Yesterday I heard a politician say, “We’ve reverted back to Cold War policies.” Revert means to return, or go back to a previous state. No need for the word ‘back‘ in that sentence.
Then there’s “ATM Machines”. ATM is the initialism for “automated teller machine” so when my daughter says “Stop at the ATM machine” I hear, “stop at the automated teller machine machine.”
A few days ago my daughter asked me to “try and help her with her paper”. When I asked whether she wanted me to try to help her, or actually help her, I got a dirty look. She immediately said, “Okay, help me”. Then she called me a grammar snob.
She was joking, sort of. I don’t correct people in public, I don’t write letters to editors if I see a slip in the paper because I know I’m not perfect. I make mistakes, and sometimes, I make them purposely.
I don’t have a problem starting a sentence with the word and. I don’t mind if you dangle a participle. But I want my daughter to know that one is being dangled. And that some people freak out if you start a sentence with the word and. I prefer May I to Can I when permission is being sought but I don’t lecture when my daughter says, “Can I go to the movies?” I know she knows the difference.
When she’s speaking to adults, her grammar changes. When she’s around her friends, she reverts back to teen-speak. Guess she doesn’t want to appear to be a grammar snob. ;)
January 17, 2008 at 1:15 pm
I felt justified when two of my daughters turned into unrepentant grammar nazis just like me :)
January 17, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Hehe. I have to admit that my chest swells a little bit when I hear Shianne correct her brother.
Is GrammarNazi.com taken? ;)
January 17, 2008 at 6:16 pm
One of my daughters is a primary school teacher and she’s such a grammar nazi she has problems with the menu boards you see outside cafes.
Last time she was up here visiting we took her down to our favourite beachside cafe and she sat there for quite a while staring at the board where they were advertising their luncheon specials.
After a while she licked her finger, got up and went over to the board and rubbed out a spelling error in one of the words. It must have looked better to her but I don’t know what the cafe owner thought about a big chalky smudge on his board :)
January 21, 2008 at 4:43 pm
I am definitely not a grammar snob lol but very glaring mistakes (that everyone knows) annoy me. But I cannot stand a very big grammar snob either. Huhuhuhu~ Put me somewhere in the middle ^_^
April 16, 2008 at 10:50 am
This is very similar to when someone says NIC card.
‘Todd, I need a network interface card installed on my machine’