Grammar Jedi

For as long as I remember, proper grammar has come naturally to me. When I hear or read improper grammar, it always irritates me to some degree. It's disturbing. Informing others of said disturbances usually prompts an angry response and a label. People like to refer to me as a Grammar Nazi or a Grammar Nerd. This, I have decided, is unacceptable. A more appropriate term would be Grammar Jedi. Think about it. Grammar is like the Force. It binds the universe (of language) together. Many people do not understand it, and those who do are frequently able to bend it to accomplish their own goals. Its effects on oratory skills are astounding, and can work for good or for evil. It makes too much sense to ignore. What do you think?

Yoda the master of grammar was, hmmmm?

It's your title, change it as you see fit.� Don't be surprised if you have trouble convincing others to use it. :-)

While I may not be any sort of Star Wars fan (at least, not to any signifigantly measureable degree), I can completely understand your point of view on this subject.� Personally, I would reluctantly refer to myself as a Grammar Snob, especially now that the internet has exploded into the mainstream.� I can't fucking stand "14 year olds*" and their whole system of 'alphanumeric-based plain-text compression'.� Sadly, on the other hand, I happen to guilty of such visual crimes against humanity.� Fortunately, I have taken drastic steps over the years to ensure that my grammatical skills are evident, as well as refined.� There's not a hell of a lot more that I hate than someone who shows their general lack of intelligence by taking taking stupid shortcuts, especially�when done by expressing yourself in a medium that can easily expose these potential faults (i.e. any written/printed/displayed form of text).

* = I use the term "14 year olds" loosely, almost in the vernacular.� I'm not actually referring to 14 year olds, or any age in specific.� I find it to be a greal deal easier to refer to a stereotype in the event that there is no particular nomenclature to apply to the group of persons in question.� Stereotypes are bad, I couldn't disagree with that in any way, but the fact remains that stereotypes seem to have been created to generalize in the event that there is no applicable catagory to which the party in question can be referred.� Unfortunately, others seem to have joined in with this practice, as I've heard the term "Puerto Ricans" being used (in my�regional area)�to refer to any type of lower-income and or minority group, thugs, 'wiggers', etc.� This practice tends to make me sick.� I take pride in my ability to succeed such primitave behavior.�

Ironically, I'm too lazy to proof this post.��This�very well may be full of grammatical errors, which normally wouldn't bother me, but this is a post on grammar, after all.� Gimme a break, suckas, I'm on the 5th straight day of less than 4 hours of sleep per night.� I think I'm going to go slam my head into a wall until I can actually feel it.� Yeah.� It is very likely that I have absent-mindedly ommitted comments/ideas that I would have liked to included, but I'm not sure I have the energy to give a poop right now.

A few months ago I came across an article that touched upon this topic, as well as the effect it is having on teenagers in the real world (whatever that is).� Basically, for anyone who didn't come across the article, teenagers are using '2' and 'u' in entirely wrong places, such as job applications (i.e. In response to "Why do you want to work here?", a teen replied with something like, "i wood like 2 b a *****whatever it was*****".)� Kickass, children.� Kickass.� I could puke up partially digested alphabet soup in a more grammatically correct fashion than these dumbasses can formulate with a legitimate writing utencil.

Okay, back to work I go.� Heh, I didn't mean to write so much.� Fuckin' Adderal, I could go on for hours. :-P

I knew a girl in eighth grade who used u and such in essays.�

Bender, do me a favor.� Either travel back in time and find her, or yell her name out the window, or go door-to-door looking for her, and when you find her... please, uppercut her in the neck.� Punch her in the armpit, even.� Dropkick her in the elbow, also.� If you are feeling particularly nasty, call AOL and get her/daddy's account canceled.� Wow, I'm such�a nerd.�

Bender For President.

Actually, Zappa For President, Bender For Vice President.

Is Bender going to frfrffrfrfrf?

nein.� preparing to move to canada (to be with canadaboy and also)�for school.

I have a cow orker who uses stuff like 2 and u and tho and all those shorthandy things in work emails.

Grammar and spelling come fairly easily to me as well, and I used to be a real stickler for such things.� I came to realize that it was rude and annoying to�correct people without their consent, though.� It strikes me that the important thing is effective communication.� It depends on the situation, though; such things are a lot more important in formal essays and such than in casual conversation.

That said, I also get annoyed at the AOL-Speak.� Honestly, it kind of puzzles me, because it's not like�very many people�who have passed kindergarten actually think "you" is spelled "u."� It doesn't save much time to leave off the other two letters, either.� I guess it's just a form of slang, but, at the risk of sounding opinionated,�it's a stupid one.

I don't really have a problem with AOL speak as long as it's on AOL.� If you're on a message board or chatting with your friends about how hot Orlando Bloom is, or how stupid your Phys Ed teacher is, then, by all means, communicate the way you feel comfortable.� But I can't stand when that type of thing is used in appropriately either.� One of my language profs last year said that students writing "u" and "2" and adding smilies :) to essays is getting to be a problem for teacher and professors.��

The worse abuse of AOL speak I've ever heard of came last year.� My friend Dina got a break-up email (in and of itself pretty crappy) that said things like "i think ur kewl and everything cuz ur smart and funny, but we should break up coz its not working blah blah blah".� Keep in mind, the writer of the incriminating email was in her mid twenties and owned her own business.

There's not a hell of a lot more that I hate than someone who shows their general lack of intelligence by taking taking stupid shortcuts, especially�when done by expressing yourself in a medium that can easily expose these potential faults (i.e. any written/printed/displayed form of text).

I don't like the implication that poor grammar indicates a lack of intelligence. I know people who have bad spelling and even worse grammar, but are some of the smartest people I know.

Me? I'm personally a Grammar Wench. I'm very happy with this title. Nobody has any desire to steal it for some reason���

I've been referred to as "the grammar police," or, more affectionately, "grammar po-po."� One of our office favorites to make fun of is the misuse of the word in this subject line...

my busted what? :-P

-- Pauley

*giggles* I got called a new one today.. The Grammar Nark ...

loik eh Coppa's Nark, I s'pose.. [Copper's Nark..]���

I prefer "Grammer Nazi," since my grammar is good, but my spelling is terrible.

i sometimes fear that those who are sticklers for grammer do not like me. please appreciate that as an English student i have excellent grammer but poor typing skills and therefore appear to have bad grammer (and speeliing).

i have quite good grammar and quite a good ear for bad grammar but sometimes i dont want to say anything because im entirely too insecure for my own good.
sometimes i will have bad spelling but that's usually because im not on my own computer and with my own comfortable utilitarian keyboard.
my biggest problem, usually when im writing by hand, is missing words. i just think to darn fast.
i like to write short stories and such, i have some posted on another message board, they may contain mistakes, even in grammer because two i have posted there i wrote quite hastily for school. that's also why im not exactly fond of them, they could have used more time.
anyway, i've never been called a name, i just don't do it enough.
by the way, don't take it the wrong way, i never use capitals on the internet, not even in names. it has never caused a problem for me.

See, a person like you likely wouldn't take any flak for the way you type and express your ideas.� There's a fine line between someone who does it on purpose (to whatever extent), and someone who doesn't realize that they are a complete idiot.� The company I work for refers to this as consciously stupid vs unconsiously stupid.� They don't actually use the word stupid, of course, but I can't remember exactly what term they use.� I would imagine that it's just a nice way to say stupid.� As far as I'm concerned, the only interpretation attainable from someone doing it on purpose would be mockingly.�

LOLOMFG!@!@!@!!!!!!!!11