I have talked before about my pet spelling and grammar hates, especially when it comes to text messages, but this is a very specific rant about the overuse of capitals. Having worked for some time as a copywriter and having spent a couple of years in the newsroom of my local paper, I have a weak spot for grammar errors and am programmed to be on the look out for errant capitals, and it seems there are plenty of them about.

There is just no excuse, especially when there are so many options around for checking spelling and grammar.

This van made me particularly angry recently; so much so that a large part of me wanted to call them and complain.*  It would be extremely difficult to squeeze more capital letters onto the back of one vehicle.  View Post

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I say very.

Belle disagrees.

She got her first mobile phone in September this year when she started secondary school. I’m not terribly keen on the idea but she was one of the last of her friends to get one and I can see the benefits when she has a long walk every day. It has proven to be really handy for when she wants to call and ask if she can go to a friend’s house after school but has become a bone of contention when it comes to spelling and grammar.

I say it matters, she says it doesn’t. I say no one will give her a job when she grows up if she can’t put her apostrophes in the right place, she groans and rolls her eyes. You can see how quickly this would get boring for both of us, yet I harp on about it a lot.

A lot of our text conversations go something like this: View Post

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This is just a quick follow-up to my ‘would you let a man in your bed who didn’t know the difference between there and their’ post…

I have a google alert set up for my name (is that vain? probably…) and this afternoon I had an email to tell me that I was being mentioned on the ‘Forces Penpals’ website. Intrigued, I clicked through the link, and discovered, to my delight, that I am being quoted as a ‘relationship expert’ (if only they knew…), advising men in the British Forces to get their spelling and grammar up to scratch if they want to make a good impression.

It made me laugh quite a lot. I never knew I had so much power. Thanks to me, the Army will now be churning out thousands of wonderfully literate soldiers, penning beautiful love letters home from all over the world.

Ok, maybe not, but a girl can dream. And if it means that just one extra man takes a bit more care with his capital letters then it’s a job well done in my eyes.

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Thank you all so much for your fab suggestions for my online dating profile – I loved them all and was very impressed by how well you clearly know me already!

On Thursday evening I sat down to compile all the comments into a profile, picked a handful of the most appealing/chesty photos I could find, and officially ‘went live’. I feel a bit like a fridge on special offer in Comet now, but am trying to think of it as a sophisticated PR exercise, rather than a blatant selling of my soul.

Since Thursday evening I’ve had emails from six men – a mixture already of funny, sweet and downright odd. I haven’t got as far as actually taking out a paid subscription, so haven’t replied to any yet, but it’s giving me time to think about them and decide on my next move.

My main dilemma is just how open-minded am I supposed to stay at this stage? I dislike the way online dating makes me judge people, and I feel particularly shallow making assumptions based on pictures, but what else do I have to go on? Knowing that a man is looking for ‘a woman as comfortable in a pair of high heels as hiking boots’  doesn’t tell me much, and surely everyone likes a ‘cold beer in the sunshine’? I know I should remember that attraction can grow over time, and that I need to keep my options open, but I do feel I should discriminate in some way.

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