Grammatical Complacency

If you know me, or have looked at the description of the blog, you know that I am indeed a nerd. I spent an entire ride today listening to grammar rules to ensure my superiority on the subject. Much to my dismay, some of the rules are being changed. Perhaps changed is the wrong word. Rules are being disregarded, ignored, and subverted due to the general malaise and communicative ineptitude of society.

How far must we sink into depravity before we hit bottom?

You are probably thinking this is not a big deal and I am just a curmudgeon. I am a curmudgeon, but this is a serious matter. What are a few prepositions here and a misplaced object there? It is not that the rules have evolved, it is how they have evolved. The proper rules were dropped as a result of people not following them. This is not the democratization of grammar as some have argued. This was a junta run by imbeciles. The finer points of speech are being lost as the common speaker becomes more and more lazy. The interchangeability of done and finished has grown so ubiquitous that correction is almost no longer warranted. Sure, I still correct Ranger thus ensuring that he can one day look back, forlornly, at the golden age of grammar when rules were cut and dry and roasts were done while tasks were finished.

I will not go into every example of lost rules and how I lament the end of an era. I will only say that sentences should not end in prepositions, a noun following a linking verb should be in the subjective form, and the adverb hopefully should not begin a sentence. I am hopeful that one day people will remember when working with quantifiable entities that fewer is the noun of choice where as when dealing with measurements one should choose to use less.

It is said that ignorance is bliss. Well, I would have had a more blissful day if I would have remained ignorant to the speaking patterns of the unlearned and the denigrating effects they are having on grammatical expectations.

Lastly, nauseous means you are emanating a smell that is making others nauseated. Is that really what you are trying to say? As Inigo told Vizzini, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."