Posted on 07/28/2012 8:48:38 PM PDT by garjog
t used to be we thought that people who went around correcting other people’s grammar were just plain annoying. Now there’s evidence they are actually ill, suffering from a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder/oppositional defiant disorder (OCD/ODD). Researchers are calling it Grammatical Pedantry Syndrome, or GPS.
Maybe you’ve heard of the grammar gene—its technical name is the FOXP2 gene—which may be responsible for a variety of grammatical ills, such as the inability to construct compound/complex sentences or to effectively deploy the passive voice. Now there’s evidence that a variant of that gene, FOXP2.1, may actually cause us to obsessively correct other people’s grammar, or should that be, to correct their grammar obsessively? The discovery of this gene, alongside new evidence from fMRI scans of brains exposed to real-time grammatical errors, has led some scientists to predict that soon we may be able to find a cure for GPS, for many sufferers a debilitating, off-putting, sociopathic syndrome.
(Excerpt) Read more at illinois.edu ...
Just a few pet peeves while we are on the subject.
It is “heart rending”, not “heart wrenching” Rending means ripping or tearing.
It is “lightning”, not “lightening”.
Drowned is not pronounced drownded.
Can you say “new”? Can you say “clear”. Now put them together. That wasn’t so hard, was it? (Sorry President Bush).
This is true, but it doesn’t help you to remember how to spell it correctly.
I learned these things way back in elementary school.
Another thing that drives me batty is the “could of” instead of “could have”, or “should of” instead of “should have”.
Didn’t these people go to school?
We’ve got to focus on everyone’s core value-added competencies to reach a strategic fit via a customercentric braindump.
(I didn’t get it at first either)
“should of” has become sort of a joke here. But what about this common format:
“I would have if I would have”
instead of (if I hafta be explicit):
“I would have if I had”.
Oh my gosh, you reminded me of how batty that drives me!!! I read a book recently “One Second After” about and EMP attack on America and the author constantly used should of would of, etc...instead of should HAVE or would HAVE.
UGH. Made the book difficult to read.
My sister,who is going to be a senior this year,says “Me and Mommy” or “Me and Maddy” (Maddy is her friend).
I don’t understand it. My grammar may not be 100% perfect but I know that “Me and” thing is incorrect.
You’d think a high-schooler would speak like a high-schooler.
Don’t even get me started on double negatives.
I thought ‘cemetery’ could be spelled both ways.
got it now.
Hope it helps...
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