November 30, 2004

TECNICAL ILLITARATE

In a bid to improve 'comunication' (her word) at Webdiary, Margo Kingston is banning the use of political labels in reader submissions:

I'll trial substituting 'BLANK' for "left, leftys, left wing" and "right, right wingers" and the like.

Great idea! It's easier to spell, for one thing. In comments following this announcement, Margo admits something shocking:

Re marking and cateorising editing, I confess I'm a technical illiterate.

Why limit this self-'cateorising' to matters technological? Her other remarks in the same thread contain the usual Margoisms: 'attrated', 'publiushing', 'facism', 'disenfranschised', 'eveyone', 'Mariiyn', and 'suport'.

As Margo explains: "I'm having enough trouble with the other words a tthe moment!"

UPDATE. While we're on the subject of disturbed women with spelling issues ...

Posted by Tim Blair at November 30, 2004 12:00 AM
Comments

Bad spelers of the wurld unit!

Posted by: jorgen at November 30, 2004 at 12:37 AM

Her livejournal

lol at ~5000 comments

Posted by: Anonymous at November 30, 2004 at 01:36 AM

I am interested in the question (off topic) of how many Australians could be considered to be ‘cultural entrepreneurs’. The answer is most likely a Venn Diagram of those employed in the cultural sectors (and there is good information on this, se e.g. http://www.creativeindustries.qut.com/research/cirac/documents/bccreportonly.pdf).

For what it is worth, Alan Burton-Jones, in his 2001 book, , Knowledge Capitalism: Business, Work and Learning in the New Economy (Oxford University Press, Oxford), defines non-traditional self-employment in these terms:

• dependent contractors, such as preferred suppliers of inputs and franchisees
• independent contractors, such as consultants and providers of specialist technical, administrative, and knowledge services
• mediated service providers, who handle outsourced administration, maintenance, security, and other infrastructure support functions
• flexi-hire workers, who are brought into an organisation on a needs basis, often through external agencies.

Posted by: Terry Flew at November 30, 2004 at 01:42 AM

'Facism'? Is that discrimination against ugly people?

Posted by: Zev Sero at November 30, 2004 at 02:14 AM

A cateorite is a cat that has fallen to earth. A cateor is a cat present elsewhere.

Posted by: Ron Hardin at November 30, 2004 at 02:31 AM

Re marking and cateorising editing, I confess I'm a technical illiterate.

"Technical" would include "backspacing", "reading", "spellchecking", that sort of thing?

How about just plain illiterate?

Also, that link was horrifying.

Posted by: Rebecca at November 30, 2004 at 04:29 AM

I'll trial substituting 'BLANK' for "left, leftys, left wing" and "right, right wingers" and the like.

The left used to be happy with the distinction, because being branded a conservative is enough to get one attacked by the mainstream media.

But now, by sheer force of reputation, being regarded as left is enough to destroy your credibility with the public.

So the left have responded by trying to destroy the labels now.

Posted by: 2dogs at November 30, 2004 at 05:31 AM

Yeah, every time I hear someone saying "I want to get beyond the old-fashioned labels of left and right", they turn out to be raving leftoids.

Posted by: cuckoo at November 30, 2004 at 08:02 AM

Cuckoo and 2dogs, I've noticed the same thing. It seems to be a trend.

Posted by: Evil Pundit at November 30, 2004 at 09:44 AM

When I first read this and knowing Margo's lack of ability to articulate clearly, I was wondering whether she was saying she can't handle technology or she is technically illiterate.

Seems the later would be the most appropriate.

Posted by: Nuffy at November 30, 2004 at 11:24 AM

Do you think Rachel will grow up to be another Margo? That must be what the Victorians meant by a fate worse than death.

We Americans are notoriously ignorant of foreign languages, so I must ask: is it possible that Margo's spelling difficulties come from trying to write Strine phonetically? That's assuming she speaks Strine, and not some obscure language from Papua-New Guinea where, I gather, there are some 800 distinct languages, not counting dialects.

Posted by: Michael Lonie at November 30, 2004 at 01:36 PM

I love posting on Margo's Webdiary.I feel comfortable making spelling mistakes and sometimes not making sense(usually after 3 glasses of Chardonnay).I feel like a real insider.
That last sentence didn't fill me with happiness.

Posted by: gubbaboy at November 30, 2004 at 02:41 PM

Margo needs to communicate with the Australian Parliamentary Library for the correct terminology.

And if Labor wishes to “frame ideas” perhaps they should resign from the Label Conglomerate.

Accuracy in the media? Pfft!

Posted by: Anabel at November 30, 2004 at 03:37 PM


...and I need to learn how to link correctly.

APH = http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/CIB/2002-03/03cib02.htm#fig5

Label Conglomerate = http://www.socialistinternational.org/maps/english/asia.htm

Posted by: Anabel at November 30, 2004 at 03:48 PM

Terry Flew wins a prize for the closest thing to the Margoyle's unintelligible drivel.

Posted by: Pedro the Ignorant at December 1, 2004 at 12:14 AM

publiushing: v. Listening to something while drunk at a pub

Posted by: FusterCluck at December 1, 2004 at 12:46 PM