To clarify any questions about where the title of my blog came from, "Bad Grammar" is a combination of irony and something I feel quite passionately about. Namely, grammar. Seeing as most of my blog posts are somewhat ironic and include subjects I feel passionately about, it felt like a suitable title. I might change it at some point, but it will do for now. To follow on, I have a question of my own:
WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?!
I'm going to get straight to the point here. Why does everyone seem to be illiterate these days? Look, I'm not a snob, I just do not understand why people feel any need to speak (or more often type), in anything other than standard English. Ghetto-English for instance: "I iz off to da shop to buy sum milk innit", or this: "Eye m of 2 th shop 2 by sum mlk" - I don't even know that is supposed to be so I can't come up with a name for it. Why do people do it? It doesn't make typing any quicker or easier, and I'm pretty sure it doesn't make people think you are cool (though this is debatable). If you are going to decide on making up some kind of new language, at least be committed to it. Tolkien did it, and that was fine, because he made an effort. The problem now is laziness.
Secondly is this:
- There
- Their
- They're
I'm sure we were all taught the difference between these three words at about the age of 5. And yet:
- They're house is so nice.
- Have you been to there house?
- We are going their tonight.
I am making a point about this on the basis that it is really not that difficult. People know the difference between there, their and they're, so why the persistent incorrect usage? Again, it must be laziness.
Punctuation.
Capital letters, full stops, apostrophes. Misused or totally abandoned quite a lot of the time and people begin to type in an endless stream of words no punctuation no capital letters not even when talking about dave of kirsty and sOmE TyPe lIkE ThIS for some completely unknown reason or what will happen is an apostrophe will land in the're somewhere for no apparent reason at all.
"Do you know what your going to do with you'res?"
And then there is the increasing number of Americanisms creeping their way into English. Labor? Color? Is it really that difficult to type one extra letter, America?
This list of Controversial Grammar Rules was recommended by one of my blog readers, and is definitely befitting the subject matter of my blog. As a grammarian (or Grammar Nazi) I found it to be a great point of reference for whenever I inevitably find myself correcting someone's grammar on Facebook, or defending the use of "whom", or arguing that double negatives, text speak, and "irregardless" should in fact be banned completely.
And then there is the increasing number of Americanisms creeping their way into English. Labor? Color? Is it really that difficult to type one extra letter, America?
This list of Controversial Grammar Rules was recommended by one of my blog readers, and is definitely befitting the subject matter of my blog. As a grammarian (or Grammar Nazi) I found it to be a great point of reference for whenever I inevitably find myself correcting someone's grammar on Facebook, or defending the use of "whom", or arguing that double negatives, text speak, and "irregardless" should in fact be banned completely.
