Grammar is important
Tim Mulcrone
Issue date: 2/5/03 Section: Opinion
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The cruel fist of irony came slamming down on David Lewandowski in June of 1999 when he failed to spell “opsimath” correctly in the 72nd annual Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee.
This is too unbelievable for even me to make up; opsimath is a word used to describe a person who learns something too late in life.
Insert crying 14-year-old here.
Now, I hope that Lew-dawg has not fallen into that downward spiral of sex and drugs that has surely claimed the lives of many spelling bee losers because the kid can probably form a sentence at his age better than a lot of 30-year-olds.
I don’t walk around and speak Arthurian English, and truth be told, I am rather crude and rely on profanity as an enhancer more often than not.
However, I know how to correctly use “there,” “their” and “they’re” or “to” and “too.” And nothing gets my skin crawling more than someone who asks, “Can you borrow me five bucks?” No it’s not the money; it’s using “borrow” in the place of “lend” or “give” when in fact “borrow” is about the last word that makes any sense.
I use an Internet message board to follow around some of my favorite bands and sometimes people get angry at the words on the screen and feel inclined to start some sort of virtual fight by posting insults and what not. Just this last week one kid thought he had a real zinger in repeatedly calling someone a “flammer.”
Now, I have no idea what the heck a flammer is but the only thing that comes to mind is that 1920s dance girls called flappers.
Seriously, if we can’t even insult people using correct English, what has the world come to?
I think that misuse of English is a serious problem because at the end of the day, our common language is the base of society.
Without it, society could not function properly let alone prosper or communicate.
Correcting your grammar isn’t that tough either, all you have to do is stay awake in English class.
Then again, that’s easier said than done. Maybe I should just borrow you my grammar.
This is too unbelievable for even me to make up; opsimath is a word used to describe a person who learns something too late in life.
Insert crying 14-year-old here.
Now, I hope that Lew-dawg has not fallen into that downward spiral of sex and drugs that has surely claimed the lives of many spelling bee losers because the kid can probably form a sentence at his age better than a lot of 30-year-olds.
I don’t walk around and speak Arthurian English, and truth be told, I am rather crude and rely on profanity as an enhancer more often than not.
However, I know how to correctly use “there,” “their” and “they’re” or “to” and “too.” And nothing gets my skin crawling more than someone who asks, “Can you borrow me five bucks?” No it’s not the money; it’s using “borrow” in the place of “lend” or “give” when in fact “borrow” is about the last word that makes any sense.
I use an Internet message board to follow around some of my favorite bands and sometimes people get angry at the words on the screen and feel inclined to start some sort of virtual fight by posting insults and what not. Just this last week one kid thought he had a real zinger in repeatedly calling someone a “flammer.”
Now, I have no idea what the heck a flammer is but the only thing that comes to mind is that 1920s dance girls called flappers.
Seriously, if we can’t even insult people using correct English, what has the world come to?
I think that misuse of English is a serious problem because at the end of the day, our common language is the base of society.
Without it, society could not function properly let alone prosper or communicate.
Correcting your grammar isn’t that tough either, all you have to do is stay awake in English class.
Then again, that’s easier said than done. Maybe I should just borrow you my grammar.