman in the office to be a good typist. This
generally backfired, eventually. But a good secretary could be relied
upon to have a thorough knowledge of spelling, grammar and punctuation,
and lots more. I think that the few who remain still do.
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