January 12, 2015
I seem to be complaining at lot in this blog lately, mostly because these days the only person I talk to other than store clerks and people I do business with is my daughter, and she hates to hear anyone complain about anything. That's not new with her. When she was a child and went to spend some time in the summer with her grandmother in Florida, when asked on her return how it went, the only thing she ever said (with an eye roll) was, "She complains about everything, all the time!" Yeah, old folks do that. Daughter, however, has the attitude that if something is worth complaining about, you either fix it, or stop complaining about it, and she gets angry if you don't do one or the other. Ah, the arrogance of youth.
So, this is my soapbox.
My new complaint:
It's becoming increasingly obvious that schools (and home) are no longer teaching proper sentence construction and verb conjugation. I'm seeing more and more lately "could of", "should of", and "would of [verb]", even from people who style themselves as professional writers, and it jerks my chain every time. I want to scream.
I can almost understand it, because people don't say "would have". They say "woulda", so I can see where that could become "would of" when written if you don't know any better. Sometimes, when I'm being purposely informal, even I write it as "woulda". But I know the "a" is for "have", which is actually part of the verb. These people don't.
Another very common crapolla is "embarrassed of". That one I can't figure out at all, can't come up with an excuse for it. Does that mean you are embarrassed by, or embarrassed for? That's two different things. "Embarrassed of" makes no sense at all. But I see it everywhere, over and over. Does anyone think about what words mean any more?
The most recent is "have a crush of [somebody]". The first time I saw that I thought it was a typo. I have since seen it several places, different people, different ages. Again, I can come up with no excuse, and it makes absolutely no sense. Granted, "crush on" is an idiom (I think), but it's old enough that it should be well known.
It seems like "of" is the go-to word when you know something should fill that space, but you don't know what.
And it infuriates me that anyone who attempts to correct the perpetrators of this kind of crap on the internet is hounded with accusations of "Grammar Nazi"**. Like, nobody should ever learn any better. After all, you know what they mean, right? So who cares?
AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
I DO!
.
.
.
** I've noticed "Grammar Nazi" is beginning to morph into "Grammer Nazi". We are doomed.
.
"A stupid man's
report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he
unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can
understand."
--Bertrand Russell--
-------------------------------------------------------------------
I seem to be complaining at lot in this blog lately, mostly because these days the only person I talk to other than store clerks and people I do business with is my daughter, and she hates to hear anyone complain about anything. That's not new with her. When she was a child and went to spend some time in the summer with her grandmother in Florida, when asked on her return how it went, the only thing she ever said (with an eye roll) was, "She complains about everything, all the time!" Yeah, old folks do that. Daughter, however, has the attitude that if something is worth complaining about, you either fix it, or stop complaining about it, and she gets angry if you don't do one or the other. Ah, the arrogance of youth.
So, this is my soapbox.
My new complaint:
It's becoming increasingly obvious that schools (and home) are no longer teaching proper sentence construction and verb conjugation. I'm seeing more and more lately "could of", "should of", and "would of [verb]", even from people who style themselves as professional writers, and it jerks my chain every time. I want to scream.
I can almost understand it, because people don't say "would have". They say "woulda", so I can see where that could become "would of" when written if you don't know any better. Sometimes, when I'm being purposely informal, even I write it as "woulda". But I know the "a" is for "have", which is actually part of the verb. These people don't.
Another very common crapolla is "embarrassed of". That one I can't figure out at all, can't come up with an excuse for it. Does that mean you are embarrassed by, or embarrassed for? That's two different things. "Embarrassed of" makes no sense at all. But I see it everywhere, over and over. Does anyone think about what words mean any more?
The most recent is "have a crush of [somebody]". The first time I saw that I thought it was a typo. I have since seen it several places, different people, different ages. Again, I can come up with no excuse, and it makes absolutely no sense. Granted, "crush on" is an idiom (I think), but it's old enough that it should be well known.
It seems like "of" is the go-to word when you know something should fill that space, but you don't know what.
And it infuriates me that anyone who attempts to correct the perpetrators of this kind of crap on the internet is hounded with accusations of "Grammar Nazi"**. Like, nobody should ever learn any better. After all, you know what they mean, right? So who cares?
AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
I DO!
.
.
.
** I've noticed "Grammar Nazi" is beginning to morph into "Grammer Nazi". We are doomed.
.
2 comments:
I see "could of" and it rankles me every time! Also, "Grammar Nazi's" also upsets me. Hello, where is the fault in trying to be correct? It saddens me so much that American culture celebrates and defends ignorance and lack of education ::sigh::
I would like to proudly say that my son (17 years old) is an accused Grammar Nazi, loves writing and attends weekly meetings with a writers group. It is important to not give in to the forces of darkness and continue to be an example of literacy and intelligence.
My son has a similar opinion about complaining, especially when it is something that you can do something about. He often tells me to either do something about what I am complaining about or stop complaining. It makes sense, but is more difficult in practical application.
Post a Comment