Are you a language curmudgeon?
Have you ever written a letter to the editor pointing out an error in grammar or usage? I confess that I once wrote to our local metropolitan daily asking why in the world I would donate my paper to the schools when I go on vacation, since the students would only learn poor grammar when they read it. Needless to say, I received no response.
It’s not only our local paper, however; I find errors even in the New York Times these days. I tell myself it’s because our edition is printed early for the West Coast and they don’t have time to proofread it.
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Meanwhile, I’ve discovered that the Orinda library numbers a mysterious copy editor among its patrons. Several times I’ve encountered this person’s faint penciled corrections in a novel. How satisfying it must be to return those books and know that you’ve triumphed over error, even if you won’t get credit for it in public.
Some language lovers believe that we should just chill out, because language is always changing; for example, one blog I enjoy reading is sub-titled Notes from a Recovering Nitpicker.
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On the other hand, many of us have certain usages that we refuse to tolerate. A recent post in another language blog summed this up in its headline: "Your errors are offensive, mine are unavoidable".
Fortunately for those who love language, the Internet has vastly increased the opportunities to wallow in words. Online dictionaries and usage sites, grammar and language blogs, and XX-of-the-day sites like http://www.oxymorons.info can provide hours of time-wasting pleasure.
One of the oldest online language sites is the Language Log, based at the University of Pennsylvania and founded in 2003. A post dated May 11 is devoted to one of my top teeth-grinders: comprised of. After reading the post, I’m now ready to capitulate on this one. Reluctantly.
A new book I’m adding to my reading pile is You Are What You Speak: Grammar Grouches, Language Laws, and the Politics of Identity, by Robert Lane Greene (2011, Delacorte Press). The first couple of chapter titles got* my attention right away: Babel and the Damage Done and A Brief History of Sticklers. UC Berkeley linguist Geoffrey Nunberg, in his review of the book, wrote: "With linguistic opinion so polarized, it’s hard to find fault with a usage without evoking the sticklers and scolds that Greene incisively skewers. But the problem isn’t that we persist in making judgments about language. It’s that we’ve gotten so bad at it."
*(A small digression here: my 7th grade teacher proscribed the use of “got” in any form at any time; the only paddling I ever GOT in elementary school happened when I forgot the rule. Maybe that’s when this obsession started.)
The question for today: How do you react when you encounter words used incorrectly, or jargon that annoys you, or a word that is gradually taking on new meaning over time? What’s your most hated grammatical error?
