Does Anyone Read Anymore?

I live in Singapore, where English is the supposed first tongue, of all. Yet, at times, it doesn't seem so.

A couple of months ago, there was a long running promotion for a new TV series. The description of the series had the word "precious" in it.

The ads seemed to run for weeks, and weeks, and never did they change. That, I thought, was odd. You see, the word "precious" which was key to describing the series, and which appeared in relatively big letters on the TV ads, had been mispelt. It said: "Percious", that is right: "P-E-R-C-I-O-U-S". This ad was shown many times a day, for weeks - yet no-one in Mediacorp TV noticed this error - and no-one in the public called in about the matter. Or if they did, they were ignored.

Why did I not then call in? Well, because I have called in, in the past and either been ignored, or dismissed. So, of course, I stopped calling in and stopped trying to help them correct mistakes. Thus, instead of correcting their mistakes, I just watch them, note them and shake my head in amazement that still they persist in such things.

Of course, had they listened to me the first time around and perhaps hired me to check their output for errors, the quality of their work would have risen dramatically. Yet, that was not the response I received. None of my phonecalls regarding even more obvious errors were ever returned.

It is my belief that if standards of English are to be improved and maintained in a society that it should begin with the media, of all kinds. If there is a problem with a particular media outlet, they should be mature enough to take advice on board, and improve. Failing to do so, can only allow the situation to persist or worsen, to the detriment of all.

So, the lesson to be learnt from this is: if someone calls you to point out an error, listen to them - for they are trying to help. Such a person should never just be ignored, as I was, so many times.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and eleven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and four months, and Tiarnan, twenty-one months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)