Word Crimes

[algonacchick]

My guess is that they were trying to sound relatively intelligent. They had heard of the expression (I've known about it for many years), but just didn't bother to do any more research.

[algonacchick]

Someone on twitter said that some of the rules in this song are made up, few are about grammar, and plenty of them are wrong. Huh?
I said I didn't agree, and this person posted a couple of links I hadn't seen until now.

This one, trying to explain how language evolves

And This one, written by a humorless meanie.
I really couldn't read all of the second article, but she seems to have missed the point. It doesn't help that she is obviously not a fan. Ugh.

Neither of these articles will convince me that the grammar rules in this song are made up.

[mellow weasel]

The second one is terrible. The first one is at least constructive. But if "this kind of peeving has never led to better English", how come that WOWAY is the most literate forum on the internet that I know of?

One thing I don't understand: how don't these people mind English grammar being taught in schools? In my mind it's the same thing. Or do they object that too?

As for "Good can be an adverb too", I must admit it is sometimes confusing for me as non-english speaker why adjectives are used as adverbs. For example, I'm under impression that "you look good" isn't considered the same mistake as "I'm doing good", although to me they seem the same.

[algonacchick]

I'm guilty of saying I'm doing good when I really mean I'm doing well. This person is trying to excuse familiar use of a word as being proper. If you say "You're looking well" to someone, it means they look healthy. If you say "You're looking good", it means they look attractive. Don't get me started with literal vs. figurative. I don't care if the dictionary changed it so that those two words are interchangeable. The only reason they did that is because so many people misuse that word in familiar speech, so they figured "Okay, we'll just give 'literal' 2 definitions". Same with "could care less" vs "couldn't care less". Only one is proper grammar. If these are the errors this person on twitter is talking about, well, then Al is right.

[mellow weasel]

If you say "You're looking well" to someone, it means they look healthy. If you say "You're looking good", it means they look attractive.

And I find it kind of weird

[algonacchick]

Oopsy, I guess that first link was posted in here before. Anyway, this person on twitter is still trying to convince me the grammar rules in this song are made up. Not buying it.

[mellow weasel]

Anyway, this person on twitter is still trying to convince me the grammar rules in this song are made up. Not buying it.

Sounds like a lost cause, don't waste your energy with him/her

[algonacchick]

The last thing he/she said was "His song definitely sparked some interesting discussion! & gave us a chance to talk about linguistic privilege, which is good." My guess is that concludes our conversation.

Wrong. I just had to mention our own Diva's cousin, who has a Ph. D in English Lit, and how Diva sent her the video and she loved it. The person said "English Lit doesn't equal linguistics". So done with her. I think it's a woman.

[Burger]

I hate to look like an idiot, but what's the difference between doing good and doing well exactly?

[algonacchick]

Doing good means that you are helping in some capacity, as in doing good deeds. Doing well means that you are in good shape financially.