Fighting Back...

I don't know when this became a thing, but I've been seeing tweets and memes about it lately, so I'll just go ahead and address it... stuff like this:

"It's a miracle that people who correct others' grammar have any friends."

"Just remember everyone hates you when you correct their grammar."

"No one likes a grammar nazi."

... and so on. Let me start off by saying that I rarely if ever correct anyone's grammar (other than my students', since that's kind of my job) and I don't because I know that it can come off as insulting, condescending, rude, etc. And I'm not a very emotionally mature person so the thought of ticking somebody off usually is enough to quell my burning desire to point out their glaring grammatical errors. (And what if I said those things in reverse? "It's a miracle people who use incorrect grammar have any friends." "Just remember everyone hates you when you use incorrect grammar." That wouldn't be very nice, eh?)

HOWEVER... Why are people hating on those who prefer correct grammar? I didn't realize that speaking/writing like an illiterate third grader was now considered socially acceptable, while those correcting people who regularly abuse (or ignore) basic grammar rules are considered jerks? Really? (Apparently, I'm not so afraid of ticking people off, am I?)

I'm not suggesting that everyone post to Facebook with fear and trembling because of the risk factor of eliciting the wrath of the grammar police, but come on, people. Is it really too much to ask that you remember that "your" is possessive and "you're" means you are? I don't think so. And if someone points out your mistake, that doesn't make them a jerk. Maybe they're like me and they're extremely weary of reading ridiculous mistakes from educated adults.

(Side rant: thanks to the incorrect grammar of so many adults, it's now nearly impossible to teach my students correct word usage because "it doesn't sound right!" Thanks, previous generations. My kids don't even recognize good grammar when they see or hear it!)

I can't really say that I blame technology or the "digital age" for this decline, either. Sure, people are lazy with their spelling and punctuation while texting, but I'm pretty sure people have always used incorrect grammar; we just didn't know it until we had the privilege of being privy to one another's thoughts and feelings on social media every day. 

And beyond improper grammar and spelling- what's with the blatant disregard for punctuation? I mean, I'm aware there are a bunch of comma rules (trust me, I spend the first several weeks of school teaching them) and it's such a drag to actually include a semicolon now and then but you don't have to take out your frustration toward your high school English teacher by completely leaving punctuation out altogether! *Exception: the poor overused apostrophe, which never, ever makes a word plural. So, when you talk about all the "errand's I have to do today" I'm guessing one of them is "make people cringe."

Again, am I saying that this is a spiritual matter? Are you a terrible person if you don't use correct grammar? No, but I can (and do) make a judgement about someone who is too lazy to even bother to communicate correctly. And I certainly am not okay with being made to feel like some kind of criminal for expecting people to follow the simple rules I taught my third graders. As I tell my students, if the rules don't matter, then why have rules at all? There you have it: use correct grammar or society will descend further into anarchy.

I know what you may be thinking: "Your a jerk." And you'd be wrong- that's "you're." =)


Ash