Am I a grammar Nazi?

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I recently considered the question after being called one in a facebook post by a stranger: Am I a grammar Nazi?

Do I get irritated by people’s bad grammar? Hell, yes! Do I cringe and feel my intestines twist and knot at the sight? Only in extreme cases.

But then thought, is it a bad thing? Surely it’s not so bad. I mean, I could have been much worse. I could have been an actual Nazi…

 

Whether its loose or lose, its or it’s, there or their or they’re… And my personal favourite sneak peak not peek.

Good grammar can save lives, people. Just look at poor grandma – she could have been the victim of an act of cannibalism!

 

So if I correct you in your facebook status update or blog, please don’t feel offended. A Nazi’s gotta do what a Nazi’s gotta do.

Hello world!

Posted by & filed under Scribbles.

First post! Well, this is partially untrue. I had another blog I think only my mother read, but this is the first blog entry on my own site.

 

It is a lovely early spring day in Cape Town and I had this odd desire to kick off my shoes and go frolicking in the hills like Maria in the Sound of Music. But I had a socio-linguistic seminar to get to – the famous (relatively speaking, of course) Tove Skutnabb-Kangas came to speak to us. Apparently monolingualism is an illness. True, story! Well, that’s all I remembered after the two and a half hour session…

 

So there was no time for spinning around and singing and rolling down hills. Unfortunately.