Verbal Vomit

The other day I posted on FB: OK - Jen's Public Service Announcement: Sale = Sell.  Hole = Whole.  Please, learn that when you are selling something, you are not saleing it.  And when you are looking for something that is whole, it does not have a hole.

This all started because I saw a post about someone looking for hole pumpkins, rather than ones which had been carved into jack-o-lanterns, because they wanted the seeds for roasting.  This, of course, made me twitch.  I frequently see people wanting to sale an item, rather than sell it.  Or, asking where they can find an item for sell rather than for sale.

Others commented on my post with some of their favorites:

• Idea vs. Ideal - I've got an ideal.  An ideal what?  Personality?  Boyfriend?  Family?  Or, an idea, as in something pretty cool you thought up?
• Hail vs. Hell - Ice from sky.  Pronounced with a long AAAA.  Hearing weather announcers in the south say Hell when they mean Hail makes the 4th grader in me giggle.
• Poll vs. Pole - Poll: A place to vote or a record of opinion.  Pole: Something a stripper swings on.
• Irregardless - drives me crazy!

Occasionally, I would like to be that awful person who publicly humiliates someone by correcting their grammar, but I refrain from doing so mainly because I'm not an awful person who publicly (or even privately) humiliates others, and also because FB and TW are not where I should be spewing my verbal vomit.  I don't post anything intentionally inflammatory on my social media pages because, though I might think it, I've been raised better than to say it.  Though, truth be told, I might explode if I didn't have this blog as an outlet for my opinions.

When boy-child was little, he had a fascination with beluga whales and he said well when he meant whale.  Eventually he figured out - with just a little prompting from his mother - how to pronounce it correctly.  He also said strawl when he meant straw.  In other words, the hollow stick thing which goes into a beverage cup which is used to sip the liquid contained therein was a strawl to him.  Again, he eventually got it straight.  But this was merely a child's way of speaking; we knew the words he meant.  Rather than accept it (..AW!  How adorable!..) we took steps to prompt him toward using the words in the correct way without making him feel bad about it.  He speaks very well now and makes his momma proud!

It does make me twitch when a grown person uses words incorrectly both when speaking and when typing.  It shows such a lack of knowledge and a whole lot of laziness.  This also goes for mush-mouthing words and shortening/abbreviating words when speaking.  For example: whatevs instead of whatever.  We do not speak in text.  Sometimes it's cute and sometimes it's annoying, and it's tough to tell when is which and which is when...so just don't.  Though I know there have been occasions when I've done the same thing, my incorrect usage has been intentional and not due to any lack of knowledge or general laziness.

And no, I don't think I'm better (or smarter) than you are.  But please?  We are all speaking English - and the English language gets butchered enough as it is.  (Hey - it's a complicated language!)  So, let's not make things worse by unleashing whatever words come out and accepting them as normal.  Write (and speak) it right?

TTFN
JMS

PS: You may now return to your regularly scheduled program.  Thank you for your support.