English Language What the Hell Moments

[Veriduin]

While not exactly 'txt-sp33k', I feel the strange compulsion to vent my anger at the improperly spoken English that has become so popular in modern culture. If you have a "What?" moment of your own you'd like to share, please jump in.


About a month ago, I was walking alone with my boyfriend, who is generally rather good about using proper English. We were talking about hosting a New Year's party, and he turned to me and asked:
"Can (friend's name) come with?", to which I replied:
"With what?". My boyfriend acted as if he honestly didn't know what I was talking about. I was under the impression that ending a sentence with a preposition was improper English. I forgave him, as is proper, after informing him that 'with' happens to be a preposition, and that if he was going to use such a sentence, it is proper to tack on at least a pronoun to the end. Now, just today, I was reading a rather well written fanfiction, to find that the author (who seems to be something of a grammar nut, with a good beta) included the phrase, too. Several times, but only when characters are speaking. What makes people forget simple grammar rules when speaking? Dear (insert deity here), I'm sick of imbeciles!  

[Natsuri]

Veriduin

While not exactly 'txt-sp33k', I feel the strange compulsion to vent my anger at the improperly spoken English that has become so popular in modern culture. If you have a "What?" moment of your own you'd like to share, please jump in.


About a month ago, I was walking alone with my boyfriend, who is generally rather good about using proper English. We were talking about hosting a New Year's party, and he turned to me and asked:
"Can (friend's name) come with?", to which I replied:
"With what?". My boyfriend acted as if he honestly didn't know what I was talking about. I was under the impression that ending a sentence with a preposition was improper English. I forgave him, as is proper, after informing him that 'with' happens to be a preposition, and that if he was going to use such a sentence, it is proper to tack on at least a pronoun to the end. Now, just today, I was reading a rather well written fanfiction, to find that the author (who seems to be something of a grammar nut, with a good beta) included the phrase, too. Several times, but only when characters are speaking. What makes people forget simple grammar rules when speaking? Dear (insert deity here), I'm sick of imbeciles!

I don't really have a moment to share with you, but I do like to comment on this.

First of all, I hear that (or something similar to that expression) from my sister sometimes. I assumed it's only colloquial usage.

Second, that depends on frequency. Most level-headed people wouldn't forget their basic grammar ever so often. The cause for alarm is when they don't listen to you and resume their habits.  

[Natsuri]

Actually, I do have one moment, when I was looking at some YouTube comments, when I came across this fine example of a typical fanboy specimen.

Quote:

no f** u ff7 is the best gay ****** cloud is sooo kawaii

I think I smell a Chad Warden over here... twisted  

[Nicholas Kaze]

In literature, it is considered acceptable to commit unforgivable grammar errors in the dialogue. It is meant to make the characters more believable/easier to identify with/unique. I don't know why not being able to tell what someone is saying would accomplish those things, but then, it doesn't accomplish anything in real life, either. So the authors are just being overly realistic.