rules and regulations
So… a preemptive apology for the fact that this tumblr has been so grammar-centric of late. But it probably won’t change any time soon, so deal.
Today I went to the bank. Bank Teller Bro (the one with red hair and interesting ear piercing) acted strange today. Firstly, he misheard me when I said to make the cashier’s check out to “Terre ____ ____” and said, with noted condescension, “Did you know it’s pronounced ‘tair-uh?’” Of course I knew this. I’ve known how to pronounce “terre” since I was probably ten. He then went on some rant about people who pronounce it like “tarry,” accusing, basically, all of Pullman of calling it that (which I have never heard, by the way).
At first I thought I might be able to geek out for the few short minutes it took to get my check printed out; now, I mostly think he’s a yuppie hipster who likes to be superior about things that aren’t really worth being superior about.
So I asked, “Are you a word nut?” Because that’s a valid question, right? His response was that he was really more of a grammar nut, mostly, ie: he was trying to train himself out of ending sentences with prepositions (=ugh).
So I told him that things like that are “trending out” of popularity (via Grammar for Teachers); he got this look on his face (you know the look) that was dripping with holier-than-thou-ness, and said something about people being too lazy to pay attention to the rules (debatable).
His final point was that other societies/languages that have steadfast rules that people must follow have lower crime rates…
(via xkcd)
But anyway… I thought about this all afternoon, and the two conclusions I keep arriving at are these:
1. Personally, I think what makes people not give a fuck about grammar is the attitude of superiority that people like Bank Teller Bro and Coke Talk who imply that you’re an idiot for not adhering to rules that have been changing since they were invented. Any idea why we aren’t still speaking in Old English?
More importantly: why would people want to learn the rules of something when they’ve been told all their lives that the fact they don’t know how to apply said rules makes them into idiots? I lost about a metric ton of respect for Coke Talk with this: “Mastery of language is the primary indication of intelligence, education, and grace….” Guh. Every time I read it, it makes my eyes roll involuntarily. What a prick.
2. While I love grammar, language, and the power language holds on its own (or as Coke Talk puts, rather poetically, “the fundamental beauty inherent in the system”) rules can only be so appealing. Picasso and Klimpt knew how to draw from life, but that’s not why they were interesting painters, and good writers break rules to the same effect, and only (mostly) after having learned the rules.
Maybe Bank Teller Bro likes to read academic essays. That’s a third conclusion I sort of came to, but it’s a little presumptive, so it’s really more of an aside.
Yours Tiredly,
me
