Posted on 02/28/2013 8:40:02 AM PST by Shout Bits
Will Rogers famously wanted his epitaph to read "I never met a man I didn't like." I sometimes turn a joke on Mr. Rogers's line, and say "I have never met anyone with good grammar I did not like." Considering today's state of affairs, grammar is an unlikely metric for kinship. The nation is overrun with a socialist fever, unsustainable government obligations, and appalling corruption. Why should grammar sit with these important issues?
Man's greatest tool in building an environment to his liking is language. Every success employs communication and retrieval of archived knowledge. Employing Standard English is the least we can do to respect the foundation of society.
Also, anyone using correct grammar is part rebel. Grammar is not effectively taught in school, so anyone employing Standard English learned it elsewhere. Standard English is rarely spoken on the street, so its use is a conscious choice that sets grammar rebels apart. There are few rewards for tense agreement or proper gerund use, so the grammar rebel must do it for sport or to set an independent standard for himself. Those who claim to rebel by tattooing themselves or squatting with Occupy types are conformist and commonplace compared to a grammar rebel.
A happy nature of Standard English is its incompatibility with Political Correctness. Because the singular object is 'his,' and PC has no imagination, most people use 'their' (e.g. 'everybody lost their investments when Ponzi was arrested'). Anyone with common sense knows that when 'everybody' and 'his' are used together, females are implied. PC militants know this too, but their motive is thought control. In 1984, George Orwell warned that language laws could be used to limit expression and thought; yet the same PC autocrats that assign Orwell to their students practice the perversion of language for political gain with no apparent ironic guilt. Anyone who still speaks Standard English or dares to use anachronisms such as 'freshman' vs. 'first year student' is a rebel who must signal danger to the PC police. PC is about limiting thought and expression so that ideology falls in line. Standard English is sublime resistance.
Grammar rebels are independent thinkers beyond PC politics. NBC anchors butcher the tool of their trade nightly, as do most newscasters. NBC news president Steve Capus resigned this month, coincident with numerous ethical scandals, including fraudulent editing of tapes to make innocent people sound racist and generally insensitive. NBC actively lies to promote its agenda, a practice well beyond ordinary bias. Bias is inevitable and universal, but active campaigns of deception are inexcusable. When a grammar rebel rejects the language of Brian Williams, it shows that he is informing himself elsewhere.
Be a grammar rebel; employ Standard English. There may be no better way of demonstrating independent thought and values on a daily basis. There may not be enough time, and certainly not enough energy to fight PC and the socialist Old Media at every turn, but a grammar rebel can stand apart without hardly never trying.
Shout Bits can be found on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ShoutBits
I know that a preposition is not a good thing to end a sentence with. I have been known to occasionally split an infinitive. :=)
I know that a preposition is not a good thing to end a sentence with. I have been known to occasionally split an infinitive. :=)
hahahaha!
btw--i hear you... i've been doing the ellipses thing since i first started using email back in 1989 or so... and i would never do this in a formal email, corporate correspondence, etc... and even if i am sending a very causal email, i do take into consideration the recipient... if i think my casualness will come across as offensive, i opt for proper writing...
oh humblegunner... we've had this conversation numerous times... if those comments were coming from someone other than you, i would care... btw--do tell, my fellow drooling idiot, why do you not capitalize "humblegunner?"
p.s--i do not have the problem of being taken seriously here nor anywhere else... but you do have that problem... i witness it often...
"...between you and i." "she went off on you and i." "they will never make it without you and i." "those lowlifes are beneath you and i."
I understand now. That's a far cry from your initial statement. Your examples are single issue examples. It's more the simple misuse of "I vs me" than anything else.
.
yes--i admitted to not being clear in my initial response... i am in the middle of a couple of important tasks, but i wanted to share mis dos centavos... and i did it without being as thoughtful as i should have been... i am very sorry for both the inconvenience and the angst i have caused you...
Because when I first got the name, I couldn't afford any capital letters.
Why do you presume that you've caused me either angst or inconvenience?
It appears, judging by your caustic retort, more that you're simply miffed because somebody challenged you and forced you to clarify yourself.
But, then again, I could be wrong.
It appears you can’t afford much of anything.
Hear! Hear!
Send money.
i am very sorry... i am not at all miffed... i have no problem clarifying anything i am not clear about... i agree i was not clear, and indeed owed further explanation... rethinking this, i should not have used the word angst... it's just that because i was not initially clear, i caused you to go through the trouble of listing all of those pronouns, and caused you to think of ways in which, what i first said, would apply...
i appreciate your pointing out to me that what i first said did not make sense... i do not revel in trying to be "right," when i am not... i appreciate correction when and where i need it... so thank you for giving me the opportunity to explain myself... again, i am truly sorry...
...something we have in common!
What you’re missing can’t be purchased with money.
Thanks for clarifying that. I'm glad you aren't. I hope you can understand why, and how, I came to that presumption.
...I'm unconventional at the time and place of my own choosing.
That was my statement, not someone else.
You've assigned it, and attributed it, to the wrong person.
...something we have in common!
Perhaps.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.