Part-Time Grammar Snob....

I know I've mentioned several (a gazillion?) times on this blog that I am a self-professed grammar snob. I don't know what caused it, but I realize it started very early in my life. My step-father had the idea one time to have a "grammar jar," and every time someone caught someone else in the family in a grammatical error, the offender had to put a nickel in the jar. (Why isn't that word spelled "nickle"? Like "tickle"?) After about a week, he muttered something about me and/or my mouth, and he threw the jar out in the yard. When Mama and I went to church when I was a teenager, every time the (sort of country) preacher made a grammatical error, Mama and I would make eye contact, even if we were sitting all the way across the church from each other. Sigh. I realize that's a very un-Christian thing to do.

However, I would like to reassure my readers that I do NOT scour your comments looking for errors. I don't make corrections in emails and send them back. I don't correct spelling in text messages. (Well, occasionally from Sweet Girl, but she expects it.)

Hubby has some of the worst grammar you might ever hear from someone who is otherwise pretty intelligent. I suspect he knows better, but he has grown up saying, "I seen so-and-so yesterday..." and "You better believe he done it..." My mother considers it a horrible character flaw that I DON'T correct Hubby. I guess she thinks if the preacher was fair game, husbands should be too.

I do often make sarcastic remarks about spelling or grammar errors I see in print or on websites, because it is my opinion that those should be held to a higher standard than personal blogs and emails. There is a huge billboard along I-75 in South Georgia proclaiming that everyone should come to such-and-such a town "because of it's Southern charm." Egads! How many people did that advertisement have to go through for approval, and how much money did they spend on it, to have an egregious punctuation error in it? It's THAT kind of thing that bothers me, not the occasional misspelled word or punctuation error in personal emails or blogs or comments.

I was on the website for one of my favorite bicycle rides a couple of weeks ago, and I noticed the "it's" thing on their website too. Because the cycling association is in the county in which I grew up, I emailed someone and apologized for pointing out the error, but maybe they might want to fix that? The guy emailed me RIGHT BACK, I'm talking within 5 minutes, and thanked me for the message. Said he usually caught that kind of thing, and he would send it on to the proper person.

It still isn't fixed. I just checked. And I'm withholding my registration for that ride until they do.

NOT REALLY! I'll send in my registration at the end of the week. Because I'm pretty sure the website isn't going to fixed at this point. And I'll just have to get over it.

So please don't be afraid to leave me a comment or send me an email just because you're afraid you might make a mistake.

I don't judge my friends.