I'm thinking that I've gone crazy. I'll never be the same.
You may know that I am a little obsessive about grammar. I will mock you and your advertisement if there is an error on it. But ultimately, I'm pretty forgiving because I realize everyone is human. And most people aren't as brilliant as I am.
I can forgive the misspelled flyers from our apartment complex. At our apartment barbecue tomorrow, we are having "deserts" (not desserts), which I'm looking forward to, as I've never eaten a desert.
I can forgive simple misspellings of homophones like that.
I can forgive problems in Facebook statuses that were obviously typed too quickly.
I was about to say I can forgive people who make plurals into possessives by adding an apostrophe, but that would be lying. I really can't forgive that one.
Example:
"Kitten's" when you are talking about two cat babies (that should be "kittens"), not one cat baby's mittens.
Come on people.
But I can kind of forgive doing that with some last names (even though that is incorrect), such as those ending with an s.
Example:
"That is the Thomas's house" when what you really mean is "That is the Thomases' house."
But I can't forgive:
"I just love the Monson's."
It should seriously be "Monsons", unless you mean you love their car, but then you should write "Monsons' car"
These are grammatical errors and some are forgivable, to varying degrees.
Other grammar things that I can understand but don't like include different press styles.
I know and love Chicago style, and, to me, the other press styles don't make sense in some cases.
The problem becomes most apparent in series. You know, a list of items?
Chicago style:
"I had toast, an orange, milk, bacon, and eggs and cheese for breakfast." (Meaning there was cheese gloriously incorporated with the eggs). See how the comma exists before the "and' of the final noun in the series. It just makes sense.
Other styles:
"I had a toast, orange, milk, bacon and eggs and cheese for breakfast." (How are we supposed to know if the bacon is gloriously incorporated with the eggs or the cheese is gloriously incorporated with the eggs?) It doesn't make sense and just adds confusion.
But I recognize that this is an accepted style, even though I don't like it.
I read it most often in news articles from reputable agencies and books from small, no-name presses.
But today I realized that there is one place I will never be able to escape the lack of a serial comma...
Facebook.
NOOOO!!!!
AHHHH!!! There should be a comma before the "and"! I'm going to die every time I see it.
I can change my Facebook into Spanish, Greek, Chinese, or Pirate, but I cannot change it into Chicago style.
Cry for me.
4 comments:
Lol. I hear you . Although, I'm sorry to say, I'm sure I've made my share of mistakes. But, I have those few little things as well that drive me insane. (As you know). I'm starting to think that you and I are the only ones that get bugged by such things. (Eh, you're right...It's because we're so brilliant). :)
that is very sad. that bothers me too, that part of grammar.
That's funny. I can't stand the extra comma before the and. It drives me nuts. You just don't need it. And this might be the last comment I ever leave on your blog. I'm too paranoid about making a grammatical error:)
I always thought that proper nouns that end in S were up for debate on correct possessive-ship-ness-creating.
When I was a child I learned that if the Francis family owned something you would write the Francis' cat. But then later in life I was taught that an extra "s" should be allotted, as in the Francis's cat. Which school of possessiveness do you belong to?
And what's your stance on then and than? Or there, they're, and their? Or the mythical word "supposably". ; )
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