A bitch, but less of one
I don't know if it's my English major background (I was a tutor in the writing center all through college), my current job which often makes me play the editor/proofreader role, or my natural perfectionism, but I think I am turning into a super snob about grammar and spelling. Now, up front I'll say that I know I don't always write perfectly, and many of these entries are likely littered with typos. As I've become more computer dependent, I've become more and more reliant on spell check. I type really, really fast, and I'm comfortable that I can go back and fix things. (Although spellcheck won't always come up for me when I'm creating a post - maybe a pop-up blocker thing.)
But I'm not talking about quick fingers that transpose letters, or inadvertent Freudian-like slips, or conversational grammar that doesn't follow every rule. I'm talking about constant and repeated mistakes that are clearly and obviously something the writer thinks is correct. Like this: on the weight loss forum I frequent, about half of the group spells "exercise" as "excersize." As you can imagine, it's a word that comes up a lot. I know I need to just ignore it and chill, but after awhile I get a bit crazed seeing it over and over and over. (It's not the only mistake constantly made over there, but it's the most glaring.) I know I can't say anything, and I feel bitchy even going on about it here, but hey... isn't that what blogs are for? To bitch about something you wouldn't say otherwise?
(Blogger spellcheck doesn't know "spellcheck." Ha!)
(My god, it doesn't know "Blogger" either.)
Milestone - as of this morning, I've lost 20 lbs on my new program. That's in almost 9 weeks, so a respectable 2 lb a week average. Yippee!
But I'm not talking about quick fingers that transpose letters, or inadvertent Freudian-like slips, or conversational grammar that doesn't follow every rule. I'm talking about constant and repeated mistakes that are clearly and obviously something the writer thinks is correct. Like this: on the weight loss forum I frequent, about half of the group spells "exercise" as "excersize." As you can imagine, it's a word that comes up a lot. I know I need to just ignore it and chill, but after awhile I get a bit crazed seeing it over and over and over. (It's not the only mistake constantly made over there, but it's the most glaring.) I know I can't say anything, and I feel bitchy even going on about it here, but hey... isn't that what blogs are for? To bitch about something you wouldn't say otherwise?
(Blogger spellcheck doesn't know "spellcheck." Ha!)
(My god, it doesn't know "Blogger" either.)
Milestone - as of this morning, I've lost 20 lbs on my new program. That's in almost 9 weeks, so a respectable 2 lb a week average. Yippee!
posted by medusa at 11:15 AM
2 Comments:
I am similarly obsessed with the use of "gonna" rather than going to. I have heard otherwise well-spoken journalists on NPR using it; it is completely pervasive. So I stubbornly say "going to" whenever the need arises, and have stricken "gonna" from my vocabulary.
That's a good one. I don't think I use "gonna" very often but I'm very guilty of using "kinda" and "sorta," both of which I should completely avoid since even in their formal forms, "kind of" and "sort of," they are the lazy way out.
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