I've noticed that most people start off emails with "Hi Bob,". I suspect they're treating "hi" as a less endearing replacement for "dear" in "Dear Bob,". Technically, "dear" is an adjective describing "Bob" while "hi" stands on its own and is not part of the direct address. I prefer the more correct salutation: "Hi, Bob."
Who is the most grammatically correct social network? Facebook, Plaxo Pulse, and Flickr get this wrong, by my standards, in their automated emails. Twitter gets it right.
Hi Bob,
ReplyDeleteI think that you have to roll with de facto standards.
Sam :)
Shatner, had, it, right, YEARS, before, twitter.
ReplyDeleteI've noticed that many programmers care a lot about this sort of thing. Perhaps a heightened awareness of the details of punctuation is an occupational hazard.
ReplyDeleteThe really important question, though, is how to punctuate "Hello world"...
@matt: I forgot about that one, but I notice the missing comma every time. The correct form is "Hello, world!"
ReplyDeleteAmusingly, I actually do use
ReplyDelete"Hello, world!"
You must have a copy of Eats, Shoots and Leaves. What about the word Methodology? Nobody uses this correctly. Methodology is the study of methods just as Anthropology is the study of humanity. "Our Methodology" should simply be "Our method" in most cases. There.. got that off my chest.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip, EscVector. I added it to my Amazon wish list: http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/3B513E3J694ZL
ReplyDeleteHi EscVector,
ReplyDeleteMethodology has two meanings according the Merriam-Webster dictionary:
1 : a body of methods, rules, and postulates employed by a discipline : a particular procedure or set of procedures
2 : the analysis of the principles or procedures of inquiry in a particular field
I'm pretty sure that Martin Fowler uses the first defintion.
However, you do have a point that method would be more appropriate in many situations. The same can probably be said for the use of the word refactor, when the work restructure is more apt.
Another odd one is the use of functionality instead of function.
ReplyDeleteThere is disagreement here. I lean toward no comma on informal hi greeting, especially in emails or short notes. Best test of grammar is your ear. Hello, Bob you can hear it. Hi Bob not so much.
ReplyDeleteAnother consenting wordsmith's opinion:
http://tiny.cc/z33cl
Given the disturbingly large proportion of programmers who don't know the difference between 'your' & 'you're' or 'there', 'their' & 'they're', I'm not surprised that the correct usage of 'Hi, Bob' is such a rarity.
ReplyDeleteBest regards,
Bob
I think the punctuation sign required hasn't been invented yet.
ReplyDeleteComma doesn't really work for me; it makes things look slower than they sound.
I'd go with " Hi! Bob. "
Speaking of grammar.. Was that "Who" correct? :)
> Who is the most grammatically correct social network?
Rico.
Funny. I've always preferred "God damn it, Bob!"
ReplyDeleteOh, rjrjr... how I miss working with you.
ReplyDeleteIf memory serves me correctly, you slept through English class. Mr. Weiss would be proud.
ReplyDeleteHow about the all-purpose ubiquitous hyphen?
ReplyDeleteWhen in doubt - drop in a hyphen or two.
I've definitely been guilty of hyphen abuse.
ReplyDelete