Aaaaaaargh!! I hate being a grammar cop!!!!

[tavernier]

Last edited Mon May 4, 2020, 08:30 PM - Edit history (1)

My grown children don’t speak English. Well, to be honest, they can’t write proper English. They don’t know to, too, from two, or their from they’re, or, there... or that for all intents and purposes is not for all intensive purposes... etc. etc.

I guess what bugs me the most is that my kids are all college educated... physics teacher, doctor, chef.
I’ve given up on then, but my grandkids ... will any of them be able to write English?

Edited to add another a to Aaaaaaargh

[Tetrachloride]

1. Does this include cursive ?

Are split infinitives okay ?

And what about new words like "Expecto Patronum" ?

[elleng]

2. My fingers are crossed.

Grands are 10 months, and 4, 5 + 6 years old. The older ones are learning to read.

[targetpractice]

3. I've given up...

Language changes over time. It's the nature of linguistics.

I once read an article (to lazy to find it and provide a link)... Is that young women/girls drive changes in language... An example is the vocal fry. I know linguistics isn't grammar, but my point is language evolves... quite quickly.

[jmbar2]

4. I'm not driven crazy by it exactly, but

...I notice some common grammatical formations among the younger set and wonder where they came from.

For example

I and my friends did …….

Myself and my family did.….

She had her house broken into. (Why did she do such a thing?)

[targetpractice]

6. Hah... That reminds me of a quote from Designing Women...

Charlene: I asked this Northern woman, "Where are ya'll from?" And she said, "I'm from a place where we don't end our sentences with prepositions." So I said, "Okay, where are ya'll from, bitch?"

[dhol82]

8. My bugaboos are: me and him and just between you and I

[barbtries]

24. mine is

we're doing good when what is meant we're doing well. this is so common that i expect it will become grammatically correct through usage.

harassment didn't used to be pronounced her ASS ment. i still use Hair is ment, probably because of an article i read sometime back in the 1970s when this new pronunciation became popular. i cannot for the life of me remember the writer but he was a famous columnist and i took his rant to heart and to this day i use the original pronunciation, just as i wince every time someone says, I'm doing good, how are you???

[Codeine]

68. And no matter how many times you correct

them, they’ll still say “me and mom.”

[VarryOn]

5. I tell my son all the time

You can suck at math, at science, and history, and it doesn’t really affect how you’re seen. But, you suck at grammar, and it’s apparent. People judge you by it.

My grandfather was the wisest man I knew, and I never got him to quit saying ‘it don’t...’ lol

[notdarkyet]

20. I've thought about posting a short guide for common mistakes I see a lot.

They’re. There. Their.
Too, two, to
Like that.

[VarryOn]

31. I'd vote for it, but I put a lot of weight on grammar and spelling...

Last edited Sun May 3, 2020, 12:03 AM - Edit history (1)

Still, I like your idea! I’ll play the game....

Loose vs lose
Will vs shall
Oxford comma vs not
Splitting an infinitive
Using myself rather than me (aaaagh!)
I vs me...drives me insane!

I could go on. But I realize being so picky is a flaw.

I am a migraine sufferer. We are known for being nit picky over shit that doesn’t matter!

[Kali]

55. then vs than

but I know I do things that piss off other people so I never say anything.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

69. Less vs fewer

But, I'm not Just a grammar nazi. I get mad at the TV when referees don't call an obvious traveling or double-dribble violation.

Rules.

[Hoyt]

28. Have always felt the same. However, if fewer people don't know the difference between

“to” and “too,” less folks to judge.

I had a professor mention a brilliant PhD candidate who had never heard the word “misled” pronounced. He knew what it meant, even used it several times in papers. But, when he read those papers before others, pronounced it “mizzeled.”

Have heard poor grammar from some people who have great ideas. I am not surprised, however, when a trumpster uses poor grammar.

Hope we are not dumbing down, rather focusing on ideas, feelings, etc.

[dhol82]

7. Nope. I correct my children and grandchildren.

They know and accept.

[elleng]

10. Thankfully, my children correct their children.

We'll see how it goes with spelling; 2 boys are in kindergarten!

[dhol82]

14. My grandchildren are in their 30's

Sigh.

[notdarkyet]

22. My youngest daughter teaches English at a community college. Writing was important in our house.

[barbtries]

18. i don't know this,

but i think spelling involves talent. when i was 14 I edited my older brother's college papers because his spelling was atrocious. he wasn't stupid otherwise.

of course now he's a foxbot so maybe he was stupid and i just didn't want to believe that.

[drmeow]

26. I think you are right

I have a PhD and I can't spell to save my life! I've forgotten how to spell really basic words. But I'm fully aware that I can't spell so I make sure I look things up before going public with them, so to speak. It was horrible when I was teaching cause I'd write things on the board and if the words were not in my notes I was never sure I'd be able to spell them correctly!

[nocoincidences]

9. t glottalization bugs the hell out of me.

Say the gd t sound!!

Kitten is not kih-un. Button is not buh-un.

I've been hearing this more and more in the way younger people speak. I know American English pronounce that t between vowels differently than British English, we really run past it in a word, but you still know it is there.

Not anymore! It is starting to disappear completely.

Is it bugging anybody else?

I notice it a lot because my last name has the vowel-t-vowel configuration and that t never gets pronounced.

[Blues Heron]

12. Boa'house

The boatbuilders on acorn to Arabella drop that t every time they say boathouse.

Or "based off of" for based on- that's ubiquitous anymore

Or "anymore" in the affirmative... Heh

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

15. Kih-un and buh-on is the glottal stop.

It's a variant way of pronouncing those words. I first heard it about 65 years ago from a family friend whose native accent was cockney.

I have not noticed that being used where I live, which is in Santa Fe, NM.

[Totally Tunsie]

43. Similarly annoying is the mispronunciation of "didn't" as "di-ent",

as in "She really di-ent say that, did she?"

[jmbar2]

16. Now that you mention it

I'm hearing a lot of that as well. Heard it from one of the younger NPR newscasters. It seemed so glaring in the middle of NPR's mostly homogenous US English.

One thing I'm noticing less of is "vocal fry", otherwise known as talking like Kardashians. It seems to be mercifully fading from popularity.

[Codeine]

67. We seem to have shamed the fry

right out of the language. A win for the good guys.

[jmbar2]

71. Yes indeed

Whenever I heard it, they lost all credibility no matter how educated.

[NBachers]

40. Ed Sullivan: Beah-les. Back when I had New York City in-laws, they'd say boh-les.

[Ron Obvious]

54. Bugs me too.

I hear "budden" and "kidden" a lot in youtube videos. Very ugly!

[Codeine]

66. OMG I literally had this conversation

with my 15-year-old yesterday afternoon. Stop swallowing letters!! If we lived in an area where that was the regional accent then fine, but California isn’t that place.

[Jeebo]

11. I was a newspaper copy editor for 45 years.

I am retired now, but I am constantly resisting the temptation to correct others' grammar, spelling and usage errors. I rarely do, but sometimes resisting the temptation drives me nuts. This is one of the primary reasons I do not do the Twitter thing, or the Facebook thing, or any of that stuff other than e-mails and, of course, posting on DU. I also hate abbreviations with a purple passion. When I address envelopes, I do not use postal abbreviations but write out the full state name. If any of y'all ever catch me using an abbreviation, please point it out to me in such a manner as to be severely castigating me.

-- Ron

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

21. I am mostly with you, but it is my understanding that the United States Post Office

vastly prefers the two letter state abbreviations, written in capital letters.

But I'm with you in that it is all that I can do not to correct others' grammar, spelling, and usage errors. Back in the 1970s, my coworkers had learned that I would cheerfully correct their grammar, spelling, and usage errors on anything they put up on the company bulletin board. After a while they'd come to me before posting anything. Yes!

[Jack-o-Lantern]

13. Have you noticed how everyone takes pitchers with their cameras now?

[tavernier]

51. I seen that.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

17. When my sister and I had young kids, some 30 or so years ago now,

I asked her why she didn't correct her kids when they said things like "Me and Laura are going to do this". She rather airily said, "Oh they'll learn the correct usage by example." My sister herself did correctly say things like, "Laura and I are going to do this." But she was totally wrong that her kids would pick up the correct usage.

I was quite fierce with my two about correct usage, including lie and lay. Oddly enough, my two speak correctly as in the example above or with lie and lay. Her kids, not so much.

I have no grandchildren, and probably never will, alas. But if I did, you'd be sure that if I ever spent more than five minutes with them I'd be correcting their grammar and usage.

Also, it is glaringly obvious that the schools simply don't teach these things any more.

[Doreen]

19. I try my best at using proper punctuation but sometimes I suck at it.

I do well with spelling and clearly know the difference between their and there. I know the differences of two, to, and too. I know how to form sentences properly. I even know how to organize paragraphs in order to get a point across properly.

I grew up with a mother who is an English major if that explains anything.

I would rather be corrected by grammar cop and be embarrassed for a moment than continue to look stupid from constant mistakes.

I am a bit learning challenged when it comes to reading, writing, and arithmetic so remembering some of those things is challenging but I sure work at it.

I am glad I never had children because as far as getting help from their mother with homework they would have been screwed.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

23. Thank you for saying you would rather be corrected by a grammar cop.

We grammar cops know we are not liked or appreciated for the most part.

I can also tell you that the grammar correction thing in Word is sometimes wrong. So my advice is to ignore that, and if you're unsure about some usage, if you can check with someone else you trust, please do so.

Perhaps we need a "Ask the Grammar Nazi" help desk somewhere.

[Doreen]

30. I like the "Ask the Grammer Nazi" idea.

One thing that I am very good at is pronunciation. I do very well at proper pronunciation for not only English but also words in other languages.

My friends just hate it because when they pronounce something wrong I make this under my breath but pretty audible correction.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

32. Ahhh, I need you.

I'm pretty good at pronouncing most words, but there are some, mainly because I've never heard them spoken aloud but only seen them written, that I'm puzzled by.

Some years back I finally learned the correct pronunciation of "emeritus" because I mis-pronounced it in front of someone who knew better. I was embarrassed at the time, but very grateful I was corrected.

Here's a word I see reasonably often but am totally befuddled by: inchoate.

[Doreen]

34. I don't think I have seen that word or I am not aware that I have.

Hmm, I will have to look that word up.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

35. When I was a kid we had a neighbor who pronounced the flower "anemone"

as "anna-moan." Nobody ever had the heart to correct her.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

38. I do happen to know the correct pronunciation of "anemone"

but I do understand the mispronunciation. It really has to do with whether or not we've heard a particular word pronounced.

[NBachers]

41. I once heard a guy order chablis wine as "chabliss."

[mr_lebowski]

36. in-co-ate ... like the h isn't even there ... ttbomk anyway ... think accent is on CO but not sure

[Totally Tunsie]

44. Ironically, Poindexter, I did that very thing a couple of hours ago

by posting a query to you as my grammar resource, in another thread.

Misplaced modifiers are what drive me nutso!

https://upload.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1018&pid=1355362

[wryter2000]

25. What makes me want to scream

Him and me did something.

I've had other writers tell me that's how people speak these days. No, no, just no.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

39. When I become the Grammar Dictator of North America there will be SEVERE consequences

for such usages.

[wryter2000]

49. I'll vote for you

[ProfessorGAC]

60. Do Dictators Need Votes?

Well, maybe to weasel into the spot in the first place! Just wondering.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

27. My dad was a grammar cop starting when I was first learning to talk.

And now I get to do it to other people and annoy the shit out of them.

[keithbvadu2]

29. It goes back a long time. Chaucer wasn't gud with it either.

It goes back a long time. Chaucer wasn't gud with it either.

[dweller]

33. technically

doesn't this make you the gramma grammar cop ?
🤔

✌🏼

[tavernier]

52. Sadly I can't be

because I screw up with grammar too much myself. It’s just the obvious mistakes, the glaring ones, that make me crazy. So basically I’m gramma hypocrite.

For instance, I pronounce clothes, cloze. Always have and probably always will. My tongue just can’t do the TH thing in that particular word. LOL.

[mr_lebowski]

37. People who use 'anymore' like it's synonymous with 'nowadays' drive me insane ...

It means 'any longer', not 'nowadays'.

Correct:
We don't go to the beach anymore, we go to the mountains.

Incorrect:
Anymore we go to the mountains instead of the beach.

People use it like that ALL the time anymore

[NBachers]

42. I will confess to the uncontrollable urge to put an apostrophe in its, as in "Put in its place."

[royable]

45. Here's the best way I've ever come across to remember how to handle the "its" apostrophe:

You never "have" to use it.

If you want a possessive pronoun, the word is "its."

If you want a contraction, you don't "have" to use a contraction; you can instead use the two words "it is" from which the contraction is formed. Knowing that, you can then make the contraction "it's" if you so choose. But it is a choice. (See what I did there?)

[I've put "have" in quotes above because of course there are times you have to use the word "it's," such as if there is a need for informality, or you're quoting someone's speech, or if you're writing verbatim what someone wrote who made the mistake of putting the apostrophe into the possessive pronoun.]

The second best way I've ever come across to remember how to handle the "its" apostrophe:

The possessive pronouns are my, our, your, his, her, its, and their. There's also an “independent” form of each of these pronouns: mine, ours, yours, his, hers, its, and theirs. Think of the singular first person possessive pronouns: my and mine. They don't end in an apostrophe s. So, neither should the rest of the possessive pronouns.

Use this knowledge at your own risk.

[malaise]

46. I am currently helping a nephew teaching online English classes with his eight year old

I was really shocked to see the online material using I will and we will. Traditional English uses I shall and we shall for first person(s) singular or plural.

I also see other errors in the prescribed teaching material.

[DFW]

47. That drives me nuts, too.

It's not limited to America, by the way. My wife, a social worker here in Germany, goes crazy when adult educated Germans make grammatical mistakes that would flunk them out of school if they had to start again.

Have you shown your children the "Excerpts From The Official Dictionary of Republicanese?" (If they are Republicans, then don't, because they will say, "where's the problem?" ). But I see it all the time in written correspondence from the USA.

The worst is using an apostrophe to form a plural. There is NOT ONE elementary school in the English-speaking world--from England to Ireland to former British colonies in Africa to former British colonies in Asia to Australia to New Zealand to Canada to the USA to Belize--NOT ONE that teaches kids to use an apostrophe to form a plural. And yet millions of Americans do just that. Not just Russian bots, but real, live supposedly-educated Americans. Where they picked this up, I have no clue. Outside of the "Excerpts From The Official Dictionary of Republicanese," no such grammatical rule is promoted or even suggested.

[hlthe2b]

48. I feel your pain. While I make plenty of typos, I do know basic grammatical and spelling rules.

I do find my own spelling being affected given I have always been a visual speller (as opposed to a phonetic speller) and I see so many gross errors in recent years. Seeing those errors online and in print makes me less sure and I have to often check that which I was always certain of in the past.

And don't get me started on the fact that even Master's Degree candidates very frequently cannot write, spell, form a grammatically correct sentence. It has made it impossible for me to serve as their thesis advisor, as I once did in the past because I can't rewrite it for them--but neither can I responsibly "sign-off." Many insist on putting it forward anyway and I guess some committees just turn a blind eye.


I am certainly much more relaxed about this in informal correspondence, internet forum replies, email, and texts, but I do think it makes a difference in more formal writing. Even blogs.

[Paladin]

50. Work on your grandkids. It's a very worthwhile project.

People who aren't adept at the proper usage of things such as to/too/two and there/they're/their are handicapped for life, looked down upon by the majority of the population that has mastered the utter basics of their native language. Best of luck to you.

[Tracer]

53. When my daughter was young, she would mis-hear words that she had never seen in writing.

Once she asked me what a "windshield factor" was (as heard from a TV weatherman).

She also thought the outside water faucet was a "spicket."

On DU, posters are constantly spelling simple words incorrectly. Why write "loose" for "lose"? Maybe it's the long "o" that fools them.

[USALiberal]

56. lighten up! nt

[Iggo]

57. I love it.

[LAS14]

58. Unfortunately, one of the things that has crept up on me with age...

... is using the wrong form of their, to, etc. And I've been a grammar police with my kids. One time my son, a teacher in public schools, put a poster up in the hall where he used the wrong form of there. Arrrrgghhh!!!!!

[LAS14]

59. AND!!! Expensive signs, neon and such, which have apostrophe s all over the place,

incorrectly. It's nuts!!!

[Totally Tunsie]

61. Here's where an understanding of apostrophes is significantly important:

[LeftInTX]

62. A man says to his wife who is in labor:

What's wrong honey?

Wife: These contractions are killing me!

Man: What is wrong honey?


***********************************************************************

I'm horrible with grammar BTW, but feel free to correct me!

[Iggo]

64. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-hahahahahahaha..........

[Wolf Frankula]

63. If you hate being one. don't be one.

Don't practice grammarie.

Soo schel your hous stonde and bee
Unto eternytee
Yet walke warilie
Wyttinge ful sarteynlee
That if impiouslie
The secounde tyme in the bodie
Practisinge grammarie
One of ye katched shulle be
By the feyndis subtiltee
And hys liffe lossit bee
Broke ys thenne this serye
Dampned are you thenne eternallie
Yerth shuldestow thenne never more se
Scarsly the Goddes mought reskue ye
Owt of the Helle where you woll lie
Unto eternytee
The sterres tealde hit mee.


Wolf

[Codeine]

65. Were they casual readers as kids?

That seems to be the dividing line; no matter how intelligent a person is they just don’t pick that sort of thing up unless their brains are continually exposed to properly-executed grammar and sentence structure when young.

[tavernier]

70. My oldest daughter is an RN, MSN and teaches nursing

at a university. She is a bookworm and is presently intent on reading the list of 100 most read books of all time. She has been a reader since she could open book. She writes beautifully as well, interesting and amusing stories. But if the sentence requires a “to” or a “there,” those are always her choices. Her sister, on the other hand, is a self taught chef, no college, once-in-a-while reader, but much more aware of proper grammar in her writing. My son is a science and physics teacher, never reads, and it shows in his writing... complete disaster.

Go figure why these little heathens turned out this way.
But of course, otherwise, they are the greatest kids on earth!!

[Codeine]

74. Considering how well they've done

it’s safe to say I’d be inclined to grant them some creative wiggle room as well.

[lame54]

72. Excuse me but Aaaaaaargh has 7 A's

[tavernier]

73. Yes.

Not be confused with Aaaaaackkk,which only has six.

[tavernier]

75. Thanks.

Fixed.