While I police myself fairly well in the grammar and punctuation department, I have issues. I always have, and I always will. I try and make amends for it. I will even go back and edit a post from a year ago if I find a typo I missed. I do not always catch them, but I try.
There are some mistakes I can abide. Then there are those mistakes that chap my ass.
First of all, a big fuck you to all my ESL students. Every single one of them (and there have been many) have had issues with loose vs. lose. Especially in Sweden where there are linguistic differences with voiced dental fricatives.
Yup. I just said voiced dental fricatives.
Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.
It has gotten to the point that I have had to correct so many essays, poems and exams using the word loose/lose incorrectly, that I no longer know which is correct at first glance. I now have pause and sound it out to get it right. Occupational hazard, I suppose.
The second issue that makes me go crazy is the double negative. Seriously, people. It is one thing to use it for emphasis or humor while writing as evinced by the previous post. It is completely another to use it as a regular form of speech.
Today I went to the two main pediatric offices here in NewTown to get an idea of which we should join. The first office was crowded and a bit chaotic. The girl behind the desk asked what I needed, and I asked for a new patient information packet as we were new in town.
She blinked at me several times. Then said something to the effect of "We don't have nothin' here in the office like that" but I can't recall her actual words. For the life of me I can't remember. My brain has blocked out what she actually said. I was so horrified that this was supposed to be a professional pediatric facility, and the administrative staff not only couldn't find a brochure, but couldn't even properly explain what they did have on hand.
We will be joining the other facility. There ain't no question about it.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
You Don't Need No Double Negative
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8 comments:
Holla!
And I'm positive that is proper!
Amen!
I will admit, however, that I do lend a bit of leniency to people who speak English as a second language. It's the ones that have been speaking it their entire lives and yet insist on mixing up your and you're that make me want to throw somebody off a cliff.
Holy Jesus on a cross.
I HATE to hear such poor grammar.
There should be a vaccine to prevent such shit from being uttered.
Both of those mistakes really irk me as well. Another mistake that makes me cringe during a conversation is when people use the words blowed and growed, both very common terms to Southerners. I am unable to hide my shudder...
Ohhhhh, tell me about it. I am such a stickler! (Although I usually just let it go if I notice a day or two after the fact that I had a typo...)
When I was on my diet, I used their support site and blogged regularly. I also read most of the blogs that other people posted (as we were all like POWs, looking out for each other). Most people on that site used loose instead of lose. I HATED IT! One of those women was so proud to be a stay-at-home mom homeschooling her brood. I thought, "Oh great! Now there will be more people who can't use their first language!"
Mean, I know, but I had some tough grammar teachers in my day. No one teaches it anymore. I just wanted to tell people to use a friggin' dictionary!!!
D
There's never been noone who's not annoyed by grammatical errors as I've not been.
Wait, what?
We're headed back for 10 days with crazy Swedes in less than a week. The English I teach them tends to be unwelcome.
LOL I'm someone who will proof-read my own writings, like 10 times, because I am so irritated by my own typos or incorrect grammar (unless it's intended!) Though, I'm not always the best at grammar, I do like to appear educated! LOL
I tend to be much more forgiving of others. But. There are just some words that are spelled incorrectly that drive me absolutely INSANE!
CongraDulations is a major one. Then there's: loose/lose, loss/lost, your/you're, then/than, their/there/they're
... to name a few!
I HATE when I see, "I am at a lost ..." or "I'm sorry for your lost." Though I think my ALL time favorite is Wal-MartS and K-MartS. So, you're going to multiple places, eh? *shudders*
I'm also VERY particular about speaking professionally at a business. As in, those who answer the phones/deal with customers.
I know someone who is the secretary at a business. When giving out the phone number, she says semm, semmun, oh (said REALLY fast)- for 770. DRIVES ME BATSHIT CRAZY! When saying numbers and letters, especially over the phone, one should ALWAYS speak VERY clearly!
What you say on your own time, is one thing, but, when you are in an business environment, dealing with customers, you are to speak professionally. Clear and concise ENGLISH. TYVM!!!!
Just because you come from the backwoods, doesn't mean you have to sound like you're totally unejmuhkaydid! Sheeeeesh!
She also calls a desk a DesT, the car port a car porCH, and has other "words", that I can't currently think of.
Though, she IS my best friend, and I love her to death, she can, at times, drive me INSANE with her speech!!! She's not one to take criticism very well, and she's NEVER wrong (just ask her! LOL). So, I just shudder on the inside, and deal with it.
"voiced dental fricative"
Shit. I think I just came. That's dead sexy baby!
And? That poor grammar/don't know how to do your job thing? Pisses me off, too.
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