This Blog is an outlet for the random thoughts of an amateur opinionator.
What's an opinionator?
An opinionator is somebody who has power without responsibility, and the ability to spout off on any subject without worrying too much about the consequences of what comes out of the mouth. All you need is an opinion and the opportunity to voice it.
TV is full of professional opinionators. The internet gives the amateur his chance.
> graMmar poLice!
Author: aLmich
A couple of heavyweight bloggers recently had their knuckles rapped over subpar grammar skills. The debate, predictably, turned to, “If people understand what’s being communicated, why does it matter?” I don’t get this person’s argument.
Of course, I march with the grammar goon squad on this one. Casual conversation doesn’t requite good grammar, true, but writing for a mass audience does. [Copy editors sometimes have to silence their overzealous deskmates with, "Edit copy, not speech!" Even the correctors need a break from correction.] I am not a perfect grammarian myself but at least I know the simple ones. I also submit my entries to people to at least help me correct it.
Puny grammar always makes the writer look bad. If a blogger doles out information that’s desperately needed, it’s a lot easier to be forgiving. But when his or her readers have other choices, the smart ones will wander off.
I can sympathize. I slept through grammar in grade school, even in high school and then wrote for a half dozen years using D-student grammar and sloppy spelling. I got away with it because of my “friend” editors, who wielded mighty pencils. But please don’t try to humiliate somebody about wrong grammar while your simple statements can’t even differentiate a verb from a noun.
