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Bring back the BSG! Joel Send a noteboard - 05/10/2011 08:55:32 PM
1. Does anybody (besides me) use proper grammar when texting, posting on Facebook, etc.?

I always make a conscious effort to use proper grammar. Anything less would be uncivilized.

Henceforth I shall refer to you as "the Right Guard of Grammar." :P
2. Do you correct somebody who uses incorrect grammar while talking? If not, do you at least do it in your head?

Yes. Errors that irritate me most as of late: 1) incorrect use of the subjunctive (e.g., "I wish I was..." ); 2) incorrect use of the nominal case for personal pronouns when the direct object or object of a preposition (e.g., "Between you and I..." ); and 3) misuse of apostrophes (e.g., "The website has an error on it's homepage" ).

While I generally share your feelings here, I am very conflicted on the subjunctive. On the one hand, it is legitimate grammar, and a necessary concept for effective communication; on the other, its usage is becoming almost non-existent and, in practice, when speakers and writers incorrectly use the simple past tense as subjunctive their listeners and readers immediately and fully understand the usage AS subjunctive. It is hard to argue maintaining the subjunctive as a distinct construction still adds anything to the language rather than merely complicating (and thus confusing) it needlessly. The subject came up in my recent norskkurs: Norwegian apparently has no distinct subjunctive mood AT ALL, and does not feel the lack. The comparison reminds me of another reason for me to dislike subjunctive: German, where the difference between simple past tense and the subjunctive mood is no more than a stupid umlaut. O^
3. Do you wince whenever you read a particularly awful Facebook post?

I don't just wince. I usually make a snide remark that points out the error.

There is such a thing as constructive criticism; granted, you did not ask me, but I would wager most of your grammar students would say the same to you. ;)
4. Have you noticed a trend on Facebook where people don't even bother using periods to separate sentences anymore?

Yes. The majority of people are stupid. One must always keep this in mind. A corollary to this is that no one believes himself to be stupid.

Do you include the merely ignorant in that majority? There is a difference between not knowing and not caring.
5. Have you noticed misspelled words that have nothing to do with 140 character length? (Today I saw somebody spell "do" as "dew";)

Of course. On LinkedIn, where one would hope a higher level of perfection is sought since it is primarily a business tool, I saw one person refer to himself as a "principle" of his company. It's refreshing to see people representing abstract ideas again, like in the Greek tragedies.

I recall a commercial where a manager showing a new employee his work station confidently assured him he would be able to figure everything out on his own. The employee responded, "It's OK; I have an MBA," prompting the manager to say, "Oh... you have an MBA... in that case, let me just get you started...." ;)
6. (Off topic) Are people whiny bitches on Facebook or what?

The majority of statements on Facebook are self-absorbed narcissistic bullshit.

Again, one of its primary purposes, if not THE primary purpose.
7. Has anybody ever called you a Grammar Nazi?

All the time. I like to take the analogy another step and say that I'm the Führer of the Grammar Reich, may it last a thousand years.

Seriously, whatever happened to the BSG?
8. Has Twitter and texting eroded proper grammar for today's youths?

Since we're discussing grammar, I would note that you have a plural subject with a singular verb form, and that "youth" is a collective noun better left in the singular (though that last point is really more a stylistic choice). I believe that the failure begins in the educational system, and social media are nothing more than a reflection of this failure.

Refer to my response to Nate. Tell me again why nested threads are better than paged threads. ;) Also: My Cousin Vinny. :P
9. Have you succumbed to the 140 character shortcuts? How often do you text or tweet this way?

I do not use Twitter. I loathe sending SMS messages, but prior to getting a smart phone I did abbreviate out of irritation (e.g., "can i c u b4 2mrw?" ). However, this was the result of having a numeric keypad only.

I hate that.
10. Were there any grammatical mistakes in this survey?

Yes. I just told you.

I dispute that for the reasons elsewhere stated, but am open to correction if shown to be in error. :)
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This message last edited by Joel on 05/10/2011 at 08:56:22 PM
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Grammar junkies Dark Knight - 05/10/2011 06:46:31 PM 1003 Views
I'm not always sure that I'm correct, but.... nossy - 05/10/2011 07:04:13 PM 694 Views
I didn't see any errors Dark Knight - 05/10/2011 07:24:27 PM 674 Views
Re: I didn't see any errors nossy - 06/10/2011 03:14:07 PM 551 Views
You mean ... Nate - 06/10/2011 03:58:32 PM 602 Views
Must ... have ... grammar. Nate - 05/10/2011 07:53:34 PM 861 Views
For you and Tom as well, the same question about question eight. Joel - 05/10/2011 08:33:39 PM 1077 Views
Tom can probably give you actual terms and correct rules, but here's my take on it. Nate - 05/10/2011 08:43:47 PM 634 Views
Er...yes I meant them as a singular idea... *NM* Dark Knight - 05/10/2011 08:47:34 PM 414 Views
Use them together, and only together, for fifteen years and we can discuss this again. *NM* Tom - 05/10/2011 09:32:30 PM 344 Views
That makes sense as far as it goes. Joel - 05/10/2011 09:02:42 PM 664 Views
But do you actually regard them that way? Nate - 05/10/2011 09:08:36 PM 655 Views
Yeah, pretty much. Joel - 05/10/2011 09:25:18 PM 612 Views
Re: Yeah, pretty much. Nate - 05/10/2011 09:29:33 PM 489 Views
OK then. Joel - 05/10/2011 09:59:50 PM 651 Views
No, Joel. You're just wrong. Again. Get used to it. We have. Tom - 05/10/2011 09:31:21 PM 566 Views
I can live with being wrong, at least in the sense of technical error. Joel - 05/10/2011 10:06:30 PM 660 Views
Let's just pare this down to the bare bones. Tom - 06/10/2011 01:37:30 AM 520 Views
He made a mistake that I did not recognize as a mistake because I read his words as he intended. Joel - 06/10/2011 04:43:39 AM 672 Views
You bring up a point that I was researching the other day Dark Knight - 05/10/2011 08:53:40 PM 711 Views
You guys mean a hyphen, not a dash. Rebekah - 05/10/2011 09:00:25 PM 653 Views
You're right of course! Nate - 05/10/2011 09:13:44 PM 724 Views
I frequently am. Rebekah - 05/10/2011 09:16:38 PM 730 Views
So I've noticed. Nate - 05/10/2011 09:19:38 PM 647 Views
I like telling people, too. Rebekah - 05/10/2011 09:34:50 PM 635 Views
You can use charmap. Joel - 05/10/2011 10:21:32 PM 683 Views
Re: You guys mean a hyphen, not a dash. Stephen - 06/10/2011 01:15:02 PM 602 Views
Mmm, dashing. Nate - 05/10/2011 09:02:53 PM 640 Views
Emdashing is an entirely different form of punctuation. Joel - 05/10/2011 09:07:36 PM 691 Views
Achtung! Grammatik! :insert Nazi-saluting smiley as the Wehrmacht marches by: Tom - 05/10/2011 08:10:45 PM 753 Views
I love this bit. Nate - 05/10/2011 08:26:52 PM 758 Views
Bring back the BSG! Joel - 05/10/2011 08:55:32 PM 674 Views
Re: your 2nd irritating error for question 2 Sareitha Sedai - 06/10/2011 04:12:49 PM 622 Views
Good poll, especially for this site. Joel - 05/10/2011 08:11:10 PM 743 Views
Re: serial comma. Nate - 05/10/2011 08:31:58 PM 640 Views
Maybe I was being a little anal there. Joel - 05/10/2011 08:35:33 PM 602 Views
Same here Dark Knight - 05/10/2011 08:43:34 PM 538 Views
I think it's conventional to use a comma before "etc". Rebekah - 05/10/2011 08:55:11 PM 615 Views
Re: Grammar junkies random thoughts - 05/10/2011 08:33:06 PM 652 Views
Re: Grammar junkies Dark Knight - 05/10/2011 08:49:43 PM 705 Views
People should talk in a way that can be understood, else they are not communicating. Joel - 05/10/2011 09:17:37 PM 693 Views
Re: "everyone's". ~winky~ *NM* Nate - 05/10/2011 09:22:18 PM 329 Views
Is it time for my lecture on superfluous apostrophes again? Joel - 05/10/2011 09:43:47 PM 608 Views
You mean your lecture on "superfluous" apostrophes. Rebekah - 05/10/2011 09:53:31 PM 561 Views
As have I. Multiple times. *NM* Ghavrel - 05/10/2011 09:55:08 PM 295 Views
I am not stubborn, just true to my convictions. Joel - 05/10/2011 09:56:39 PM 815 Views
Unsurprisingly, I don't really agree with you at all on this point. :p Nate - 05/10/2011 10:29:59 PM 675 Views
I do not really think I am "right" on this one so much as "not wrong." Joel - 06/10/2011 12:01:36 AM 589 Views
But contradictions are inherent in the entire English language! Nate - 06/10/2011 01:25:39 AM 608 Views
Ghoti. Also, this is why Rebekah and don't argue this any more. *NM* Ghavrel - 06/10/2011 04:44:42 AM 292 Views
Sure, but not deliberate ones created by grammarians who know better. Joel - 06/10/2011 05:40:58 AM 609 Views
I'm going to listen to the others. Nate - 06/10/2011 06:17:18 AM 634 Views
Like I say, I appreciate exceptions when justified (and again, only claiming to be "not wrong." ) Joel - 06/10/2011 07:26:18 AM 529 Views
But you are wrong Sareitha Sedai - 06/10/2011 02:17:40 PM 661 Views
that is OK he is very good at being wrong *NM* random thoughts - 06/10/2011 03:43:23 PM 354 Views
I disagree. Joel - 07/10/2011 12:15:14 AM 608 Views
How utterly unsurprising Sareitha Sedai - 07/10/2011 02:21:38 PM 555 Views
"We want to be nothing if not persistent." Joel - 07/10/2011 02:39:19 PM 601 Views
Doesn't matter. Sareitha Sedai - 07/10/2011 03:12:14 PM 649 Views
Perhaps not, but it should, and I am not above being a lone voice crying in the wilderness. Joel - 08/10/2011 05:17:35 PM 696 Views
What. Zeeb - 06/10/2011 06:17:41 PM 703 Views
Those cases are not the same, because those words are already possessive in their own right. Joel - 06/10/2011 10:52:06 PM 696 Views
if you have trouble understanding my post it is more likely do to typing skills than grammar random thoughts - 05/10/2011 09:31:42 PM 611 Views
Likely so; I have the same problem, but usually when writing by hand. Joel - 05/10/2011 09:53:08 PM 595 Views
You called? Rebekah - 05/10/2011 08:53:54 PM 660 Views
Grammar schmammar! Avendesora - 05/10/2011 09:01:47 PM 738 Views
Wongy tip #77 Two Wongs - 05/10/2011 11:15:12 PM 600 Views
#1) I do not use NetSpeak while playing games, texting or using social media. TaskmasterJack - 05/10/2011 11:34:12 PM 606 Views
What about NateSpeak? *NM* Nate - 06/10/2011 04:01:08 PM 307 Views
I did use that once to tell the story of you and CNRedDragon going to see Ice Princess. *NM* TaskmasterJack - 07/10/2011 01:46:50 AM 307 Views
A timeless classic. Nate - 07/10/2011 01:53:36 AM 576 Views
Re: Grammar junkies wolfsister - 06/10/2011 01:17:28 AM 629 Views
Yes. Camilla - 06/10/2011 06:53:46 AM 562 Views
I forgot about "of" for "have." Joel - 06/10/2011 07:31:11 AM 600 Views
I try ironclad - 06/10/2011 09:18:29 AM 655 Views
I freebase split infinitives on a regular basis. Stephen - 06/10/2011 01:53:36 PM 533 Views
The split infinitive is not grammatically incorrect. Tom - 06/10/2011 02:04:34 PM 559 Views
I wish more people knew this. Rebekah - 06/10/2011 07:38:46 PM 551 Views
Junky Grammar. Sareitha Sedai - 06/10/2011 04:24:01 PM 544 Views
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