OK, I admit it; I am a grammar snob, a spelling snob, a pronunciation snob, and a vocabulary snob. A couple of years ago I did a short blog about some of my pet peeves. My top choice then was the constant misuse of its and it’s, closely followed by the butchering of the first person pronoun! For some reason people just don’t seem to understand when to use I, me, or myself. “John and myself went to the store.” “The snow fell on John and myself.” I fear a false sense of humility scares people away from using I or me; perhaps they think myself is more modest? Sadly, I still continue to be irked by those two instance of misuse. I could also get into the correct use of those pesky past participles, but that might be an entire blog in itself.
I also find that the headlines along the bottom of the screen during newscasts are fraught with errors. Those little banners used to done with a device called a character generator; no doubt they are all computer generated today. The spelling errors are amazing. I am not sure whether the stations have an undereducated bunch of journalism interns doing them or if perhaps they are letting a fourth grade Boy Scout troop do them (with apologies to the Scouts!). I also get weary with all the crazy governmental abbreviations such as POTUS, FLOTUS, SCOTUS, SOTU, and so on. I would prefer to see them written out in full, but I can accept that space is limited. Could they just refer to the President or the First Lady? I think we know that they are referring to the US President or First Lady.
I would never presume to say that I never make mistakes, but I do keep a Webster’s College Dictionary, a Super Thesaurus, and Brian’s Common Errors in English Usage right there on my desk to double-check myself from time to time. (Note the proper use of myself in this instance!). Since I am somewhat of a language nerd, I even have to use proper punctuation and spelling on my text messages. You won’t see me using U R for you are, etc.
Whatever you do, don’t trust the spelling and grammar checks on Microsoft and Apple! I’d like to have most of those little computer geeks in English class for a few weeks or months. Even Word Press which is what this blog is written with, can drive me crazy from time to time. When you are ready to post a blog, Word Press does an automatic spell check and “sort” of a grammar check. My favorite is “complex expression.” Well, I’m not trying to write at a fourth or fifth grade level. Then there is “passive voice.” Certainly we don’t want to use the passive voice too often, but there are times where it is warranted. The list goes on!
When our sons were still in school, they would often bring home notes from their teachers. In all honesty, I never knew whether to reply to the note or grab my red pen and correct it. No wonder many young people don’t have good language skills; their teachers don’t either. Just as we teach our children not to talk with their mouth full or to keep their elbows off the table during meals, we also need to help them learn proper language skills. On a side note, I am pleased to say that both our sons do have excellent written and spoken language skills; of course, they never had a chance to do otherwise I suppose!
I think that the rise and fall of civilizations and languages may well go hand in hand. When Rome fell, ultimately so did Latin as a spoken and written language. Except for a few misguided souls like me, most people didn’t study Latin for years or read Virgil’s Aeneid in the original Latin. As civilizations became more advanced, language went from the rudimentary, “Me want food” or “Fire hot,” to Plato’s Dialogues and the magical words of Shakespeare.
When we look at the English language, we see the evolution from the old Germanic based Anglo-Saxon; think of the epic poem Beowulf in its original form. Unless you too have had the pain of studying Old English, you probably couldn’t read a word of it! From there we find Middle English; think of the wonderful lyrics of Geoffrey Chaucer. While you might not get everything, you could probably get the gist of it. Spelling was pretty freeform in those days as well!
In early Modern English, you find the wonderful works of Shakespeare and Marlow and some of my favorites, the Cavalier Poets! I suspect that in terms of the evolution of the English language, we may have peaked in the late 19th and early 20th century and be on the downward spiral now. Of course, the British look askance at American English usage, and the Americans haven’t figured out why the British can’t spell “Department of Defence” properly!
The rise of all of our electronic devices and toys probably contributes to a decline in language skills as well, and don’t even get me started on not teaching cursive writing in schools! When I was in the doctorate program in English at a major US University, the chairman of the English Department, who looked like a character out of a Dickens novel, wrote only with a black fountain pen in an almost perfect-looking calligraphy sort of script. The poor man is probably rolling in his grave over the inability of young people even to write the King’s English, let alone use it properly!
As you can probably surmise, I love language and words. Few things are more satisfying than actually expressing your thoughts and creativity with the written word. I hope everyone can share in the enjoyment of the written word at some point. Now, I must wrap up this little discourse. My four-legged red-haired assistant is telling me that it is time to switch from writing to opening a can of dogfood!
©Eclectic Grandma, 2018
