Still Figurin' Out Who I Think I Am

This one's about the rules, and free writing.

30DBC PROMPT: "Is there a particular rule of grammar that irks you when you see it has been broken?"

What's up y'all? I know why some of you are here right now...and I know why I'm here, so let me get this silly prompt nonsense out of the way first before I get to fulfilling your wishes, 'kay? Good.

By judging me on what you might read in this here spot of occasional internet-based tomfoolery, you might think I'm no kind of grammar snob. That, however, couldn't be further from the truth. Grammar is important (to me, at least), and with the advent of text messaging and social media it's sadly becoming a lost art. Nothing turns me off more in a person besides spinach stuck in their teeth than their failure to grasp simple concepts of the language they've been speaking for the last, oh, I dunno, 20, 30, or 70 years. And I know I'm far from perfect and I occasionally end sentences with prepositions and put too much faith in a spell-checker nowadays, but c'mon...there's a reason we're taught simple grammar as young as the age of eight or nine! If it's meant to be mastered at that age, why are grown-ass adults not capable of knowing the difference between to, too, and two? Or than and then? Your and you're? Spend five minutes on Facebook, and surely someone you know and love writes like an emotionally crippled six year old.

The not-emotionally-crippled six year old me.

Seriously...if our founding Grammar Jedis were alive today and could only see the travesties being committed against the English language via technology, could you imagine the ways they'd like to punish us but can't get away with now like they did in the good ol' days? The lack of teachers being able to beat us with rulers in the 21st century is directly proportional to the fact that stupidity among adults is at an all-time high when it comes to knowing where to put an apostrophe correctly. But that's probably an entirely different blog entry for another day.

And maybe it's not an actual "rule of grammar", but the one thing I keep seeing more and more of lately is people misspelling the word "definitely". But oh, they're not just misspelling it, my friends...no! They are so adamant about whatever it is that they're professing an agreement with, that they're "defiantly" going to be at your party on Saturday, they "defiantly" agree that your ex-boyfriend is a jerk for allowing some skank to text him, and they "defiantly" are gonna kick her skank ass if she dares show her face on Saturday at your party. I think you see my point...makes me "defiantly" wanna dropkick a dictionary right between an idiot's eyes (except you, if I think you're pretty alright as a person and yet you still offend me like this).

How did we get like this? Where did we lose our way? Why are people so lazy and arrogant enough to expect us to decipher their shoddy craftsmanship of the language? I shouldn't have to carry separate sets of translations for everyone I know that does English a little differently than the rest of the English-speaking population. Like I said, we learned the majority of the basics at a young age, and most of it we practice orally on a daily basis...so why is it so hard to transfer that from spoken form onto a page, using letters and proper punctuation? I don't get it! Ok, semi-rant over.

It's not often I look forward to reading the responses to prompts I submit, but this one's got me intrigued enough that I might stay up a little later this evening and see what you guys came up with (that, and I have a lot of work to do between classes tomorrow, so rather than read your entries then maybe I'll try to get through as many as I can after I'm done with this).

MUSICAL BREAK!!

So, I knew this existed and all, but to actually see it lends a completely different aspect to the context. Sorta like when someone types "f---", you know what it means, yet it's somehow supposed to be better than actually typing "fuck", even though they both mean the same thing basically when your mind processes them. Anyway, yeah...

"Gotta get gotta get there faster than the rest."
Lyrics.  

THE DAILY BOX SCORE:

Ever see someone use quotation marks and wonder, "Why are they using quotation marks in that particular instance?" Does it trip the conspiracy-theorist wires in you? Maybe it should...here's 26 examples of quotation marks that should make you wonder   what the actual intent of the punctuated area is.

And while we're mocking the less fortunate, grammatically on the subject of grammatical errors, let's chuckle a little at 18 instances where proofreading was overlooked.  

Ok, if you bothered to read anything above this sentence although you really wanted to get to this point, thank you...I know it must've been hard, like sitting through dinner on Christmas Eve before getting to open a few presents or something. Recently at school I joined two separate writing groups (they both meet at times when I'd otherwise be eating, so it won't be taking me away much from studying)...the "Writers' Guild" (which is for writers of all kinds), and the "Poetry Club" (self-explanatory). Because of the positive response to a poem I wrote back in July (as part of "This one's about Barilko, Monday, and Imagine." ...thanks you guys!), I was actually going to share "Black Monday Moon"  last Friday during Writers' Guild but we ran out of time (although I did give a copy to another person in the group to see what she thought of it). Then today during the Poetry Club meeting, we were given 10 minutes to do a "free write" on anything at all. It was that or discuss current events, and because I'm not great at coming up with stuff off the top of my head I opted for "current events" but was outvoted by everyone else in attendance. When it was my turn to read, I made sure I started off by saying "free writing" wasn't my thing, and that usually I get an idea or a line and then over time and at my own pace I'll come up with something. The guy that pushed for the free write apologized, and I jokingly blamed him if what I wrote sucked. And according to the reactions of everyone in the group, it did not suck. So I'm sharing this with you guys now...feel free to tell me what you think (good or bad), but just remember, I was under pressure to write something in ten minutes. "Free Write No. 1" 

And that's all I've got for tonight...gonna try to get to your 30DBC entries while catching the rest of Monday Night Football and pretending I'm not in denial about going to bed at a reasonable hour this evening. Peace, knock 'em off, and GOODNIGHT NOW!!