I came across an article, complete with very cute graphics by the author herself, in my daily Summify feed that made me smile. It began with the shortening of words, such as “u” for “you” and such. The article then focused largely on the use of “alot” instead of “a lot”. It is two words!!! It’s a fun and light post but of course, there are always a select few who take offense and have to argue. Here is one of the comments to her post (sorry, I don’t censor direct quotes – even when they come from anonymous people):
huh… to be honest, I completely disagree. I think its interesting how as time changes so does speech and rhetoric. The means to which we communicate and the shear volume of communication that we share these days lends itself to “mistakes” and changes. What I think is even more interesting is the anger and intolerance that arises from these grammatical “errors”. I understand that we’re taught right and wrong from a very early age but I question the powerful energy that this generates in the wrong direction. What if these people haven’t been dealt the fine education that you obviously have? And when it comes down to it, the goal of communication is the transmission of ideas. As long as the message is not misunderstood, than who the fuck cares? I have to wonder whether this type of intolerant mindset carries over to other facets of life… hmmm… scary.
Really?! While grammar errors amuse me (some do get under my skin), I am not intolerant. So if we continue to make these “mistakes” enough, they will become acceptable changes? Are they going to teach you in school that it is equally acceptable to use “u” in place of “you” when writing that college essay? I highly doubt that. I do wonder if this is how “can not” became acceptable when the word is actually “cannot”. I’m pretty sure this is how “ain’t” came to exist in the dictionary (frequent use). If that’s a contraction for “am not”, why isn’t it just “an’t”? But I digress…
The anonymous writer of this comment asks, “What if these people haven’t been dealt the fine education that you obviously have.” I don’t know about the writer of the article, but most grammar-particular people do take things like that into account. GEESH! We’re not monsters! Not only lack of education, but where you were raised. There is one that I hear quite often from people in the midwest and extreme southeast and that is the use of the word “seen” in place of “saw”. Remember the “have, has, or had” rule?
I see it.
I saw it.
I have seen it. (or … I’ve seen it.)
There’s another one I’ve pointed out in the past that I never thought of until I saw it in writing: “I should of done that.” Interesting! I guess we’ve made a contraction out of “should (could or would) have” so much (should’ve, etc.) that it actually sounds like that.
I think I’ll end on that note. I could’ve gone on and on and on, including pointing out my own grammatical errors. It’s true! While there are some that stick out like sore thumbs to me, I make plenty of my own mistakes as well. So while I put this out there for all to read, these are just things I notice. I can’t help that any more than I can help feeling closed in and hyper-sensitive to people bumping into me in a crowded space or someone’s knees in my back when jammed into bleachers. 
I think we’ll be squeezing in more Jag time anyway, and she did say she preferred how it handled over the Sonata the one time she drove it. I’ll be sure to take it off sport mode first! The biggest thing to her advantage in the Jag are the adjustable pedals.
