Grammars are existing for a reason's

My name is Sean, and I am a Grammar Knight. I hope that the title of this post burns you as much as it does me, but I need to break some of you out there.

Why? Why must I hurt you with my woeful grammar? Well, because everyone else does!

It's thrown into our faces by rappers, morons and people who just don't use their brains! Not that some people aren't all three.

The popularising of incorrect English started with poets, unfortunately. They often decided that they weren't going to let the basic structures and rules of our language get in the way of their damn couplets. I can kind of forgive people who use slang in order to rhyme (The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men, Gang aft agley and all), but just butchering sentences, doing the language equivalent of forcing a round peg into a square hole, is wrong.

And from there it's gone on to rappers. Even Timbaland, bless him, has released a song called "The way I are", and even typing that hurts.

We mustn't forget the plight of the poor apostrophe, who is constantly misplaced or missed whenever a word is possessive or multiple (my girlfriend, whenever she sees a sign that says CD's, always rightfully asks "The CD's what? What belongs to the CD?").

Now, I understand that sometimes grammar can be difficult. I myself haemorrhage commas sometimes when I write, and I also thought that its should be written as its', but it is EASY to just look up the rules of grammar! There are hundreds of websites that explain them all!

I think the main problem is the way that we communicate nowadays. We post on forums, email and send IMs or texts more than we talk, and nobody (apart from a few Grammar Knights like me) ever picks up on the abominable language that people use.

We just accepted people who are write like this!

Or we let ppl get away w/just writing like they dnt ave ne 3 time.

Linked to this lack of grammar is the culture of 'Business Speech' which a lot of large organizations foster; it is common practice to make your letters as simple as possible, so that even a concussed five year old could understand what is being said. I HATE this; I feel insulted whenever I get a letter that has been simplified to a mush palatable to morons, and I can't stand writing such letters either. The point is that if we treat people like idiots then they are going to ACT like idiots!

ARGH!!!

So please, people of the world, do not accept poor grammar in any of its forms. If you see anything that displays a less than cursory knowledge of how our language should be used, then please point it out. Please let it be known that it is not good enough.

My hope is that we can try and raise the bar for our language, and teach children that they should use English correctly.

Victus nil abutor!

Ding!

Level 22! I'm taking another level in Writer this year.

Potter the grand scheme of things

The hype around Harry Potter, to me, is more interesting than the books ever were. I've tried reading the first one, and just didn't like they style, world or the characters, but that doesn't mean I don't admire and respect JK Rowling for the media/public frenzy that the last book in her series has whipped up.

Again there will be thousands of people out at midnight in order to have the book the instant that it comes out, and they will go home and lock themselves away to finish a story that they love before it can be spoiled for them by the internet/idiots (though I do think that there will be some bastard who will go to one of these events, turn to the back page and shout out what happens, but they will have a very short-lived notoriety).

I love that Ms (or Mrs?) Rowling is keeping reading alive for the younger generations, and training the geeks of tomorrow. Granted they will be dressing up as Dumbledore instead of Obi-Wan, and wanting to be with Hermione rather than Leia, but they will be proper, honest-to-God geeks and this makes me happy.

I almost, and this is a seriously big-headed/over-ambitious way of thinking, believe that she is helping train people who will (hopefully. I feel that I need to inject some realism into this statement) be my readers to appreciate the finer points of Geekery and light obsession.

I do salute JK Rowling, I really do. I just don't like her actual books.

Talking about vague career dreams, I feel like I'm getting to the point where I can start trying to get published; I've almost had ADM fully read by another person, and they have loved it so far which is giving me such a confidence boost. All I need is for them to finish and to have a decent discussion with them about what they thought, liked and didn't like, and then make some changes, and I'll be happy to get an agent and enter the world of novels.

It's very... bizarre. It's terrifying, and awesome, and thrilling, to think about actually being published. I bought a book which has a list of agents/publishers, which also explained a lot about the industry, and it has helped me put my potential new career in the cold light of day. I know I won't be getting a major advance, or earning enough to quit my day job, or being published within a few months of trying. My idiotic, naive ideas of instant grandeur have been destroyed.

And yet, I'm excited. I guess I really was born to be a writer, which is a highly bizarre thing to realise. The foreword to the book was all about being a writer, and it felt like the author there had reached into my head and explained to me exactly what I felt about writing. It was exhilarating and breathtaking to feel that.

I'm rambling, and so I shall stop..... now.