Pet Peeves

I try not to be too anal – am certainly cognizant of the potential – and have been making conscious efforts to counter it (especially with the slow walkers on NYC streets). But there’s one thing I can’t budge on, and that’s punctuation and grammar. I’m not asking for anything unrealistic or even perfection, just some semblance of proper usage (or merely an attempt at it).

“Their” does not equal “they’re” does not equal “there.”

“Its” does not equal “it’s.”

And proper punctuation is always appreciated and helpful. I’m not perfect, or even close, but try to adhere to these things.

An avid user of Facebook, I am continually shocked with the poor command of our language. I’m certainly no ivy-league graduate and (embarrassingly) not well read, but do cringe when I see undecipherable sentences.  Sometimes one “sentence” on Facebook is comprised of numerous thoughts, grouped into one horrible stream of consciousness. With certain culprits, there’s no use of commas, periods or anything to provide structure and therefore the proper meaning.

This always makes me pause and wonder a couple of things.

Do people actually read what they’re writing before they post?

Are we victims of such a time strapped society that we don’t even have the time to check?

Are we just so lazy that we don’t give a crap about those things?

Maybe Eats, Shoots & Leaves should be a mandatory read for anyone embarking on social media…or even life.

And now I’ll get off my soapbox.