Am I the only pedantic grammar nerd?

[babylady4]

The one that bugs me the most:

It's a mute point.

A point is NOT mute; it is MOOT!

Yes I agree with the OP; I am a member of the proper grammar police. I have a hard time not correcting people when they speak or type...... makes me cringe but I manage to bite back a reply (unless it is my kids of course). To me, this is not something trivial. People are judged (whether you like it or not) on their ability to speak and write properly (spellings too). If you cannot speak or write properly then the message you are attempting to convey is not taken as seriously since you do not take the time to present the information in a proper fashion. Do you think Einstein's Theory of Relativity would have been taken seriously if the man had not written his scientific papers in proper grammar?

 

[welasharon]

It does irk me no end, as well. I make mistakes but I at least try not to! Most of the time I don't say anything but I do call businesses when they screw up on their signs. That is just too much for me. If it is really bad I just skip the post.
Sharon

 

[upcdayz]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who gets irked over bad grammar and/or spelling.

There are occasions when I've caught myself misusing a word, but most of the time I catch it then correct it. Not always though because I'm certainly not perfect.

I am a Corporate Trainer by occupation and one of the topics I train employees on is good customer service. Using proper grammar is part of good customer service and is a sensitive subject with many folks. There are quite a few folks who don't realize that their grammar isn't proper. What's worse is that these folks don't realize that the listener has to decipher the meaning of the speaker's conversation, wading through all the misused language. This is not only distracting to the listener, it takes away the person's credibility somewhat, leading the listener to make a judgement (consciously or subconsciously) as to the speaker's educational level, lifestyle and status in society, none of which are favorable.

Here's one example of both - poor grammar and inexcusable "customer service" that I sometimes use during my classes. A true story, mind you:

Several years ago at a fast food restaurant drive-through with my daughter, I placed an order at the speaker. There were a few cars ahead of us, so a short wait was anticipated. When there was just one car ahead of us, I noticed that a bag of food was being passed back and forth between the person at the window and the customer in the car. This led me to think that the restaurant had messed up the order of the customer ahead of us, but expected that it would be corrected quickly. After a time, it was finally our turn to receive our order. Now, this is a restaurant with a clock at the window that shows how long the customer has waited from the time of their order until they've reached the drive-through window. It read 20 + minutes. Needless to say, we were a little aggravated. Even more so when the young girl at the window shoved a bag of food at me and asked "You want ketchup?" I politely replied "No, just the food, please." She snorted back at me with "Well you don't got to get no attitude!" I was not only shocked at her rudeness and complete lack of respect for her customer, but her grammar was such that I had to take a moment to compose myself before I asked her, "Could you say that in English please?" The scene was further escalated when I asked for the manager, and a young man no more than 20 came to the window. He did absolutely nothing to remedy the situation until I asked him to prepare a new meal, since the one I was just given is cold. I also wanted the meal comped.

So many things went wrong in that situation, but the grammar used by the worker at the drive-through window sticks with me as an example of some of the worst grammar ever.

Edited to make bold text.

 

[Dar]

must shut mouth

must walk away... no run away!!!!!

 

[welasharon]

Now if you could just make them stay off the cell phone long enough to ring me up!!!

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

My pet peeve is "each and every". Really???? I thought them to be synonymous.

I understand that language is a tool for communicating, but there comes a time that folks are no longer communicating in a comprehensible way. Why teach vocabulary, grammar, spelling or punctuation at all then? Why not just let it be a free for all?

I'm with the OP on this...but I'm an old a$$...so I may have a different view from many others.

 

[llaaadyel]

I sometimes have to resist the urge to smack someone who says irregardless. Another one of those double negatives. I am also no fan of "my bad".

 

[Dar]

hey stop me if you have heard this one....

If you dont have anything nice then dont say it at all...

just food for thought filled with incorrect stuffs...

 

[upcdayz]

Quote:
I haven't seen any unkind posts on this thread, but get the feeling that maybe this isn't the topic for you. There are plenty of others out there.

 

[upcdayz]

Quote:
Ditto.

Flustrated is another one that's ..... just wrong.