Huh? Need an English teacher...

[Sparkle]

Some things are so badly written that you end up not knowing quite what the question was, or worse, what the answer is. This was in my latest edition of Highways.
BATTERY CUT OFF
Q...Is there any good reason not to turn the battery cut-off switch to the off position while plugged into the battery?
A...Generally it's not a good idea, and in many cases the 12volt DC appliances won't work. Most appliance manufacturers require that there products that operate on 12volt Dc power be wired directly to the batteries. This prevents AC ripples and spikes -potentially delivered by the converter - from damaging the ensitive circuit boards.
In my opinion the question should have been...Should I switch off my battery when connected to the Parks power?
and a simple yes or no depending on which one was correct.
So, what is the answer?

[carold]

No answer to the question -which was not easy to decipher- but have my own issues about what's happening to the English language (probably similar to what the English think about the Americanization of their language). Even professional newscasters can't seem to get it right at times. It is definitely evolving, especially in writing-such as LOL, DH, GTG, and all the text messaging short talk. I'm also sure some of my students are laughing and thinking-Well, Mrs. Dougherty, I got the job even though I did say "I seen it yesterday." Does anyone have an easy "yes" or "no" for the original question????? carold

[bluepinecones]

No answer to the question, but agree to need for help with wording. And with the short writing for text messaging, no one will ever have to learn to spell an entire word. Hey, that might not be bad for those of us who have always struggled with spelling.

[Nasoosie]

Oh Lordy-----don't get me started on this English language/writing/spelling thing! I can rave on for hours about what is happening in our schools, on radio and TV, on banners and signs, even in the newspapers. My biggest pet peeve is the use of letters to represent something, a direct result of text-messaging, which I absolutely REFUSE to do! Half the time I am totally in the dark when someone is using large letters to represent words or places or things.

Another thing that has now become a universally accepted phrase is "gone missing." How in the world does one "go missing?" Does that mean you "come found" when you show back up??

And then there's the their, they're, there mixups! And the using of apostrophes for plurals rather than possessives! I saw this sign in school the other day and ripped it down and tore it to shreds:

"Whose the one leaving these door's open?" I threw a major fit!

Ok, I can see where this is leading me, and I have to quit now before I write a huge book on all these things that bug the pooty out of me! My one exception to my hated rule of using letters is GTG, on this forum only, for Get Together, as we all know what it means, and it's become almost a word unto itself.

Time to calm down now....breathe slowly.....simmer down......sigh!

[Liz]

As to the battery, I turn mine off when parked in the yard for a long period of time and not using anything. I leave it on when traveling, even when hooked up to shore power, as that charges it. If I were workcamping and hooked up to shore power in one place for a long time, I would probably disconnect it, but i don't really know what's recommended in that case.

[Sparkle]

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who found it confusing. It was all the "not's" that got me. NOT to turn the battery off...NOT a good idea.

[retiredhappy]

And then there's Texas speak - "he's fixin to go to the store." Just what does that mean? When I worked for the police department one of my detectives wrote in his report describing a knife wound: "The cut was six inches long and ran from head to foot." What? Was the victim a really short person? I'm with Soos on the there, they're and their.

[Cedar518]

I'll agree with Soos that the sign was definitly due to be torn into little pieces. Now I know that I often just type fast all in lower case letters. I know correct capitalization, just don't use it a lot of the time in informal text here in forums and emails. So please don't hit me for that. I'm a speed typist, it's quicker.

My thoughts on grammar and spelling today are about the same as yours. As I work as the monitor in the high school's computer lab I'm often asked to proof read students papers. i'm amazed at the lack of understanding of words that sound same but spelled differently with dif. meanings. and the use of the apostrophe boggles my mind. I keep reminding the kids about possessive and contractions. What ARE the english teachers doing these days? Those simple mistakes are still happening when kids are doing their SENIOR papers!

p.s..... as a 30 year career business admin. person I really CAN type a decent business document! HAHA.....

[AlmostThere]

Ok, I'll add my pet peeve, too. It's the misuse of 'may I' vs 'can I'. It seems that 'can I' has exclusive take over.

[Bethers]

I type fast and have caught myself typing the wrong variation (as in their, there) etc. Later, if I'm reading my post to catch the answers, I cringe that I have done that. So, if you see one of those errors by me, realize that my fingers don't care which spelling appears - and make mistakes if I don't proof read, which I rarely do on forums. I would never have let some of what I type on forums out into the world in my past.

As to the abbreviations, I have nothing against them. I believe that abbreviations are just fine, just like when I used to write in shorthand. Or people using morse code, etc. Many, many years ago, when I was in college, I had to learn a lot of different abbreviations to use for sending telexes. Because you paid by the word/time a transmission took. So, even in a big company, the engineers had abbreviated speak. And we had to type it correctly or there could have been a big mistake made across the country or world some place. But, Soos, I won't make you use the abbreviations. And I do know that you have gotten better able to read lots of them, even if you hate them

[soisew]

I agree the English language isn't what we were taught in school, well at least when I was in school! Long ago, I'm talking maybe a hundred years ago, proper grammar was well thought of. But with the the coming of the Internet and general degradation of, who knows what -- our youngsters haven't a clue as to what is proper and what is not. Even I am lax in my speaking and written words, using all the wrong punctuation, slang words and such, penning a "more creative" voice.

I think that is the key to what has happened in our society -- the desire to be unique, creative and "do our own thing" is the main purpose in life. The worst & best part is we embrace it joyfully! I've lived in different parts of the country and in each locale picked up the local lingo thusly -- I've morphed into whatever language I speak today. However I've not let myself get into some slang rap junk that would make me sound like a total moron, which, sadly is what has happened to many people. It is considered totally proper and down right necessary to talk the talk and walk the walk when living in, lets say "the south" and is, I'm sure the same in other regions. They love it that they have murdered proper English and consider it an obligation to continue those traditions. I don't even know if schools in regions where slang is the only language, teach proper usage of words, to make real sentances, pronounce words properly, and know what spelling is. I worked with kids who were impossible to understand with a lingo so "out there" only thier friends could understand them. And, as we all know kids do that -- they want to be unique, set apart, incomprehensible to adults....Adults who grew up that way -- tend to continue in that mode, so there you go...

Everytime we visit an area where we hear words come out side ways we just laugh and try to figure out the lingo. It's all good and bad.

But language was on purpose supposed to be confusing, anyway, that's my therory...legal papers, legislative and so called "proper language" is therefore so hard to figure out most normal people can't understand it yet the reason those words are formulated that was is to prevent confusion!

Are we doomed as society -- left to reinvent our language -- probably so...if indeed we were able to sit and chat with ancestors from long ago we'd not be able to understand them nor would they be able to know our language is also called English.

All of us have just thrown our experiences into a pot, stirred it up good and picked out what we like the best. Then we to struggle to figure out what the other people have chosen to be their voice. Garsh, ain't it fun! (sorry could not resist that). Sometimes it's fun to get all slangy! But, around the general public I try to sound like an intelligent human being!

I have to agree that speed typing a tough... lends to mistakes, mispelled words,long wordy sentances & paragraphs and well,,,sometimes a mixed up jumble. I'm so far out of school and have not worked in a proper environment so I found, quite to my disgust -- I can't spell worth a durn anymore (thank garsh for spell checkers -- to bad this message doesn't have that option)! I do consider my writtings as just goofy stylings of what I and how I think. I don't use proper grammar all the time, sometimes on purpose. Therefore I have to apologize to anyone who is offended by such lack of control...I like it that way (once in a while)! I am not a college graduate and I have really morphed my style so uniquely even I have trouble, therefore endless editing...and editing and editing! I really enjoy reading others' stylings and don't worry if I see errors. We all do it. The the painting world -- Bob Ross used the phrase --"happy accidents". There is no such thing as a bad paint stroke! I think that is what life is all about! Yet I still get angry when I heard kids talking trash words -- who will employ someone who can't be understood. There is a time and place to be original and creative. School is the time for them to learn the right way. Lingo is for play time!

Garsh, now I really got into the wind on this one...

[WickedLady]

Not a good idea to shut it off when hooked to shore power as 12v applicances might not work (he said) and you could damage circuit boards by doing so.

[Orchid]

Sorry Sparkle, I don't know anything about the battery. But I'm glad you brought up the subject of language. I often find the newspaper difficult to understand. I have to reread an article sometimes more than a couple of times to figure out who the bad guys are and who the good ones are; who got shot, stabbed, etc and who ended up arrested.
I also find since my language has become less formal; so has my writing. One time a note was posted on our work time clock. "This clock is broke". I turned to a co-worker and asked if he thought the clock had run out of money. Later I noticed that someone had added an "n" I guess to please me.

[soisew]

I forgot to throw my bit in about the electrical stuff. And I'm still confused -- Hubby had said to be sure the DC and inverter/converter switches were turned off when not plugged in when we aren't using the coach to prevent drain on batteries as the inverter will deep drawing down the system even if nothing is turned on. Do leave the DC switch when plugged in. The DC appliances -- furnace, etc. will not run if the DC switch is off -- I've checked -- trust me the furnace goes out immediately when the switch goes off. They run off of DC only. Shore power just keeps the system charged and converting the AC to DC. The system is supposed to keep the batteries charged but not overcharged. Deep cell batteries (your house not engine batteries)will charge constantly from minor DC power usage and will "cook" them pretty good in time, therefore the need to keep an eye on the fluid levels. However, that being said -- he says I should use mostly AC lighting even when plugged in to keep the battery charger from charging constantly -- that is what wears out batteries -- constant draw down and recharging . In time that will happen anyways! We replaced all of our after 4 years of use. That means carrying an AC lamp or two. Then there are the plugs in the coach that are called the "inverter plugs". They can be used when not plugged in to run something when the generator is not running, drawing off the house batteries. However an inverter plug will work like a regular plug when hooked to shore power! The only way to know which plugs are inverter plugs is to have the rig unhooked from AC power, and turn on the inverter then go around with a small light and see which one makes it work. We only have 2 in the whole rig. A big box down in the electric bay is supposed to keep everything straight. That sounds like I understand it -- however not completely!

[Gentleladybear]

Remember ladies most of the instruction books are written by the Japanese or Chinese and interpeted into english. Therefore unless it is made in American, instructed by Americans you will just have to sit and figure it out on your own in the good American way.