December 7, 2008
Public Service Announcement
Of late, I’ve grown more and more concerned by the condition of the English language. The grammar teacher in me (she’s still in there somewhere, even if she hasn’t been in a classroom in nearly 16 years) gets a little bent out of shape by a few of the common mistakes she hears time and time again. Here are a couple of the biggest:
Acronym versus abbreviation: If you can say it as a word, like “scuba” or “NASA,” it’s an acronym. If you have to pronounce each letter individually, like PDQ or USA, it’s an abbreviation.
Reflexive pronouns: A verb takes a reflexive pronoun if it is something you do to yourself: you can dress yourself, talk to yourself, pleasure yourself (sorry, couldn’t help it), etc. But you cannot tell someone, “If you have any questions, please call myself or Bob.” If someone else is doing the action, the correct pronoun is “Call me or Bob.”
As a bonus, my pet peeve is use of ampersands instead of “and.” Can you really tell me it’s easier to type shift-8 (&) than a-n-d? In my mind, it’s lazy and improper grammar to use that character instead of the word. My colleagues tease me unmercifully about this, to the point where one day I went out to my car to discover that the windows had been covered with chapstick ampersands. It took me week to notice there was one on the sunroof.
Okay, I feel a little better now.
Lisa said,
December 7, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Did I know you were a grammar teacher? I didn’t remember that.
Me, Myself and I couldn’t agree with you more…& I don’t even talk right most the time.
; ) hehe
I TOO have been peeving of late about folks that write, “This is a picture of (insert name) and I”
UGGHHH : P
2 conflicting comments….
1) I’ve been taught that communicating is more important than proper grammar. It’s better to love than be right, just know your audience. That can be freeing.
2) Feel free to correct me if I ever sound like a dumb ass. I don’t want anyone to know how clueless I am.
Stan said,
December 7, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Forsooth, thou dost speake the truth. ‘Tis rare indeed to find a towne crier that doth honor the Queen’s English!
Josh said,
December 8, 2008 at 12:51 pm
The increased usage of the ampersand could likely be traced to the web2.0 phenomenon as well as text messaging (unscientifically discovered…)
To make messages more brief (saving time or text characters for those without unlimited text plans) the & is two fewer total characters than a-n-d, even if it is obnoxious.
Similarly, the use of “+” by design-y types drives me personally insane. It’s not witty anymore! You’re not fooling anyone!
Christina said,
December 31, 2008 at 10:34 am
Fear not, dear grammarian, there is hope! Apostrophe police (such as ourselves) are out there. Also, I personally aim to rid the world of such Midwesternisms as, “Are you coming with?” and “Boy, you really did good”.
Cheers, and a happy new year!
bethmillett said,
December 31, 2008 at 10:36 am
Oooh, another good one: “Where are the keys at?”
Folks, if you say “where,” you don’t need to say “at.”
Happy New Year to all! My resolution is to write a new post before the weekend is over.
Stan said,
January 5, 2009 at 11:56 am
I’ve lived in Indiana all my life (sad to say), but I’ve never heard a native say “Are you coming with?” – I thought that was from Pennsylvania, or maybe Wisconsin. In either case, it probably derives from German, where it’s perfectly correct grammar.
As for “Where are my keys at?”, that one drives me nuts too. Everyone knows it should be “At where are my keys?” !
Aversion to ampersands « How Hard Can It Be? said,
October 6, 2009 at 4:41 am
[...] in Uncategorized at 4:41 am by bethmillett I have previously mentioned my rather strong feelings about ampersands. It’s not so much a phobia or hatred of the [...]