As an amateur grammarian, I get annoyed, frustrated, disgusted, and occasionally pissed-off at people who misuse the English language. (Especially if they are the same people who agitate for establishing English as a national language.)
My personal pet peeve is homophone confusion, or, as I like to call it conhomophusion. If you think back to 4th grade English class, you will remember that a homophone is a word that sounds like another word, but has a different meaning (not a telephone used by a gay guy).
A common example is there and their and they're. All three sound the same, but they are spelled differently and have different meanings. We all know the meanings. And somewhere in the back of our heads, we know the spellings.
Or hear and here.
(I'm willing to forgive the apostrophe on its and it's, because that is one of those things that goes against all the rules.)
This is our native language, people. If we can't speak and/or write it correctly, we have no right to demand it of others.
Bad grammar is just un-American.
-----and don't even get me started on texting (or as the kids say "txtng")!
No comments:
Post a Comment