Idioms and idiots
While I pulling into the Target's parking lot last night, my windows were rolled down and so I could hear a snippet of conversation from the couple approaching their car and unloading their bags. Within this small time frame as we crossed paths, I heard, unmistakably this sentence spelled out phonetically to the best of my ability: "I don't like d'em Romaine noodly thangs, it's really gots no flava; me's really hate dooze ecky $%!#%."The grammar-nerd in me literally freaks out when someone doesn't know the difference between "you" and "you're", but this was almost TOO much to bear. And judging by mere appearances, this was not an isolated misuse of the English language. And no, the couple was not black, which would almost justify a different dialect.
So, as I got out of my car quickly, trying not to look completely horrified, I thought to myself that maybe the next time I am witness to a dangling participle or a split infinitive, I may not get so worked up or distraught, as those are just mere squabbles in full-fledged warfare, including verb tenses, the ongoing less versus fewer debate, and the hundred years war over pronoun placement in a sentence.
posted by Sheila @ 8/03/2005 12:24:00 PM
1 Comments:
I don't have the best grammar, so I shouldn't really say anything; however, I COMPLETELY agree with you. Things like that make me squirm--and my husband HATES it when I correct his speech. (Old habits die hard from a person who once considered majoring in English, I suppose.) BTW, check out KSDK.com sometime and skim through; I am forever finding grammar and spelling mistakes in the articles.
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