Garr's Grammatical Rants

Garr · Post by **Garr** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 8:20 pm

Okay. I'm opening myself up for tons and tons of punches and jabs for this one. I know it. I'm going to do it anyway. I'm not an English expert. I don't claim to be. I'm using this thread to point out errors that piss me off. Errors piss me off when I know that I (and any others in the FWCS system) have been learning and repeating since somewhere near the second grade.

There are reasons that other countries think that we're a bunch of dumb hicks; a bunch of stupid Americans: we are. We, as a whole, can barely manage to spew out our own language while most other countries are multi-lingual as a survival requirement.

Garr · Post by **Garr** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 8:21 pm

your
and
you're

The word your is a pronoun used to denote possession. It is used in a sentence below.

Please don't get your winkie stuck in a pickle slicer.

The word you're is actually a contraction of a pronoun and a state of being verb. It denotes that a person is in a particular state or is performing some action. It is used in a sentence below.

Youâ€™re not worth the oxygen you breathe.

Here is another sentence for you all.

Your skill as a musician means nothing to me if youâ€™re an idiot who canâ€™t follow simple grammar rules that most people learned in elementary school.

fragile_funk · Post by **fragile_funk** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 8:38 pm

Haha! I love grammar-based anger!

DELETED · Post by **DELETED** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 8:43 pm

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Garr · Post by **Garr** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 8:52 pm

Our thoughts are only as good as our ability to communicate them to others. Otherwise, you're nothing better than a mute philosopher. Language, as it is, certainly contains flaws and creates barriers as well, but it is our primary means of communication.

You view structure as a means of oppression, but I disagree with you. It's a means to meeting the goal of equality. When these are the things being taught in public schools, to which everyone is given equal opportunity, how can it be oppression?

Poor writing shows a poor mind in my opinion. Life is in the details and they are as important under the microscope as they are in the macroscope. I hardly consider myself a pedant for asking people to have some respect for themselves when presenting their ideas to me in written form.

Garr · Post by **Garr** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 9:01 pm

Arkface wrote:"there's no right way to talk or write"

This statement has made me think, a lot. I pretty much agree with it. There is really no right or wrong anything. There are simply the accepted or standarized means for doing. I, for one, don't really support standards or mass acceptance which makes me a bit of a hypocrite, I know.

I do, though, subscribe to some of them. I enjoy writing. It helps me to sort my thoughts and review them. I enjoy it to nearly no end. Because of that, I cling on to the rules that have been set before me as a means to do so. I would love to buck them occasionally and give way to artistic expression. I'm not that talented.

DELETED · Post by **DELETED** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 9:06 pm

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Garr · Post by **Garr** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 9:23 pm

I follow what you're saying. I'm not sure that I buy the whole cow, but I'll take a side of beef. I had the opportunity to work for the son of the psychologist who was the expert on the Menedez brothers' trial. He had some very interesting things to say about communication in general.

Language is really our most inefficient, but most easily classifiable I'm sure that it could easily be argued that language is probably the least influencial means of communication. Physical and inflection communication tell most of the story. The words themselves, are but shells for a greater meaning.

=^-..-^= · Post by **=^-..-^=** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 12:05 am

Writing is like music; learn the rules before you break them.

. . . and have a good reason to break them, if you do.

Okay, let's look at Zinn's 'gatekeeper theory.' Most social change occurs when the gatekeeper class - professors, doctors, teachers, lawyers, entrepreneurs, etc,. are agitiated out of their comfort zone. The biggest agitators are those who RISE to gatekeeper status from lower ranks, ex: MLK, Malcolm X, Caesar Chavez, etc.

How do you change the system (throw down this 'man') if you fill out your resume / college application in crayon?

Learn 'the man's' language. Rise up in 'the man's' world. That's where you will change your world; and it all starts with communication.

MrSpall · Post by **MrSpall** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 12:10 am

Garr wrote:Arkface wrote:
"there's no right way to talk or write"

This statement has made me think, a lot. I pretty much agree with it. There is really no right or wrong anything. There are simply the accepted or standarized means for doing. I, for one, don't really support standards or mass acceptance which makes me a bit of a hypocrite, I know.

I'd like to focus on this part of the argument as it is, to me, the most intriguing. That language is a standard and accepted means of communication is no reason to dismiss it out of hand. In fact, it's standardization allows for us to communicate and even have this discussion.

Were it not for the standardization of language, how would I know that the background on the computer I'm using is blue? Perhaps in the utterly un-standard language I choose to use, I call this color 'trifflix'. Now if I wrote a passage in my own language I could say things like - "X milliget blarn n greilt jint gre triflix%" Perhaps that's the start of the poem I shall write in my own langugae. It's not standard so it's better right Arkface?

But what did I just say? I know it, but no one else understands it. Without using standard language, I just communicated something to absolutely no one. Standardization of language isn't evil - it's a necessary tool.

BTW "The monitor glared a bright shade of blue."

echosauce1 · Post by **echosauce1** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 2:41 am

not sure what your all persons are saying their

I thought the only way to communicate anymore was to throw money around.

Seems to work from what I see on the tv news stuff. Ain't that what there all caring about anyways?

echosauce1 · Post by **echosauce1** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 2:49 am

BTW, I'm not just trying to be a jackass. If you doubt me just watch a certain president give a speech sometime.

Garr · Post by **Garr** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 7:31 am

@ The Cupcake Shake (aka MrSpall)

Standardization is a necessary tool. I think that I cover that in my above rants. I think that a free mind, a true mind, is one which transcends those bounds though. I thought your poem was beautiful even though I didn't understand it. I think the same way of a great deal of art also.

As humans, we seek to define and classify things. We have this exploration or discovery complex imbedded deep within us. We want to break secrets in half and tear the universe into pieces so that we may someday understand the truth of existence. Well, I have a different philosophy on that. The truth of existence is existing. Does it help me in my daily life to know that most the people I will encounter call a knife by the same name? You bet. So when someone yells at me, "get that knife away from the lady's neck or I will shoot you full of lead," I understand well enough to avoid a belly full of bullets.

Garr · Post by **Garr** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 7:31 am

echosauce1 wrote:not sure what your all persons are saying their

I want to kill you right now. Seriously? Seriously.

flapjacks · Post by **flapjacks** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 10:06 am

im not a big grammar guy or punctuation guy either

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Garr's Grammatical Rants

Garr's Grammatical Rants

Your and You're