Interesting thoughts and observation, though it is important to recognize that from a sociolinguistic view, you are simply evaluating the speech of others on a basis of which dialect is considered to be "prestigious." I won't argue that there aren't advantages to using it, though one must realize that communication is not necessarily impaired between two people using a different dialect than prestigious English. We each have our own idiolect, influenced by various factors in our lives. While prestigious English may dictate that the proper phrase is "12 items or fewer," a person with an idioect that preferred the word "less" to "fewer" would argue that no information or intention is lost by the substitution.

I would venture a guess that many people could speak or write in a formal dialect (perhaps not perfect English) when necessary. However, there seems little reason that this dialect should always be used.

Thanks, JM, for your comments! I wondered when someone would chime in with the "communication is not necessarily impaired" rationale; you were first, and you did. I'm sticking with the "prestigious," dialect, thank you --- always have and always will.

Sorry! I meant KM!!

To be sure, I agree that it is important to be able to use prestigious language - it is both expected in our society and a common dialect that is expected to be understood by all. I was merely bringing up an interesting discussion point. I have enjoyed your articles and will continue reading.

RT
JM may have a point when discussing casual conversation, but in contract disputes formal language prevails. One's not understanding and using English correctly in business negotiations may prove costly. Misplaced commas can significantly change the meaning of a sentence. "Less" and "fewer" have distinct meanings.

Stephan's comments are relevant and timely. The state of English usage today, even among college graduates and professionals is appalling.

To KM: Correct English usage is not prestigious, it is just correct. Comments such as yours contribute to the "dumbing down" of our country. If you demand excellence you might receive it; if you condone mediocrity you will certainly receive it.

Keep up the good work, Mr. Stephan.

KM - My father was an English teacher before he went into school psychology and he corrected my grammar constantly while I was growing up. I can remember him cringing when, as a teenager, I tacked "ya know" on the end of nearly every sentence. Now I do the same when I hear my children's peers put "Like" in front of every other word. Mr. Stephan's examples weren't colloquialisms, but poor grammar usage, which can hurt a person's chances of finding a good job or being perceived as intelligent. Yes, it can be a regional thing to have a certain expression (e.g. we seen...) but how we speak conveys a lot about a person. This article in Harvard Business Review explains why good grammar is still important. http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/07/i_wont_hire_people_who_use_poo.html?referral=00563

I cringe when I see an invitation that says, "Your Invited. . . "

I cringe when the correct than/then or further/farther isn't used.

Rant on, sister!

People who talk like that are loosers.

My pet peeve: "Goes" Instead of "he said" it's "he goes". So listening to someone explaining a conversation or incident becomes "Well, he goes______, then she goes________, then I go_______. And so on. And of course, the folks who end most sentences with "OK?" Even cops, who will say "I'm placing you under arrest, OK?" Well, heck no, it's not OK at all ! But I'm not always so fluent myself, so WTF ???

Thanks for the laugh, Paul! Perhaps my next rant will be about spelling!

When I was studying Engineering, I saw how poorly my classmates wrote. They would often say that they're good at math, but not English. I had always thought that college-bound students had a good grasp of basic sentence structure, spelling, and grammar. Not so much. Even today, I see poorly crafted emails among colleagues, and I feel it's unprofessional. I do agree that the texting culture is enhancing the dumbing down of written communication.

Poor grammar takes away from the message even if for no other reason than the messenger loses credibility. A person that uses poor grammer will not be taken seriously and would most likely be considered too lazy to take the time to get it right.

A man after my own heart! I have been stunned and saddened since moving back to Ohio after a 25 yr absence to hear "My and my mother we seen you at the mall" and the like. I went to public schools where good grammar was drilled into us and I do not recall ever hearing poor grammar in Ohio in the past. it does not help that we hear radio hosts speaking so poorly.

I'm happy to stick with what did one poster say? "Prestigious" grammar? I don't believe I ever could have been employed in my lifelong clerical jobs if I did not speak proper grammar, and I hope no one finds any errors in my comments here!

Ugh. The WORST is when people spell it "grammer."

I am very greatful that, for a short period of time, grammar questions are the thorniest issue we have to deal with. Thank You.

I still have to stop and think every time when I come to its/it's. The one that really grinds my gears is people spelling ridiculous as rediculous. People like to confuse brake/break. Other issues I have are:

your/you're
their/there/they're
2 instead of 'to' or 'too'
becuz
or the standard of getting around a swear filter by substituting $ for an S.

It is appalling how the English language is being treated today. I am forever correcting my son (He will be a senior at Stow this fall.) despite the fact that he earns A's in English! A couple years ago I was reading over a paper on which he received an A. He had made a number of grammatical errors that were not corrected. Also, he has taken the ACT twice. The first time he only got a 17 in the English section so his dad and I had him tutored and the second time he earned a 23. A student "earning" A's in English shouldn't need to receive tutoring on the ACT. Probably one of my biggest pet peeves is when people end a sentence with a preposition as in "Where are you going at?" or "When are you going to be home at?" My husband does this a lot!

But what is the function of language? Isn’t it interpretation of the message amongst the parties involved? Besides, who made the rules of ‘correct’ language? The original speakers. Just because nobody argued with the rules then, we are presented today with ‘proper’ English grammar.

The fact that English is the most-widely spoken language means that it's bound to be interpreted differently by each speaker. And it's a good thing. The fact that English language brings people of diverse cultures together is a great, great feat. And it shouldn’t be lost in the bigger picture. Visit any college campus with an international student population. Despite the grammatical errors, there’s a connection between a Chinese student and another that grew up in Africa. That’s pretty powerful!

Correct grammar has a place in some professions. From my limited work experience, I’ve learnt that it’s not a pre-requisite at most professions. This can be a good thing too. Now we can move on from the formalities of correct language and focus on what’s important. Interpretation is more important than correctness. In my opinion, someone who can interpret 'incorrect' language is smarter than someone who’s adamant on correct language.

I’d like to know what the ‘incorrect’ users of the English language have to say about this. Do they not interpret ‘correct’ language when they see or hear it?

Mr. Stephen: I commend your addressing this issue. You have scratched the surface. My mom was the best proof reader [spelling + grammar], on the planet, allowing me to look pretty good when I offered written work in school. She was also quick to correct at home , when she heard mistakes, or lazy offerings. Prepositions were particularly troublesome for me.

Being still very much involved in educational issues, I find that today, students are not required even to spell correctly, much less, construct proper sentences, etc. The cause, I feel, is parents who require less and less, and teachers who care less, and less.

Students will not speak up or complain as long as they are pushed thru the system. Parents are too busy with their own lives to care. Teachers interested in tenure, fat paychecks, and cushy retirements, will not rock the boat. Always someone else is responsible, or more money needs to be thrown at the problem.

Graduation from college features a rude awakening. Those few jobs available, require skills which were deemed too difficult, to teach or learn, or didn`t contribute to "self-esteem", therefore deemed unnecessary. With their underwear showing, their ears jambed with a headset, and texting feverishly, they reside in Mom+ Dads basement. while waiting for their dole, and occasionally crawl out to protest the cruelty of it all.

Thank you for your kind attention!

When I graduated from the University of Akron, I was ashamed of our own newspaper. It looked like it was published by 8-year-olds. Gross misspellings, poor grammar skills, and lack of punctuation. Even now, I cringe at how poorly people communicate.

Just some examples:

Your/You're
Break/brake
Asking a question, but not ending with a question mark.
Making a statement and ending it with a question mark (example: "I think he went to the store?")
Joining words that shouldn't be joined (alot, atleast, alittle)
Two of the more egregious ones that makes me cringe: Using "common" in place of the words "come on", and using "allot" instead of "a lot".
Spelling words in ways that wouldn't even be phonetically correct, such as "inflammed" instead of "inflamed". I'm pretty sure the former would be the short "a" sound instead of the long "a" sound.
This might be less related to one's grasp of English and more related to a lack of computer skills, but not using the right punctuation keys. Such as "don,t" or "don`t" (accent mark). I see "don;t" frequently too, but I would attribute that to a typo; I've made the same mistake if I'm typing fast, but I'll correct it.

I blame my 8th grade english teacher Mr. Step..........
never mind

We "old-lady-English-teacher" types are not trying to justify our life's work; we believe that using correct grammar/usage serves a purpose. Everyday speech and texts are useful only when the receivers understand them. Formal writing and speech are necessary in many instances such as education, business, law, and medicine. I've discovered much apathy on this subject, but ignorance of proper usage and laziness are two separate issues. It's hard to force anyone to care, but I'll never quit trying. I am saddened that some children are not given the opportunity to learn proper English and some teachers have given in to the futility and just accept anything which makes sense. I do notice that I used a preppy verb there: "given in" has no object of the preposition, oh my! I accept the Modern Language Assosciation's pronouncement that split infinitives are now acceptable usage, but they hurt me a little.

As I type, a local business located on Pearl Road in Strongsville is touting their special Wednesday activities as "Wacky Wednesday's", and I brought that error to the attention of all Strongsville Patch viewers a few weeks ago. There has been no correction. Also spotted on a billboard at the Strongsville recreation baseball fields located on Foltz Parkway a few years ago, in an attempt to garner sponsorship: "Support Our Field's". In both cases, it appeared that these signs were produced by a professional company. I just don't understand.

Tom, local groups post their own activities on Strongsville Patch, but I just went into the listing and changed it. You've hit on my personal peeve -- the name signs families proudly display in their yards: The Smith's. Aargh!

I thought you might like this

FOUR ALL WHO READ AND RIGHT:

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes;
but the plural of ox became oxen not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice;
yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men,
why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I spoke of my foot and show you my feet,
and I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?

Then one may be that, and three would be those,
yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
and the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
but though we say mother, we never say methren.

Then the masculine pronouns are he, his, and him,
but imagine the feminine as being she, shis, and shim.

Or this

Some other reasons to be grateful if you grew up speaking English:

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8) At the Army base, a bass was painted on the head of a bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into! the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18) After a number of Novocain injections, my jaw got number.
19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
22) I spent last evening evening out a pile of dirt.

Let's face it - English is a crazy language.

Listening to the news is the worst. The reporters misuse and mispronounce at every opportunity.
I used to correct my younger daughters at the dinner table and they complained about it. Their older sisters said, "you had better listen to dad because he's right."

It often becomes difficult to write what is right because of what one hears when going from here to there or to their friends house. The battle will never be won.

I have volumes of words that are homonyms of one other, left over from college English classes. I can't really delve into the contest of the worst type, as we all do it, even when we protest our correctness in a situation, even when we're wrong. Or we use abridged text to convey a point. The problem is when this is the basal form of communication, and it converts en masse to the people who pick it up as the modern staple of communication. It shows that stupid is becoming educational, not just something we can avert. Irony or the duplicity of a subculture moving it's way up?

Woe is we. (Look it up.) Improper English usage is something up with which we should not put. However, bear in ind that language is a living thing that evolves over time. Today's improper usage can become tomorrow's standard.

And it's only going to get worse (if it hasn't already).
Thanks to instant messaging, Twitter & the rest of 'em.

Many times people say, "do you see what I'm saying?" My response is, "no, but I hear what you're looking at."

Do we have any Cav's or Indian's fans in here? ;)

Is it just me or has anyone else witnessed this gem -- "rediculous" -- being used a lot over the past few years?

lowercase is my preferred method. sorry! not sorry!

Those reading this are going to be surprised to find out it is NOT going to get any better. Face it, thank technology and our laziness. I can't say much as Tom was my English teacher in high school and I remember many of the lessons. However, I have no problem with texting and short acronyms and will continue to use them , even in the noble summit county area. LOL

I'm no grammarian but I enjoy these discussions because it makes me think and wonder... Texting shorthand (2 for to, r for are, LOL, etc.) came about because cellphones originally did not have full keyboards and typing complete words became a chore. I think it also came about to speed up "instant messaging." I haven't a problem with it as long as the shorthand does not cross over to formal written communication. It's like another language and the two need to be kept separated.

"The Smith's" as in a sign planted in front of a house. Without the Smiths standing behind the sign, it is the Smith's house or residence. I don't know when it may have happened but could the sign be shorthand for the Smith's house? What if there is only one Smith living there; would the sign read "The Smith?"

Likewise, someone says, "I'm going to the Smith's" or I am going to be at the Smith's." Without the word "house" (as in "I am going to the Smih's house") is it incorrect to use the apostrophe? If using first names, would one say, "I am going to Bills" or "I am going to Bill's?".

In English, it is a tangled web we weave!

This blog has really touched a nerve with a lot of people, me included. I agree with many of the respondents, the way the English language is used will continue to get worse as technology increases.

People are lazy and rely on their computers to auto-correct grammatical and spelling errors. While typing this comment, the red squiggly line has appeared a few times for various spelling errors. I have paid attention and corrected my mistakes but there are many people that don't. They ignore them and hit send or save before re-reading the content. I don't know how many emails I have received from people with spelling, capitalization, grammatical and sentence structure errors. I just shake my head in disbelief. These people are supposed to be business professionals! As an example, when you type "form" instead of "from", the computer says "form" is a real word and does not recognize it as an error. Doesn't matter if it makes sense in the sentence, it's a real word so it is left alone. This is one of my biggest pet peeves. Please, please, please proofread everything before you click the 'send' button. (stepping off soap box now)

My grandmother was an English teacher and everything I learned from her, as well as my English teachers in high school, plays a big part in my everyday life. Proofreading is part of my job and if I didn't know the little bit that I know, it would be very difficult to do what I do ;-)

In addition to not knowing the difference between its and it's, my pet peeve is people using "should of, would of, could of". Obviously not realizing it's "should've, etc.".