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I come from a family of wordsmiths. Maybe we're self-proclaimed, but generally speaking my siblings and I have a firm grasp on the English language. Spelling was always a big deal and now I'm glad it was because adults, and even late teens who have either graduated or are close to it and yet can't seem to write or blog or speak without making some ridiculous grammatical or spelling error simply astound me. Reading between the lines, most people are trying to convey a thought or revelation when they blog or text message or email... but I'm going to be honest, the message gets blurred when the delivery is flawed. Yes, I'm aware the Aubreys and those like us are seen as petty and judgmental when it comes to our criticism, but being well-spoken is underrated and frankly it makes me pretty annoyed.
The environment I work in is all about communication. Getting information... giving it away... asking questions... making synopses out of people's long and tragic tales of whatever stupid choices they have made. Often I hear someone across the room say "... ma'am, where are you at?" and I feel myself shake my head and cringe. Does the person on the other end of the phone care? No. Does anyone else in the room care, or even notice? Nope. Will it ever reflect poorly on that particular employee if that call is publicly disclosed and people see the words they chose? Unlikely, and yet it still bothers me. It always has and likely always will be a flaw of mine that I am critical of speech. My daughter knows it and will stop mid-sentence when she sees my eyebrow go up (well, actually both of them because I can't do the cool one-brow thing) and she reluctantly says "How am I supposed to say it?" The other day when she was packing for camp she was looking for her rivved tank tops. My face did the tell-tale thing. "Sorry ... ridged tank tops." I closed my eyes and gently shook my head. "It's ribbed. R-i-b-b-e-d.", I said to her. "Seriously? Wow. I had no idea. Anyway...." And there was the teachable moment. I can't help it and ultimately I think she'll appreciate it. I'm sure I used to think it was annoying when my own mother did it, and now look .... I'm inflicting myself on others and carrying on the tradition.
I've decided to point out some of the most common verbal faux pas I hear and just leave them here for you to refer to as you will. Some of you may read one and think "Wow... she's talking about me." Maybe I am, but I can promise you're not the only one. Once you read an example just close your eyes and say it out loud. If it feels foreign to you to say it one way, you likely say it the other... and you can figure out right there if you're right or wrong. It'll be fun, I promise.
Example 1: Fewer and Less
We use the word less when talking about one thing. There is less traffic today. - I feel less prepared than I wanted to for today's test. - There was less of a crowd at the early movie.
We use the word fewer when referring to more than one thing. There are fewer cars on the road today. - That test had fewer multiple choice questions than I was expecting. - There were fewer people at the early movie. See and hear the difference? My husband is particularly bad at this one. "My bonsai has way less leaves than it used to." No, Dear ... it has fewer leaves. Yes, I know what he means, but it just sounds terrible... maybe only to me and my siblings and mother, but still. After 17 years he still doesn’t appreciate the gift of my correcting him.
Example 2: Acrossed…. not even a word!
This one is a huge problem and most people aren’t even aware. In their minds, they may know full well it’s spelled a-c-r-o-s-s, and yet they pronounce it with a “t” or an “ed” sound on the end. If I write an example out here you’ll see it the boldness of the error and will think you never do that, and maybe you’re right. Most of the time it happens when the word is the last in a sentence. Just be aware, ok?
Example 3: Pluralizing things you shouldn’t
Here we have a wide-spread problem. Most often I hear it when people refer to store names. “I went to Nordstroms yesterday.” Yes, the store does belong to the Nordstrom family, but the name is Nordstrom. No “s”. This is also true of WalMart, Fred Meyer, the Pike Place Market, etc. There is no “s” on the end and no need for an apostrophe and an “s” either. If you went to more than one of a particular store in a given shopping trip, then yes, you can say you went to Nordstroms and should then indicate how many. Or if you went to a particular sale at said store you would say “I went to Fred Meyer’s Founder’s Day Sale” Now some stores have the “s” built right on to the name and please feel free to say them loud and proud: Starbucks, Applebees, Macys, etc. All the information you need regarding what to call a store is right there in its signage. No need to add letters.
Example 4: It sounds like it’s right, but it’s not.
This one is straight-forward. You know what the word means, if you type it out the spell-check will alert you to the error and you’ve heard it said and likely just started saying it wrong. The words are supposedly and undoubtedly. People say “supposably” or “undoubtably”. And see? My spell check just doesn’t like them. Say them out loud in a sentence. The wrong pronunciations even sounds ok when you’re not aware… but now you are, so you’ll get the hang of it and even begin to hear it in others.
I will leave the lesson here and give you all a small amount to think on. I don’t expect people to change how they speak overnight, but sometimes just being aware of something heightens one’s awareness and the change begins.
Own Your English!
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| | Posted 8/6/2008 6:05 PM - 4 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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