Yer Gramma's Grammer

NOT!!!!

Here's an article that blames social media for an epidemic of poor grammar and spelling.
Personally, if I were on social media, I would not be making those mistakes because my school teachers taught me how to spell and speak. This is no longer the case in our schools.

And guess where it's most in evidence - in the corporate media. Check out the following. It's an excerpt from the CBC's "The Current".

• "I think it's really cool that social media is making room for nuances, whether it's use of newfangled punctuation marks or new words or abbreviations," Favilla tells The Current's Anna Maria Tremonti.

Now, I need to take a second to ungrit my teeth.

The word "media" cannot correctly be followed by "is", yet it almost always is, these days. The singular for "media" is "medium". Radio is a medium, TV is a medium, film is a medium. Combined they are "media".

It's little wonder people get "phenomena" and "phenomenon" mixed up as well.

English derives from Latin, and certain Latin plurals end in "a".  Therefore, the media "are". Otherwise, stop calling it English.

Americans, particularly, make these errors, and plenty more, and they really ought to call their language "American", because it's not English. If we're all to become Americanized, then lets get rid of the monarchy NOW. Those people occupying palaces in England, living basically on social welfare while stashing their real dough offshore, are not even English!

America envies our British pomp and ceremony, and usually bombs what it wants to get its hands on. The only reason the US hasn't bombed us (yet) is because our government, whether Liberal or Conservative, always falls neatly into line with American objectives, and this seems most evident in the deteroriation of our schooling.

Even some medical doctors talk about "a dangerous bacteria". How has it escaped them, despite heavy usage of Latin in their names for diseases, and despite their prolonged education, that there is no such thing as "a" bacteria? Do I really need to point out that the singular is "bacterium"?

The sad thing is that the Internet is rife with sincere attempts to educate people with regard to proper usage, but nobody cares.  Nobody cares but me that I am writing this today -- especially those who are addicted to social media.

Anyone who does read this ought to be thankful it's so short because there are many more examples of poor English usage I could have talked about. But those with any interest at all will search out a few educational sites to learn more.

The saddest thing of all is that repetition influences thought, and the media are repetitioning you to death!

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