Saturday, March 14, 2009

My New Favorite You Tube Channel: Steve's Grammatical Observations

Yes, my students will see this and other videos from the same guy and yes, sometimes the grammar I hear, read and see on signs and so forth sickens me. No, my grammar isn't perfect, but I do usually know when I've made a mistake; as long as one knows they sound stupid, as I often do, that makes it all OK (smile) in my book, but it's the ignorance that causes distress (saw vs. seen, especially vs. expecially, etc.). I will say, however, that I've learned not to judge people by their speech since we all have our own particular idiolect and not everyone exhibits their intelligence verbally. We all have different strengths and talents and for many, speech isn't one of them but this shouldn't stop them from speaking out and communicating. I admit that when it comes to things mechanical, I am definitely challenged but I still enjoy working with my hands, building things, etc.. Anyway, I realize that colloquial English is different than formal English BUT we should all practice our speaking and writing skills so as to be able to code switch effectively and easily.

By the way, I am NOT posting this during my romantic vacation getaway to NYC with Sarah, I simply created this and then scheduled it to automatically post on the 14th of March so as not to clog up the blog with too many consecutive posts. So, thanks to the wonders of technology, we'll be stomping through the streets of the Big Apple and this little grammatical musing will magically post at exactly 10:38AM Pacific Time which, now that I think of it, means it'll be 1:38PM in NYC. Interesting.

Anyhow, enjoy what will likely be the first of many posts with content from Steve's Grammatical Observations.

Update. After creating this post, my buddy sent
me a link to a ridiculously powerful and pricey
computer he found for sale on eBay. Sure enough,
there's an incorrectly used apostrophe:

6 comments:

Deanna said...

This is awesome! So awesome, that I think I'm going to post this on my blog b/c a lot of the blogs I read have this apostrophe problem. My grammar isn't perfect either but, this may be the perfect way to give a subtle hint :) Hope you're having a blast in NYC!

Spence said...

This is great. I look forward to watching more of these videos on your blog. I know I need to watch them. My biggest problems is switching from professional mode where my writing is much cleaner and proper to casual mode. I don't know why there is such a gap for me between the two, but it is certainly noticeable.

Anonymous said...

I have only one word to say. Amen.

c said...

Everyone need's to know these thing's (ok - just kidding. Doesn't hat just kill you to read?) I'm right with ya!

Christine said...

I was thinking about the use of contractions the other day. Didn't you remember old books and movies where the prim and proper school marm would scold her students for using contractions. Now they are so much a part of our language it sounds odd if you don't use the contraction. ...Just a thought.

Holly Moore said...

Hilariou's. THank's for the lesson on grammar.