Below is the link to a trailer for our horror spoof. :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdjbMnKxOWA
24 October 2010
04 October 2010
No. 29: You Should Know Better!
...and I do. That's kind of the problem. Let's be Grammar Nazis for a minute (mostly just cuz it's fun), and address something I've never heard anyone talk about.
I KNOW that a potential student visiting my university is a prospective student. Some people don't; I acknowledge that, and I'm not being judgy by pointing it out. But even thought I KNOW that this word is prospective and not perspective, I still say perspective, because I don't want other people to think I'm being pretentious or subtly correcting them by saying prOHspective, which is kind of unavoidable if you pronounce that "o."
Why are we afraid of doing things right? Why do I consciously pronounce this word wrong? Why do people who "know better" say things like "ain't"? (Although, admittedly, this is just kind of a regional thing, and it's pretty accepted now in some areas.) What other words do we say incorrectly, just so people won't think we're judging the way they talk? Just a thought: by doing this, we're admitting that we don't want them to judge the way we talk, right?
Ginger and I had a conversation last night about grammar in speech and stuff like that: we agreed that as long as you are understood, it doesn't really matter if you say "me and him" instead of "he and I." It just doesn't. In formal writing, sure, you're expected to be technically correct. But in everyday conversation, grammar isn't quite as important.
But what about the words themselves? If you've made up a word (ain't), or confused one word with another (prospective/perspective), can that be a hinderance to communication? Or is it more of a hindrance to use correct pronunciation and words that actually exist? If I say prospective, are people always going to know what I'm talking about? Or is it better, in that situation, to say it incorrectly?
What's more important? Being correct or being understood?
I KNOW that a potential student visiting my university is a prospective student. Some people don't; I acknowledge that, and I'm not being judgy by pointing it out. But even thought I KNOW that this word is prospective and not perspective, I still say perspective, because I don't want other people to think I'm being pretentious or subtly correcting them by saying prOHspective, which is kind of unavoidable if you pronounce that "o."
Why are we afraid of doing things right? Why do I consciously pronounce this word wrong? Why do people who "know better" say things like "ain't"? (Although, admittedly, this is just kind of a regional thing, and it's pretty accepted now in some areas.) What other words do we say incorrectly, just so people won't think we're judging the way they talk? Just a thought: by doing this, we're admitting that we don't want them to judge the way we talk, right?
Ginger and I had a conversation last night about grammar in speech and stuff like that: we agreed that as long as you are understood, it doesn't really matter if you say "me and him" instead of "he and I." It just doesn't. In formal writing, sure, you're expected to be technically correct. But in everyday conversation, grammar isn't quite as important.
But what about the words themselves? If you've made up a word (ain't), or confused one word with another (prospective/perspective), can that be a hinderance to communication? Or is it more of a hindrance to use correct pronunciation and words that actually exist? If I say prospective, are people always going to know what I'm talking about? Or is it better, in that situation, to say it incorrectly?
What's more important? Being correct or being understood?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)