Action Central? Nope

[susandennis]

I woke up a couple of times last night with my arm hurting. It was stretched out and if I bent it at the elbow, the hurt stopped so I bent it and this morning it was much better. The key indicator is the ability to pour coffee. Yesterday, no. This morning, yes. This may not be fatal.

I picked up 3 more books on CD at the library Friday and yesterday I ripped them all into MP3-land and now they are Treo-able.

That last sentence notwithstanding, I am a grammar snob. The use of poor grammar makes my spine curl. I particularly hate - using the wrong pronoun - 'that belongs to Jake and I' and the not using of the possessive with a gerund - 'me going to the store was a good idea'. But a lot of others annoy the hell out of me. I usually only bitch about this in my head but I may have been cured of even that. On NPR this morning there was an interview of a guy named James Cochrane who has written yet another book on poor use of grammar. He was such a snot of an interview that I may have to rethink my objections. Lynne Truss of "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" was a much better interview subject but she said that my favorite tool of written conversational ... the ellipses ... is the mark of lazy so she on my list (er, not the good one).

Maybe it's time for me to quit being a grammar snob.

But, speaking of lazy, I did not walk yesterday or today. I might still yet today. Maybe. But probably not. I do need to trot down to the dumpsters with a couple of bags of garbage. And I need to do laundry.

But, first, it's Sunday morning and Tivo has a fresh episode of CBS Sunday morning so I'm going to watch that and think about the rest.

Comments

[dizzdvl.livejournal.com]

Hey, I like ellipses too! I tend to use them when I am off on a tangent because that's how I talk. I don't use them anywhere but here usually.

You will cringe at this little story. My bank is statewide, but I am in a region with a little town. They printed up post-it notes with a little encouraging phrase. When I saw them I thought it was a joke, but this is how they talk in that little hick town. Wnat to know what they said? "You Done Good!" Doesn't that hurt? This is the same town where I have heard doctors and lawyers use "It don't matter." in conversation.

There are some times where it is good to be a snob, even if it is just a little bit of a snob.

[idajo.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's time for me to quit being a grammar snob

I seen that this was coming!

[susandennis]

Comment of the week sown up before noon on the first day - that has to be a record.

grammar snob

[ossie.livejournal.com]

well I am the opposite, my journal has so many grammar mistakes it must make you cringe

thats probably why most of my entries do not have words just photos

have a great day

take care
Ossie

Re: grammar snob

[susandennis]

Actually, I have never once even noticed a grammatical error in your entries! Guess I am just too focused on the beach!

Re: grammar snob

[jimcarson.livejournal.com]

Hey, this is the blog-world, baby: Continuous, revisionist history. Grammatical error? Let me check... Hmmm, I don't see it; perhaps you need to reinstall your operating system or something else fomplicated. ;-)

[tmb2005.livejournal.com]

I think you should continue to be a grammar snob; the world needs more of us to prevent the language from collapsing into unintelligibility. (By the way, I wasn't thrilled with "Eats, Shoots & Leaves," either; its pronouncements seemed a bit too arbitrary to me.)

[rsc.livejournal.com]

I feel exactly the same way as you about certain kinds of grammatical errors -- they distract me from paying attention to what's being said. But I've learned to recognize that language evolves (even if it I don't like the direction of its evolution) and that being a grammar snob does nothing to improve my life (unless a secret feeling of superiority could be considered an improvement).