Grammar

Being from the south...and living here my entire life means I have an accent. At least those in other parts of the country (or world) think so. I cannot hear it myself but many of you would!

Having an ethnic or geographical accent is fine but it's no excuse for bad grammar! If you happen to be writing or telling a story and want to add local phrases for effect, that's fine. But when carrying on a conversation, writing a letter or e-mail, it is unacceptable.

I could list many mistakes that are regularly made in the course of a day but the one that absolutely drives me crazy is "at"...i.e. Where are you at? Grrrr...In this sentence "Where" means "At what location" are you? What's the purpose of using "at" again? Habit...a bad one at that! To say I hear this daily might be a slight exaggeration, no, really I do hear it almost daily.

Due to text messaging and e-mailing, we are rapidly loosing the ability to speak and write properly. These forms of communication are meant to convey information in the quickest way possible. Which means we are getting grammatically lazy!!! We use "u" for "you", "4" for "for", etc. While it might be acceptable in electronic messaging, in a conversation or letter, it only shows we haven't the time or don't respect the recipient enough to use proper English.

In the grand scheme of things, perhaps this is not a big deal to most. But, if we are lazy in small ways, we soon become lazy in big ways. Blogs, e-mails and the like may bounce around cyberspace forever! If someone in the future (say a grandchild) were to look over the things you have written in your life, what kind of impression will you make?

Stepping off my soapbox now!