Grammar Snob? or Is Society Becoming Increasingly Stupid?

If you want to see me cringe, watch me when I listen to Neil Diamond’s Play Me. I love him and his music, really I do, but “song she brang to me?” Honestly Neil? That was the best you could come up with?

Coincidentally, earlier this week Sarah’s word creation “refudiate” was recognized as the year’s best new word by the New Oxford American Dictionary. Fantastic! Look at that, I’ve answered my own question, but why stop there with this rant?

I suppose I’m somewhat of a grammar snob. Mine is far from perfect, but I’m amazed how little it is practiced by others. I have my fair share of typos, forgetting to insert a word here or there, but I make an effort not to be completely lackadaisical with the basic rules.

One afternoon I took a call in dispatch. I had obtained the location of the suspect in the theft (the prostitute that took the caller’s money without having rendered the services negotiated), and repeated back to the caller something like,
“Alta Motel, that’s where she’s at?”
After I finished the call, a friend & co-worker sitting nearby just shook his head and said with utter disappointment,
“Rachelle, you know better than to end a sentence in a preposition.”
Ouch. That hurt the ego a little, but he was right.

When I was about 6 or 7 years old, I informed my grandma, “I’m done eating my lunch” so that I could be rewarded with a sip of her opened bottle of Tab sitting on the counter. I clearly remember her response,
“Meat is done. You should say that you are finished instead of done.”

I recall telling my mom that “Me and Chelsey are going outside to torment my younger brother with nicknames that he despises.”

“Mean Chelsey?” my mom asked.

I was thinking to myself, “Yeah, I guess its a little mean.” only because we found such delight in the aforementioned activity.

“It’s ‘Chelsey and I’. Chelsey and I are going outside…”
(side note: these rules for quotations are killing me and by now I’m sure they’re all incorrect)

Having perused applications each spring from high school students, emails, and the constant misuse of conjunctions by Facebook users, I’ve decided that instead of a Coke I’d like to buy the world a Speak & Spell or at least a lesson on how to use spell check.

A few other points of interest before we conclude this weeks meeting:

- Riley’s friend, Kohl, came over for a play date this week. As he began making himself comfortable in our home I said, “I’m so glad you were able to come over.”
He looked at me with the most serious 5 year old face and replied, “Why wouldn’t I? You can count on me.”
Kids like Kohl restore my hope for the future.

- I have been cohabitating with a cat for 1 week now. Yes, you read that correctly. (Sigh) That will be my next post.