grammar

we're all adults now, right? that's something we can all agree on. we may not all feel grown up, but in all actuality, we are grown-ass people. most of whom have gone to school and/or earned at least one degree (so far). congratulations.

how is it then, that so many of us (and by "us", i mean "you") still have such difficulty spelling the simplest of words? it's baffling! i just cannot comprehend it. not one little bit. maybe because i am a journalism major (ok, public relations, but it's in the same school) that i find this phenomenon so hard to believe. or maybe it's because i never really had that much trouble learning how to spell common words. either way, i constantly find myself wanting to run out to barnes and noble or borders or whatever bookstore you frequent, purchase the largest dictionary i can find, and then throw it at those people, forcefully. i don't even want to yell something witty like "learn something," or "what you're feeling right now is pain. p-a-i-n." i just want to hurt them for being so lazy, and not learning the correct spelling of "lightning". (seriously! lightning accompanies a thunderstorm. lightening is to make or become lighter. one is a noun, the other, a verb. learn something!)

the irony here is that during my rant about proper spelling, i will have somehow overlooked a very simple word and thus, be hoisted by my own petard. that would suck. fortunately, i have a handy little spell-checker, so if i was in fact to spell something incorrectly, a red, dashed line would appear beneath it, warning me of my error.

but honestly, how hard is it to educate yourself? it's embarrassing that college graduates still can't tell the difference between "your" and "you're". "their", "there", and "they're" is a completely different story, so please don't get me started. i hate to repeat myself, but i honestly cannot fathom how people get these words confused. yes, they sound alike, and even look alike, but i don't know. maybe i'm just so well-versed in grammar that i can't even imagine for a second being the type of person who writes "their going to meet us at the park." no, no, no! it hurt my brain just typing that. i do not understand.

and i try, i really do, not to correct the misspellings of those around me. it pains me not to comment on someone's facebook status for all to see that they spelled "a lot", "alot". in my effort to teach them a little something, it would come across as more along the lines of "damn, how stupid are you that you don't know that "a lot" is two words?" and that's not fully my intention. it's merely a way to get them to realize their fault, and to hopefully humiliate them just enough that next time, they will double-check themselves before hitting "share" and receiving the same consequence again. man, being a word nazi is fun!