Noooooooo! Don't stop doing posts about it just because of how a few other people may feel. This is your journal, you post about whatever is important to you. There will always be people who care less than you do. You just have to learn to let it sort of roll off of you, but you certainly should not stop caring just because other people don't.
I understand your frustration. When I was in school planning to major in English, I felt as if I was majoring in a dying language. I think I oftentimes felt like what was the point in my learning how to properly use this language if no one else even recognizes it when it's being used the way it was meant to be? We live in a country where ebonics, leet speak, and LOLcat are considered perfectly appropriate means of communication. (Just to clarify, I enjoy LOLcat as much as the next person, but sometimes it just gets old, and in very many situations it just sounds dumb.) It's no wonder no one remembers how to use English anymore!
There's this girl on my friend's list who consistently says "should of", "could of", etc. (And by "consistently" I mean every goddamn time, as in, she thinks her use of it is correct.) I have pointed this out to her, how and why it is wrong, and how to correct the problem. I have done so more than once, and she still does it. What pisses me off the most about that is that she has a college degree. How are we sending college graduates out the door in this country who do not know how to communicate in their chosen language? I don't think you should be handed a degree until you show at least a basic level of proficiency in the English language. You don't have to be particularly flowery about it. You don't necessarily have to know how to pack the maximum amount of meaning and beauty into your choice of words; (unless of course you want to) but everyone, no matter what their chosen field of study, should at least know by college graduation that "should of" is incorrect, and never, ever will be. Another one that's been getting on my nerves lately is "hence why", mostly because I think the people who perpetrate this particular crime against language think that they are sounding intelligent with their use of a fancy word like "hence".
Anyway, my point is that I can sympathize. I don't think I've ever been frustrated to tears over it, but I don't look down on you for being that sensitive to it. I know all it would take would be the right set of circumstances to make me want to cry over it. For me the frustration is more about the fact that many people who make these mistakes have completed higher levels of education than I have, therefore society values their intellect above mine because they have a piece of paper. They are somehow more valuable in the workforce, more qualified for jobs, yet they are not even fluent in their own native tongue!!! Ok, see, yeah, that one gets me similarly fired up.
*Disclaimer: I know I suck at punctuation, but I try with all my might to use it properly! I would actually LOVE to take a grammar refresher course, if for nothing else then to correct my misuse of punctuation.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-02-05 04:31 pm (UTC)I understand your frustration. When I was in school planning to major in English, I felt as if I was majoring in a dying language. I think I oftentimes felt like what was the point in my learning how to properly use this language if no one else even recognizes it when it's being used the way it was meant to be? We live in a country where ebonics, leet speak, and LOLcat are considered perfectly appropriate means of communication. (Just to clarify, I enjoy LOLcat as much as the next person, but sometimes it just gets old, and in very many situations it just sounds dumb.) It's no wonder no one remembers how to use English anymore!
There's this girl on my friend's list who consistently says "should of", "could of", etc. (And by "consistently" I mean every goddamn time, as in, she thinks her use of it is correct.) I have pointed this out to her, how and why it is wrong, and how to correct the problem. I have done so more than once, and she still does it. What pisses me off the most about that is that she has a college degree. How are we sending college graduates out the door in this country who do not know how to communicate in their chosen language? I don't think you should be handed a degree until you show at least a basic level of proficiency in the English language. You don't have to be particularly flowery about it. You don't necessarily have to know how to pack the maximum amount of meaning and beauty into your choice of words; (unless of course you want to) but everyone, no matter what their chosen field of study, should at least know by college graduation that "should of" is incorrect, and never, ever will be. Another one that's been getting on my nerves lately is "hence why", mostly because I think the people who perpetrate this particular crime against language think that they are sounding intelligent with their use of a fancy word like "hence".
Anyway, my point is that I can sympathize. I don't think I've ever been frustrated to tears over it, but I don't look down on you for being that sensitive to it. I know all it would take would be the right set of circumstances to make me want to cry over it. For me the frustration is more about the fact that many people who make these mistakes have completed higher levels of education than I have, therefore society values their intellect above mine because they have a piece of paper. They are somehow more valuable in the workforce, more qualified for jobs, yet they are not even fluent in their own native tongue!!! Ok, see, yeah, that one gets me similarly fired up.
*Disclaimer: I know I suck at punctuation, but I try with all my might to use it properly! I would actually LOVE to take a grammar refresher course, if for nothing else then to correct my misuse of punctuation.