I was discussing with a couple of coworkers yesterday which is most accurate. Should a piece of furniture that is essentially a chest containing drawers be called a chest of drawers, chester drawers, or a dresser? No one believed it should be called chester drawers, though there were votes for the other two. One person pointed out that at the moving company he used to work for some people would refer to a chest of drawers as a "chester." Clearly, this is making a bad mangling of the English language worse, but what bothers me more is how much this misuse of language gets to me. Am I a language snob?
When I was growing up any time I spoke using improper grammar my Mom would correct me. As a result, my first reaction when I hear what I assume is improper grammar is to try to correct it. It's one thing when a parent corrects grammar, but when I correct the person behind me in line at Conoco some boundaries have been crossed. I don't typically go so far as correcting strangers, but I often catch myself almost in the act of doing so.
What is ironic is that I am not a punctuation snob. I couldn't be or I'd be a hypocrite (not to say that I'm not a hypocrite). When I took composition and rhetoric in college I usually scored highly in everything on my papers except punctuation. Punctuation is what is taught in the less advanced English classes, so I probably should have figured most of this out by the time I got to high school. It is a little ridiculous. I can show cogent supporting arguments and evidence for my thesis with undetectable segues between topics in a ten-page term paper, but I can't figure out whether this sentence should really contain a comma. Then again, no one will, ever, be able to, notice, anyway.
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8 comments:
So a ";" and a "," walk into a bar and each order a drink. The bartender tells them that he dosen't serve punctuation marks and that they'll have to leave.
After some protesting from the other patrons, the bartender agrees to serve them only after they have shared their choice for the next president - thereby proving there humanity (and eligibility for drinks).
The ";" not surprisingly, said that he had hoped the Colon Powel would have been elected in 2000 and that he hoped the good general would change his mind and run in 2008.
The "," said that he was British - but none the less politically minded. He was rallying all the locals in London to support a new "George" party that would revive the monarchy to it's former glory in light of the current EU realities. For the new and future king, he was nominating Boy George - though he swore it had nothing to do with his favorite song ..... ",,,, chameleon."
You seem to have a lot of free time at work - so I thought you'd be willing to wait for even a bad punchline.
Well, I of course have people cringe as they read what I have written. Chad has tried to "enlighten" me by being a grammar snob, he finally gave up on me! I don't speak well either. It sounds as if, my own set of insecurities is valid and I should never write or speak again! gee thanks guys!
or maybe i should skip punctuation all together and just write everything like this what do you think your not as cool as you grammar deficient friend dont get me started on spelling
You are definitely NOT a language snob...or I am one too! Oh wait, I was described by T as a "glamour-snobby-hippie"...so I guess I can't validate your points!
Seriously, in grade school, I had to learn the "punctuation rules". We had a Spelling test AND a Markings test. (no wonder I liked to read the dictionary)
Then in college, I took Basic Office Procedures, in which I had to learn all the proper editing and proofreading marks; proper typing format for business style letters; and proper filing methods.
Okay...so I guess I am a language snob!! (But then so are you!)
Dash, did you make that up yourself?
BTW, there is a save draft function in the Blogger software, so not everything I write is written at work. ;)
Yes I made it up! - do you think humor that bad would be written down somewhere else to copy from?
T,
I believe that is speling, not spelling.
There are a group of people in my life...not you guys, that use the phrase "I seen (fill in the blank)." Drives me crazy, saw, it's saw people. But it is in a situation where I would totally be a grammar snob to start correcting this whole group of people.
I used to be able to spell, then I took classes in foreign languages and lost it. Thank goodness for spell checker.
As for punctuation, I discovered there are different rules for different types of writing. Journalism, business, and English classes have their own nuances. When I try to sort this out, I get muddled and invariably miss something. I've decided in general to err on the side of consistency. My commas may not always be placed correctly for everyone's rules, but they are consistently in the same wrong places.
in the future there will be no punctuation because there will be no time for pauses also blogging will shorten words down for eaz of typing and fast commo
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