The family saw Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Excellent Movie!) and then went to dinner. As we waited for our dessert, I quizzed him on how to spell the homonyms to, too, and two in context. I would give him a sentence (I and these two are coming along. I'm coming too. Where to next?) and asked him the correct spelling. He passed with flying colors. But when I broached the subject of stating "me to" on Facebook, he countered by saying that nobody notices or cares.
"Why is it such a big deal to you?" He asked. "People don't read that and automatically think I'm an idiot."
"I'm sure it crosses their minds." I replied. "Let's take a poll."
So we are in the process of a Facebook poll. Over the past three hours, 25 people have "voted" for me, that replacing "too" with "to" bugs them a little. The Teenager has garnered one vote, that it does not annoy them or they don't notice. (To add insult to injury, when I made a friendly jab on his facebook page, his response was "Quite" instead of "Quiet." Poor Teenager)
This was one of those moment when I thought I would feel really good after I won the argument. I had solid proof that I was right. The Teenager functionally conceded when he said he should probably start being more careful with his online grammar. And yet, I don't feel so great. I shouldn't be surprised; interventions have a traumatic effect on everyone involved.
I expressed to the Teenager that I didn't actually feel so great about winning the argument. "Really!" He said with surprise. "I would have."
Humph. Well, I guess I don't feel so bad after all!
Web Site Hit Counters
I recognize that there is a difference between a typo and a grammatical error. Having said that:
ReplyDelete"(Excellent Movie!)" (No need to capitalize either word.)
""Why is it such a big deal to you?" He asked." (The H in He should be lower case.)
"This was one of those moment when" (Moment should be plural. This is a typo and not deliberately failing on your part, like the previous two, but I still felt you should be aware.)
"I'm sure it crosses their minds." I replied. (The period after 'minds' should be a comma."
Your friend in Christ,
Craigy
(John 8:7)
Sadly, careful grammar seems to be a thing of the past. The teenager, as well as millions of others, should realize that what is posted on-line is going to exist in a virtual forever. Future employers, co-workers, potential spouses, and even an arch nemesis or two could easily search him out on-line and recoil in horror at his poor grammar. Grammar rocks, 'nuf said!
ReplyDeleteQuite Craigy. You've missed the point. Although you are accurate, as I just scoured the CMS Manual I happen to have here at my home. In another sense, you've also strengthened my point: like a normal human being, I feel embarrassed at all my grammatical mistakes, as opposed to Teenager, who believed nobody noticed.
ReplyDeleteAnd for those of you too lazy to look up John 8:7: John 8:7 (New International Version, ©2010) "When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” "
Well played, Craigy, well played. (Is Teenager paying you?)
AND - Thank you KT! May your nuts avoid the errors of my Teenager!