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I reserve the right to rant about whatever I damn well want in this section. Well, actually it's more of a personal opinion page, but you may see some angry rants from time to time.

April 15, 2007 - Grammar Nazis

Grammar Nazis piss me off. I'll be the first to admit it's important to be clear and concise in your writing, say exactly what you mean, in the clearest way possible, and don't confuse things with weird phrasing and such. But some of these people are just anal and critical, pointing out technical flaws in other people's work just to pat themselves on the back for being so damn clever.

The latest example I've seen was a woman who went way out of her way to point out the difference between "all of the sudden" and "all of a sudden". She says this is a pet peeve of hers because it's really supposed to be "all of a sudden", but so many people, even educated folk use "all of the sudden". Well forgive me for being an uneducated peon, Miss Grammar and Usage for the Non-expert, but I don't see how it makes a damn bit of difference. If it means the exact same thing to most people either way, what the hell is the big deal if you use a different phrasing than the so-called "correct" one? She goes on in this article about how it's merely an idiom anyway, which means there's no official correct way of saying it, but because people say it all different ways it pisses her off. And she calls them pretentious and pedantic. Wow.

She's not the only one either. I've seen this "pet peeve" in other places too. And it's always delivered with the haughty "You'd think they'd know this stuff by now" tone.

Now let me reiterate: I am not saying that grammar is not important. If you don't know the difference between "its" and "it's", I'll point it out to you. But I'll be helpful about it. It doesn't make me feel any more clever by doing so. I just want you learn something new and be a little clearer when you write. And you definitely won't hear me nit-picking the difference between phrases that mean the exact same thing either way, as though it's physically painful for me to read things done the wrong way or something.

If you're one of these people who feels offended by misusage of particular phrases, I ask you this: does it really bother you so much that the language is being "butchered", or are you just one of these people who gets a hard-on from being right all the time? Are you really trying to be helpful, or are you just looking for another opportunity to jump up on the "Smartest Person in the Universe" pedestal? If clarity of language was all that's important to you, you wouldn't have even noticed "all of the sudden". You'd be too focused on what the person actually has to say.

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