Oh hey, I think it's another one of those "it doesn't matter what you write as long as you write" kind of posts, so I better watch out how I'm going to format this one lest someone try to infer some deeper meaning from the stylistic choices that I make about how I write and present said writing.
I'm in a slowed-down reality because although I'm pretty much doing some freewriting/free-journaling again, it won't purely be this method because I'm using pen and paper first and then transcribing onto the screen. Thus my idea-to-writ time has changed.
I type much faster than I write and that's a double-edged sword because, generally speaking, this difference in speed enables me to publish a lot of junkspeedily-typed things out there - sometimes even imaginary words - and it also enables me to be far more efficient, if not prolific.
So you've made it past the 1st multimedia jump. All that's here is another rant, or an f you of sorts, to Grammarly for trying to get me to install their instant grammar fixer, I'll write about that topic, right now. And to you grammar nazis out there the irony of this paragraph is not lost on me, but I'm trying to be (if not stay) authentic and sardonic instead of prolific and possibly catatonic at times.
Whether the mostly one-sided arguments that I will put forward are refutable or not, I have no one offering a rebuttal anyway so I will hope very hard that my arguments make sense and that they're not invalid.
You know what? For continuity's sake, I'll make a list of why I am on a crusade against Grammarly (and other .ly techy things but yeah mostly just Grammarly today).
Okay so Grammarly is basically a spellchecker for grammar. From what I gather from one of the ads - the voice-over asserts "If you write anything you've gotta get Grammarly" -, you install it with your browser or perhaps word processor and it fixes/suggests things as you type that are "improvements" to make things clearer for your reader.
I never did like Word and Firefox spellcheckers as I am constantly turning them on/off parce-que ce sont des outils incommode quand je change de langue on the fly mais je suis greatful/grateful that they exist because they allow me de vérifier si un mot en particulier est orthographié judicieusement. Ces outils me fatiguent parce-que j'aime écrire avec deux langues et le système d'auto-détection does not work if I commit the first cardinal sin of my Canadian grammatical system: starting a sentence in one language and finishing it in another.
La vérification de mots tapés en français et en anglais ne fonctionnent toujours pas à perfection en 2019, qu'importe le niveau de technologies (e.g. hi-tech, lo-tech); je suis donc pas oké de me faire corriger par un système probablement inventé juste pour "économiser" du temps et même si mon écriture est truffé d'erreurs qui feraient évanouir n'importe quel prof de français, au moins ce sont mes erreurs et pas celles d'un autre.
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I am veering off into french rambles and this ain't A kaléiopâtescope de tangentes, so here, finally, is that list of arguments of why I despise a free-to-try writing-grammar improver (that I admittedly have not tried) called Grammarly:
I believe that Grammarly (and similar applications) has the potential to limit creative writing capacity and also disrupt the innate human heuristic learning process by removing the opportunity to learn through trial and error. The above list is also why I don't use it, and although I can be hypocritical at times, I don't see myself changing my writing & blogging process anytime soon, thank you very much.
I'm going to close off this lengthy post with simply stating that I am nostalgic over all the years I spent paying attention in English, French, and Spanish class with other estudiantes - at any level.
I'm in a slowed-down reality because although I'm pretty much doing some freewriting/free-journaling again, it won't purely be this method because I'm using pen and paper first and then transcribing onto the screen. Thus my idea-to-writ time has changed.
I type much faster than I write and that's a double-edged sword because, generally speaking, this difference in speed enables me to publish a lot of junkspeedily-typed things out there - sometimes even imaginary words - and it also enables me to be far more efficient, if not prolific.
 |
| Un des chats qui m'apporte un support moral sans équivoque avec ma vie d'écrivain non-payé |
So you've made it past the 1st multimedia jump. All that's here is another rant, or an f you of sorts, to Grammarly for trying to get me to install their instant grammar fixer, I'll write about that topic, right now. And to you grammar nazis out there the irony of this paragraph is not lost on me, but I'm trying to be (if not stay) authentic and sardonic instead of prolific and possibly catatonic at times.
Whether the mostly one-sided arguments that I will put forward are refutable or not, I have no one offering a rebuttal anyway so I will hope very hard that my arguments make sense and that they're not invalid.
You know what? For continuity's sake, I'll make a list of why I am on a crusade against Grammarly (and other .ly techy things but yeah mostly just Grammarly today).
Okay so Grammarly is basically a spellchecker for grammar. From what I gather from one of the ads - the voice-over asserts "If you write anything you've gotta get Grammarly" -, you install it with your browser or perhaps word processor and it fixes/suggests things as you type that are "improvements" to make things clearer for your reader.
I never did like Word and Firefox spellcheckers as I am constantly turning them on/off parce-que ce sont des outils incommode quand je change de langue on the fly mais je suis greatful/grateful that they exist because they allow me de vérifier si un mot en particulier est orthographié judicieusement. Ces outils me fatiguent parce-que j'aime écrire avec deux langues et le système d'auto-détection does not work if I commit the first cardinal sin of my Canadian grammatical system: starting a sentence in one language and finishing it in another.
La vérification de mots tapés en français et en anglais ne fonctionnent toujours pas à perfection en 2019, qu'importe le niveau de technologies (e.g. hi-tech, lo-tech); je suis donc pas oké de me faire corriger par un système probablement inventé juste pour "économiser" du temps et même si mon écriture est truffé d'erreurs qui feraient évanouir n'importe quel prof de français, au moins ce sont mes erreurs et pas celles d'un autre.
---
I am veering off into french rambles and this ain't A kaléiopâtescope de tangentes, so here, finally, is that list of arguments of why I despise a free-to-try writing-grammar improver (that I admittedly have not tried) called Grammarly:
- J'aime écrire en 2+ langues; y yo escribo para mejorar mis facultades cognitivas; machine learning can't handle my multilingualism, yo
- My writing can be risqué at times, and I fear that having an algorithm "fix" obvious grammatical mistakes will stifle if not corrupt my creative process; it's our human language, our human expression
- I had no input on the design of this system and who knows where my data is going and if it's having a positive influence on language tomorrow
- Free-to-try sounds an awful lot like free-to-play and boy do I have experience with gratuitously addictive time sinks in the gaming world; will it really save me time, and is it really free?
- The state should be the one educating its citizens and the one teaching people how to write well using grammatical lucidity, not a private corporation. A private entity has no vested interest in a good education for citizens and I paid taxes, damnit, so let Ontario teachers teach people how to catch the mistakes, not a program. Teach a man to fish etc.
- Related to the previous point, I can see how it can encourage people to be lazy because 'the program will fix it anyway'
- If there's a bug in the software, you might think your grammar is faulty and you might lose confidence in your own skills as a writer if you rely on the grammar checker instead of what I call your own gutwritten instinct
- Grammar is subject to regional influences, and although this point is mostly applicable to speech and not the the written word, I fear that having an online app impose grammatical rules will create a 'melting pot' of said rules where culture no longer matters and where there is no use to having your own style. Kind of related to point 2 and 3.
- I've seen Grammarly's ads so many damn times that it makes me think that their advertising algorithm has picked up on my 'creative' use of (mostly english) grammar and is telling me that I'm a terrible writer and even if it's not targeted (i.e. web-tracked) advertising it's still telling me that I'm a terrible writer unless I use their product and/or service. Totally mean, from a consumer's perspective
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| I've travelled mid-to-West Canada with this one. I have not read it cover-to-cover, and it was outdated the moment I bought it second-hand, but I like to think it has an influence on my writing style. |
I believe that Grammarly (and similar applications) has the potential to limit creative writing capacity and also disrupt the innate human heuristic learning process by removing the opportunity to learn through trial and error. The above list is also why I don't use it, and although I can be hypocritical at times, I don't see myself changing my writing & blogging process anytime soon, thank you very much.
I'm going to close off this lengthy post with simply stating that I am nostalgic over all the years I spent paying attention in English, French, and Spanish class with other estudiantes - at any level.
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