People assume that because I am an editor I am a Grammar Nazi. Not so! I’m probably more of a Grammar Hypocrite, or a Grammar Hippie (second definition.)
Sure, I can’t help noticing errors on menus and each time I hear a Coloradan say “more slower” I am tempted to run home–rather quickly–to Massachusetts. The grammatic gymnastics I hear daily are eye-popping. When people ask me though, I say I’m not really a big grammar person. I actually find it tedious and constrictive and I have very little enthusiasm for it. I loathed studying it in school. (Though please note my correct usage of the m dash and hyphen in this paragraph. I just read up on it.)
Like Stephen Fry, I delight in the creativity and evolution of language. This fantastically satisfying video, courtesy Michelle Bar-Evan, epitomizes my thoughts on the subject:
My time in Colorado has shown me that so called Proper English is just colloquial of a haughtier kind. People here think they are speaking “correctly,” which I find amusing, just as my Massachusetts English sounds more correct to me, but probably ear-grating to a Brit.
The other day someone said to me, “They think they know the language but they can’t hardly even speak it!” I catch myself falling into odd speech patterns myself, because when you work with people you start to mimic them. I did this with my British colleagues and now say “rather” a lot more, and I end my questions with rounded lilts. A co-worker from Kentucky made the phrase “Well, you know what you might could do,” want to fall off the tip of my tongue years later. I worry that if I go home people will be shocked and horrified that I sound like a hick, and I won’t even realize anymore.
And then I see the word of the day on Urban Dictionary and I toss my concerns in the trash. This crazy time we live in is just as explosively creative for our language as it was when Shakespeare was writing, before the status conscious writers of English grammars got a hold of it and made every effort to squeeze the life out of it. Did you realize English grammar that we know today is based on Latin grammar? Or that members of the British lower middle class wrote them to try and replicate upper class speech patterns in order to make a quick buck off would-be social climbers during the Industrial Revolution? English grammars were essentially the same as the “get rich quick” trash that is on shelves everywhere today.
Lightning strikes The Statue of Liberty. So much for freedom.
(I had to pause after that last statement. Am I still here? Yes. All right then, continue.)
I say drop the snottiness and join the fray. Contribute your own words to Urban Dictionary and delight in the vibrant world we live in. (And learn some grammar so you can write well when you want to, and so you can work on your grammar stalking skills.)
http://www.urbandictionary.com/
Let me know if you add any words. One I added a few years back was “defission,” a combination of depression and fission. I’m still trying to get around to adding “boyfriended.” That’s when a single friend suddenly disappears because of a new relationship.
Mysterious Artemis 
I have nominated you for the award please have a look as given below; http://justsimplyinlove.wordpress.com/2011/11/19/the-liebster-blog-award/
Thank you
Regards,
Zahir
The video is intellectualy dishonest. All it does is pick one side and then launch a mean-spirited ad hominem attack on the other side. He calls his opponents “stupid” and “losers”, characterizes their arguments as “whingeing”, and mentions positive things only to emphasize that his opponents do not possess them.
By the way, as long as we’re airing pet peeves, I have always hated the phrase “grammar Nazi”. It assumes that because people disagree with you on what is, let’s be honest, a fairly trivial issue, they’re comparable to the worst human beings who ever lived. That’s not right.
If we can agree that it’s a trivial issue, then why get riled up about someone who starts tossing the insults into the fray over it? People get peevish when they’re forced to expend more effort to understand another person’s attempt to communicate. Similarly, people don’t like it when they aren’t understood. It just breeds frustration and hurt feelings.
Those hurt feelings and frustrations get expressed with explicit pet peeves, thus leading to accusations of grammar nazis.
1: “You knew what I meant”
2: “But it wasn’t as easy to understand as it should/would/could have been.”
1&2: “Grrrr”
A linked video to the one our hostess posted caught my eye. A refreshingly humorous take on Grammar Nazis.
Language changes, it is not something that is objective but something subjective to each person.
1) “Let’s go on 3!”
2) “Wait, on 3 or after 3?”
… etc It’s great that we have a medium that lets us express our thoughts, concerns and musings with others. That instability can lead us to gathering new insights. Such as whether one sees people as naked or nude can tell you a lot about what the person is thinking and values (and of course, what may be drawing their attention).
Take a breath, relax, and try not to kill me for using too many commas.
Thanks Zahir! I will check it out. I appreciate you thinking of me!
MP-I think it is just so satisfying to hear someone eloquent trash talk grammarians, because usually the eloquent are on the other side of the fence. The sheer novelty!
Yakyakgak–This video is horrifying and hilarious all at once. I think I have probably had nightmares a lot like it…thanks for posting it! And no worries, aside from the untidy Oxford comma, which I avoid like the plague, I am guilty of over-commaing. (Now that is one ugly word!)
I’m glad you are all reading and commenting, I love it! Thank you!
If we can agree that it’s a trivial issue, then why get riled up about someone who starts tossing the insults into the fray over it?
Because insults are not appropriate to any discussion of ideas, trivial or otherwise.
If this speech is a genuine attempt to get people to consider the issue calmly, then it’s a failure. If it is, as Heather says, just trash talk, then it’s beneath Stephen Fry’s abilities and he should be ashamed of himself.
I still disagree. Trash talk has a long and dignified history, and is the defining style of our contemporary literary form of rap. Fry is just more British and distinguished than your average rap artist, so he snuck right by you with it. Fry is just bustin up rhymes and any arrogance on his part is wholly appropriate. 😉