ARGH!
ARGH!
ARGH!
ARGH!
ARGH!
Ok, that did not really help any... I hoped some bloggish primal screaming might, but no.
I know that sometimes I end sentences with adjectives. I know that I dangle the occasional participle. I make typos and errors in editting when I decide a sentence needs to be rephrased or moved which end up being difficult to understand.
I can take a few metatheses and typos. The split infinitive in "To boldly go where no man has gone before" doesn't get to me. But...
I can't take any more of this 21st century grammar-free-zone bullshit.
I just can't.
Last night, it was a grammar-school teacher on the IMDB message board who apparently can't spell words like "definitely" (among other things) in a message railing about how wrong it is to tell a kid they are wrong. This is someone who is teaching our kids (well, not mine, I wouldn't subject them to the mediocrity-fest of the public school system short of circumstances where I was being tortured to death). Today, it was looking through Web Ring Descriptions. I figured, man I put a lot of time into writing these things, and in my circumstances, it is a lot of work - I need someone to actually read it and leave an appropriate comment now and then. Why write if you aren't being read (but that is another rant altogether)? I found aWeb Ring that sounded like it suited my content, although the description was a bit snobby. However, it had no right to be snobby considering this grammatical gem:
If your blog is about what you had for breakfast how cute your children or your cats are how upset you are with your boss the research you did before buying the perfect camera case or similar subjects please don’t apply to join this web ring. We re seeking blogs that reflect thought how your mind processes your experience what do you think it means. We do not want a description of your life; but a review. If you have something to say please join us; if you don’t please say it elsewhere.
What the hell is this? They have no idea how to use a comma or where to put a period, yet they make a bizarre attempt at the semi-colon in a last-ditch effort to save them looking like complete grade-school dropouts? The first sentence is run-on, virtually punctuation-free, and borderline incoherent. The second takes the step right over the edge into the wtf was that world, forcing you to read it again and again... Is that We're with no apostrophe or were, or a typo in the word "are"? Experience what, or should it be experience - what ...or what? How many clauses can you include in one "sentence" without punctuation? Although the idea of the ring seemed to be more-or-less what I was seeking to join, I could not bring myself to apply for it if the "administrator" was so moronic. I guess, on the bright side, at least most of the words are spelled correctly.
I was not aware that part of the Y2K problem was related to the rules of grammar. I had no idea that all those programmer/analysts worked all those years to make English syntax obsolete along with the 2-digit year format. Apparently, I was so concerned about the bank screwing up access to my cash that I forgot to pay attention to the part about making English indecipherable (this is on my banking institution's front page: There are some things money can't buy for everything else there's Preferred MasterCard..) It seems that sometime in the last few years, the rules of the English language were declared problematic and thrown out in favour of a new non-standard.
I have participated in many a debate on message boards in the past. I usually enjoy it, in spite of the time it can take me to compose a message. At times I have found discussing something frustrating because the person I was discussing it with could not speel, use the write werds in context, or did not use punctuation. When I mention that fact, rather than reacting like "Sorry, I am just bad that way" I get a response like "Wow, you have a real problem". No, buddy, I don't have the problem - you do. You can't communicate clearly and effectively and it is affecting how I can relate to you - it makes you look incompetent and moronic.
More than half the time, the people I talk to in these situations are high school graduates; often they are in college or beyond it. How did they get past grade 7, let alone high school? How can you not know which "right" is right: write, rite or right? Sure, some of it can be chalked up to typographical errors - but not the same error over and over again. Not substituting something that means "ritual" for something that means "correct".
There are dozens of online dictionaries. There are dozens of online sources for grammar rules. There is also the concept of owning a dictionary, or even just pasting your post into your word processor to use a spelling-and-grammar-checker. Even most email programs have rudimentary spell-checkers to avoid to most egregious errors, you could always paste into that and then copy back after corrections. And, may the heavens forbid - there are these things called libraries where they have books - not just about grammar, but other books you could read to see examples of correct usages.
I guess it just relates to that common theme - people just don't care, because they have been told that mediocre is ok. There is nothing wrong with looking stupid, because there is nothing wrong with being stupid. I know that lots of kids when I went to school would get back essays that had more words in red ink than the original paper contained, but somewhere between my school experiences and my younger brothers teachers apparently decided this was too much work.
People, being a lazy idiot is not creative. It is fun in chat programs to occasionally use different spellings to convey different emotional meanings, like using "KewL" to show sarcasm for something somewhat immature, but this has no place in regular writing to replace the description of the weather outside. The letter "r" is not a replacement for "are", and 4 is a number while "for" is a function word to indicate purpose; If you are so slow a typist that you need to reduce keystrokes in this way, get some "Learn To Type" software, you unmotivated weiner! You are going to need to know how for at least a little while longer, 'cause voice recognition just is not cutting it yet.
I'm bewildered as to how some of these people get jobs and function in the world - you'd think it would be difficult. As sad as it is when you see spelling mistakes in the credits for your favourite movie, or a book, restaurant menu or newspaper, it just shows you how easy it actually is for them to find employment. Apparently the employers can't tell the difference either. Sad.
