Saturday, April 05, 2008

"That don't make no sense"

Sometimes when I start a new post, I look at the blank square and I draw a blank. But, there are times when I have a blog that just seems to grow and fester inside my head. I often have all the words and phrases that I want to say in my mind, but when I type the blog it often does not turn out how I had thought it would. I wish I could connect my thoughts to the computer the way I do with the digital camera. Just download the thoughts and trim them up on the computer. Anyway, this is a blog that I have been thinking about for awhile, I hope it comes out the way I have pictured.
My mother is an English teacher. I say IS even though she is retired, because you do not stop teaching English even though you are not in the classroom. Growing up with a mother who taught English was good and bad. It was good when I had papers to write because she could help me correct them and could give me a feel for what was a good paper and a bad paper. It was bad when she corrected my speech (many, many, many, many times) because I was speaking incorrectly. As I have grown, I have learned (surprisingly enough), and I try to speak and write correctly. Every time I write a post, I worry over the grammar because I do not want to make a mistake. I am by no means an English teacher, but Mom taught me well. So now I have the curse of noticing grammar mistakes around me. It is like fingernails on the chalkboard to hear how some people butcher the English language (again, I am not an English teacher, nor do I claim to be one). I am not talking about dangling participles or ending sentences with prepositions. I am talking about blatant, brutal, and egregious mistakes that non-English teachers' sons would catch. I have a co-worker (yes here is the reason for this whole diatribe) who speaks very little in terms of correct grammar, but speaks great volumes in terms of sheer words. One of her favorite exclamations is "that don't make no sense." IT IS NOT SAID FOR EFFECT, SHE MEANS IT! Now, I know this all sounds petty and it probably is, but imagine hearing phrases like that all day, every day at work. Can you see where I am coming from? I realize that "they don't know no better," but when that kind of language is used in dealing with the public, I think it makes the rest of us look bad, too. I am serious, sometimes I just think to myself, "You did not just say that, did you?" Maybe I notice her speech because she is abrasive and rubs me the wrong way, but I think I would notice even if a good friend talked like that.

I do not want to think higher of myself than others, but that is pretty much what I have done, isn't it? I just wanted to get something out that bugs me. I am definitely NOT saying I am perfect in my grammar, but it does bother me when things don't make no sense.

3 comments:

Tracy said...

Joby...
So good to see pics of pooter and I am glad you are blogging again. By the way, you last post just ain't make many sense. HAHA

Franklin Wood said...

yur craizy...who talks like that? Ain't nobody I know talks like that!!
Now, go warsh up fur dinner and we'll git ta eatin' soon!!

huhuhuhhuuuuhuhuh

Unknown said...

But, does she work?

Things are so bad in our office right now that I'd take bad grammar anyday over NO WORK ETHIC.