Grammatically Speaking

Let me insert a big ol' giant disclaimer here--I love good grammar, but I don't get all squirrely about grammar mistakes, either. So I'd better not see ONE comment from y'all saying how you're so worried to leave a comment now because I'm going to go grammar-nazi on you, okay?  I just got some of you lurkers to come out of the closet, for Pete's sake!

I had such an interesting response to this post about proper grammar that I thought I should explain to you why good grammar runs so deeply in my blood. 

My mom is an English teacher.  "Ahhhhh," you're saying, "NOW I get it."

I grew up in a rural Arkansas town where poor grammar is as much a part of life as Friday night football.  Combine the two, and you had the weekly chant from the stands, as the refs carefully measured a play, "MOVE THEM CHAINS!  MOVE THEM CHAINS!"  Not my mother.  She instructed my brother and me that our family chants, "MOVE THOSE CHAINS!  MOVE THOSE CHAINS!"  We stood out a little, but around our house, it was appropriate to fall on your sword for good grammar. 

And it rubbed off on me, definitely.  The most romantic thing that happened to me in adolescence was a secret admirer who, for a period of a couple of weeks, covered my '78 powder blue Pontiac Grand Prix with flowers overnight, every night, as it sat in our driveway.  The first morning, when my mother and I dashed out to investigate, we snagged the note that was tucked under the windshield.  It read,

Shannon,

These are for you; I hope you enjoy them. 

E.B.T.

My mother and I, equally giddy, looked at each other and squealed, "HE USED A SEMI-COLON!"

So it should come as no surprise that my sweet Joseph crawled into my lap sniffling last week.  "Mom," he whimpered, "I hurt my toe badly." 

"Oh, sweet boy," I said, rubbing his foot.  "I'm so proud of you for using an adverb."

Comments

[peach]

Our kids are in the same boat, Shannon. Daddy's the English, History, and Bible teacher. Mama's the writer/editor/proofreader. This leaves them no wiggle room on many fronts. Once they were out of diapers, "tween be you and me" was a thing of the past : )

[mom2fur]

My folks weren't English teachers or anything like that. But I used to be an editor and I can't help picking out spelling errors. On Sunday, my husband and I drove by a hotel with a sign outside. Can you believe they spelled the name of their own hotel wrong?

[Sarah Cool]

Shannon, I'm cracking up. My mom is also a high school English teacher, and I grew up in very rural Ohio...... "ain't," unfortunately, IS a word where I grew up. I used to get teased by my friends because you could hear all of my consonants... but thanks to growing up in a less than perfect grammar-using-town, most folks' mistakes float right by me... but my kids WILL SPEAK CORRECTLY! And spell "a lot" correctly as well. :-)

[pass the torch]

That is really funny. I have a master's degree, but use words incorrectly all the time, and recognize it later. So I'm always updating my posts, adding "ly" and apostrophes everywhere.

And googling words like "aficionado" to get the spelling.

But usually, my typos, misprints, goofups and idiocies are out there for all the world to see -- for at least a day.

And I do NOT use semicolons. They are just too confusing.

So please feel free to proofread my site, I'll take all the corrections I can get;)

[julie]

Back in the 7th grade, I lived in Arkansas with an aunt and uncle for a year. During english class one day, we were told to write sentences using certain words. One of the words was "done".

My friend, Vivian, used the word in this sentence: "I done did it."

I told her that her sentence was incorrect. She told me I was crazy. To settle the matter, we both marched up to the teacher's desk, where she took one look at Vivian's paper, and read aloud. "I done did it." Then she looked at me in all sincerity and said "That's correct!"

It was a rough year for a young writer-wanna-be in a small Arkansas town.

[the womom]

lol. I was an English major. I like commas, fragments and dashes--but I *know* the rules; it's a stylisitc choice!
I think I would faint if I saw my husband or any of his Engineer-type friends use a semi-colon appropriately.

[Lauren]

I readily admit - I have no clue - when it comes to grammar. I'm more than happy to learn though. So, really? A lot is two words? Huh?

[Susanne]

Lol! I love it when children talk so grown up! Ok, I've probably got lots of errors in two little sentences, right? LOL!

[granolaGirl]

That's too funny... (not two, or to, but too). Thanks for making me laugh this morning!

[Lari]

LOL Shannon! It was the same way at our house. My mom grew up in southern Louisiana, south of New Orleans. My grandmother was a stickler for good grammar and correct pronunciation...my mom was too. I guess it's just passed down.

[Jen]

Hahaha, this made me laugh.

I'm a grammar stickler as well. My daughter is most likely going to start speaking in sentences sometime in the next year and when she does, it wouldn't surprise me if she said something wrong and I corrected it gently out of habit.

Oh, my poor baby girl. She has a true Grammarian for a Mommy. :)

[barbie]

Boy could I learn a lesson or two from you! I have horrible grammer and spelling:0

[aggiejenn]

We are kindred spirits, Shannon. I used to teach high school English, so I recognize a lot of errors. (I make a lot of them, too, by typing too quickly and not proofreading!)

[Nancy]

Ah, a fellow Arkie!
Please.....you must tell me where you grew up as I am from south Arkansas and moved to Kentucky 2 years ago. (that is a different dialect of its own!)
I was blessed to have very strong English teachers in high school and college and to this day, I am a pathological proofreader!
My daughter is an English major, senior level, at Emory University in Atlanta. She plans to enter public relations, not teaching, but I am tickled she chose English!
Can't wait to hear where you are from!
By the way, I love your blog!!

[Michelle-This One's for the Girls]

My husband's mother was (still is) an English teacher in rural Arkansas too. Now we live in a rural Missouri town--and the legacy continues. My husband's mantra is: "Others may; you cannot." :)

[not-so-deep Denise]

Poor ole Arkansas - always getting the raw deal. Or maybe it's just the truth.

I, too, lived in rural Arkansas (isn't it all rural?) and I went to college there, too. Do tell Shannon, where is your hometown?

[Chappyswife]

Yes, I always have an eye out for this, but don't always speak or write properly for effect, ahem, yes, that's it. That being said, I am so often on the computer late at night that I cannot be held accountable for spelling or grammatical errors. Those word verifications tear me up at 1:00 a.m.!

[Tammy]

Oh, this was a cute post! :)

As a sort-of writer, I at least try to use correct grammer in my writing...but in speaking? Well, not so much!
Well, OK...even in my writing I mess up sometimes.

I'm still working on some things with my seven year old...I just last month I finally got her to stop pronouncing "heard" as "heered"...you know, the past tense of hear should be hear-ed. There was a part of me that wanted to keep hearing (pronounced Hear-ing) her say it though...it was SO cute and made me think she was still little. But I figured it wouldn't be so cute when she hit her teens! ;)

[meredith]

One of the reasons I started my blog was for excersizing my english. After 15 years in France, I feel my grammar and spelling skills slipping away.

[Barb]

I am very impressed that your child is so adverbally advanced! Uh oh. I'm gettin' outta here. :-)

[Chris]

My dear Mother-in-Law is a real grammer expert. She notices ANY mistake.

I was tempted on my wedding day to replace "I do" with "Me do".

Just for fun.

:-)

[Stacey]

I dun't no what yu ben talkin bout hear!

Just kidding, I hate when people use bad grammar!

[Mama Koch]

Just 'cuz we educated duznt mean we always uze currect engelish....

love your blog...just found it!

[GranMarty]

Then you will LOVE this fun little comma quiz:

http://eatsshootsandleaves.com/ESLquiz.html

[the sassy lime]

lol - those grammar stories are so cute.

[Jenny]

That is GREAT! I love correct grammer as well, and my husband is a grammer SNOB... So he loves it when Abby uses a word correctly! :-) Thanks for the giggle!

[Clemntine]

I occasionally have the privelege of speaking to women at ladies' retreats. My bio actually says, "Her hobbies include cooking, crochet and using semicolons."

No joke.

[Jen]

You must get the Eats, Shoots & Leaves: Why, Commas Really Do Make a Difference! book for your son! (I can't figure out how to italicize or underline the title.) For those of you who aren't familiar with it, the book is a children's version with pictures illustrating the importance of comma placement. I'm an elementary teacher and a fellow grammarian! Hooray for the parts of speech and for punctuation! (Remember to use parallel structure...)

[Heather]

That is too cute!

[Christine]

It looks like you have a bunch of grammar nerds commenting here, me included. My hubby is a self-proclaimed grammar disaster. I am the lucky one; I have the privilege of proofing (and often writing) his reports for work. I cracked up when you mentioned your son and his adverb. Good for him!

[Heather]

Yup, the parents are teachers on both sides here (meanin my own and my hubby's). That doesn't mean we are perfect but it does mean that colloquialisms are a no go in our house. Growing up we were the only family that didn't say bath instead of bathe and warter instead of water. Now it means that we are the only family in the area that doesn't call soda pop, pop.

[Tess]

My parents weren't English majors, but both were very well read, and sticklers for good spelling and vocabulary. I never got below a 95% on a spelling test. Mom's pet peeves were people who say "refer back" and say "expecially" instead of especially. And "axed" instead of "asked" We never were allowed to say "Uh huh", it was "Yes, Ma'am." (in capital letters, no less)

And I married a man who cannot spell at all. It drives me up the proverbial wall.

[boomama]

"Move them chains" cracked me up.

And your encouragement re: adverb usage warms my heart in ways I cannot even explain.... :-)

[Semicolon]

I'm glad you like semicolons; maybe I can warm your heart by using one now. :)

[Mommy Dearest]

Hey! I'm from Arkansas, too! I had an aunt from Texas who was an English teacher. She would correct letters that were sent to her and mail them back, corrected, to the sender!

[Laurel Wreath]

It says I am a "stickler" but I AM SO NOT!!!

[Faith]

Hubby's Mimi was a teacher and she never allowed sny one to say "where are you at"? She'd always say "between the A and the T".

I grew up in south alabama, and we ain't big on grammar or none of that other high fa-lutn' english stuff- can you tell?

[Brenda]

RE: Mommy Dearest. I have SO been tempted to do that!

[Nancy]

Okay, not sure how many of the posted Arkie natives will be back to see this but if you do, PLEASE tell where you are from originally. I will be brave and start by telling you I am from Bradley County. First, Hermitage and then Warren. Any of you know of it or perhaps lived nearby?
I MISS Arkansas! Never thought I would say that when I lived there but now I know what I was taking for granted. *sigh*

[Dianne]

Another (former) teacher end. My HS English teacher used to hate the non-word "alot" - I still cringe when I see it written.

Just last night I watched the Seinfeld episode where Elaine and her new boyfriend had a big tiff over the use of an exclamation point in a phone message he took (actually the lack thereof)! Quite funny.