Saturday, May 1, 2010

Our grammar and spelling skills keep taking nosedivesWhen

When I walk down the street in Manhattan I become annoyed by all the misspelled signs that catch my eye from bars, restaurants, food carts, and bodegas. It makes me want to rip out a giant red pen and make lots of corrections. Not to mention the terrible grammar. Maybe this is due to the fact that I have been employed in my life as both a copy editor and as an English teacher.

It also bugs me that so many students now write papers and emails in texting speak i.e. U hafta B here 2moro. And don't understand that this is improper English. I wonder what sort of semi literate, misspelled, abbreviated future awaits us as a country. I must be a huge nerd or else so old I am out of it because I never abbreviate anything in my texts and have even on occasion made use of the semi colon key.