Things We Say Wrong

English is insane. Just ask anyone who has ever thought about it. Or anyone who hasn't - after about five seconds of contemplation, I can just about guarantee that they will agree with the sentiment. 

I have found throughout my time as an educator that English is probably the craziest language on the planet, with the possible exception of Chinese (in all its various dialects). English for Speakers of other Languages (ESL) students both abroad and in English-speaking countries consistenly struggle to make sense of grammar and pronunciation rules that, quite frankly, don't make sense. When asked why a word is used or spelled the way that it is, teachers are often forced to resort to that hated educational phrase, "It just is. Memorize it." This is due to many factors, the top one being that English can trace its roots to many languages rather than just one. For example, the "romance" languages can trace almost all of their words directly back to their latin roots. English comes from German, Latin, Greek, Gaelic, and Norse, just to name a few. 

With all of this craziness even in "proper," ie school-taught English, it comes as no surprise that our common everyday use of the language becomes even more skewed. And to complicate things more, the dialect and slang that I use with my "peeps" on my block of the "'hood" will almost certainly not be exactly the same as what you use. Even if we grew up and went to school together. Now factor into this equation that English is spoken all across America, one of the largest and most diverse nations on Earth, and you begin to see the scope for the potential perversion of "proper" English.

As a member of the grammar police, I often find myself sighing and shaking my head over English grammar usage. I sometimes find it necessary, before the desire to get up on my soapbox and preach overwhelms all sense, to take a step back and find the humor in all of the misuse that abounds in spoken and written English. Most recently, I have found a YouTube video that cracked me up to my cynical, grammar-loving core. It's aptly titled "Things We Say Wrong," and I give my heartfelt thanks to the creator. He has done other YouTube videos on the idiosyncracies of modern life, but this is my personal favorite. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Things We Say Wrong