Doesn't anyone speak English anymore? :(
MAJOR RANT WARNING.
First, there was the subway advertisement for "The School of Allied Health." Um, hello, doesn't the name of that school have one word missing? Wouldn't it make more sense to call it the School of Allied Health Sciences?
Then, there was the radio ad for a "Graduate Open House for Education." Grammatically, that's just plain inside out, in my opinion. I think that the college in question was trying to advertise an Open House for Graduate Studies in Education.
Even my sister-in-law, whose kids went to allegedly excellent schools, complained that American children are not being taught grammar anymore. My grammar is better than my son's. Why?
Why is it now common to hear grammatical errors from news anchors, and even to read them in the so-called "paper of record," The New York Times? These kinds of errors would have been unthinkable forty years ago. What's become of the teaching of the English language in the United States? Why is poor grammar now so common that I fear it's becoming acceptable?
Bloggers, beware. There are still a few of us left who know darned well when you're making grammatical and/or spelling errors. Not only does it drive me nuts, it flabbergasts me that some bloggers are so indifferent that they don't even care that they're displaying their own ignorance to a worldwide audience.
For the record, I've certainly made my share of errors, human that I am. But, if I find an error in a recent or old post of mine, which sometimes happens when I go back to reread, check comments, or create a link from an old post to a new one, I correct the error, even if it's been up on the 'Net for several years. The bloggers who drive me nuts are the ones who make errors so often that it's clear that they don't care, (or, dan l'kaf z'chut, to give the benefit of the doubt, those whose yeshiva education in the English language was so poor that they don't know the difference, which doesn't say much for their teachers.) When you write a blog post, you're not having a casual conversation (as you would be if you were Instant Messaging,"Twittering," or the like), you're writing, and your readers should be able to tell the difference.
First, there was the subway advertisement for "The School of Allied Health." Um, hello, doesn't the name of that school have one word missing? Wouldn't it make more sense to call it the School of Allied Health Sciences?
Then, there was the radio ad for a "Graduate Open House for Education." Grammatically, that's just plain inside out, in my opinion. I think that the college in question was trying to advertise an Open House for Graduate Studies in Education.
Even my sister-in-law, whose kids went to allegedly excellent schools, complained that American children are not being taught grammar anymore. My grammar is better than my son's. Why?
Why is it now common to hear grammatical errors from news anchors, and even to read them in the so-called "paper of record," The New York Times? These kinds of errors would have been unthinkable forty years ago. What's become of the teaching of the English language in the United States? Why is poor grammar now so common that I fear it's becoming acceptable?
Bloggers, beware. There are still a few of us left who know darned well when you're making grammatical and/or spelling errors. Not only does it drive me nuts, it flabbergasts me that some bloggers are so indifferent that they don't even care that they're displaying their own ignorance to a worldwide audience.
For the record, I've certainly made my share of errors, human that I am. But, if I find an error in a recent or old post of mine, which sometimes happens when I go back to reread, check comments, or create a link from an old post to a new one, I correct the error, even if it's been up on the 'Net for several years. The bloggers who drive me nuts are the ones who make errors so often that it's clear that they don't care, (or, dan l'kaf z'chut, to give the benefit of the doubt, those whose yeshiva education in the English language was so poor that they don't know the difference, which doesn't say much for their teachers.) When you write a blog post, you're not having a casual conversation (as you would be if you were Instant Messaging,"Twittering," or the like), you're writing, and your readers should be able to tell the difference.
posted by Shira Salamone at 12:39 PM
5 Comments:
I couldn't agree more.
My own pet peeve: Hearing radio announcers (and others who speak for a living) referring to the second month of the year as "Feb-you-ary". That's almost as grating as professional politician-types talking about "nucular weapons". Grrrrr!!
Agreed--Apparently, some folks whose native language is English have trouble *pronouncing* English, too. :(
I am certainly happy to know that I am not the only one who goes crazy when I hear all the horrible grammar these days.
I was a teaching assistant during graduate school which meant that I corrected and graded many student papers. I just could not believe that the papers were written by seniors in college! We are in trouble if the trend toward bad grammar continues.
As part of my job, I do a lot of editing. I don't have much choice. You'd be amazed at the, shall we say, "interesting" language usage that comes from the pens/keyboards of people with master's and doctoral degrees. Even resume-writing is becoming a lost art. I've seen a few resumes come my way on the job, and I've been quite taken aback by what the writers thereof consider acceptable. Seriously, is the general public so indifferent to good English that people who make grammatical and/or spelling errors on their resumes still get hired because nobody cares?
How about the notices that come home from the school with grammatical errors? Instills a great deal of confidence!
And what is going on with the constant misuse of 'myself?'. It drives me batty.
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