New readers of this blog may be shocked to learn that I can be a bit of a jerk. The truth is that I can, at times, be a real ass. As previously noted a few months ago, I can be judgmental, self-righteous, and unabashedly opinionated.
I can be rather intolerant when it comes to bad grammar. My mother reflexively corrected my grammar as a child. It didn’t matter where we were. No sentence could end with a preposition. Lazy words, such as Like, were not accepted. This is not a complaint. I never resented her interruptions. I didn’t welcome them. I simply understood that these were serious errors that needed to be addressed.
Did my children resent my policing of their language and grammar? I don’t know. I never asked.
I raise this issue because I have the devil of a time restraining myself whenever I hear adults misuse certain words. The biggest offense, the one that drives me nuts, is the substitution of goes for said or says.
There are days when people close to me completely abandon words such as said or says. The entire retelling of a conversation might include a half a dozen or more goes. Some sentences may include two or three offenses. It takes all of my self-control to remain silent.
Worse, this misuse of the word goes is becoming more common. Today, however, may have been the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. I was at a seminar hosted by a major insurance company. The speaker, nationally known and respected, was funny, informative, and capable of ending on time. All three are very important. Unfortunately, his grammar was atrocious. Among other things, he repeatedly substituted goes for said.
Sitting there, working hard to absorb the valuable parts of his message, I was doing my best to ignore the goes. But he wouldn’t stop. My mother might have interrupted his presentation. I simply repositioned myself in my seat. Again and again and again. The people behind me probably speculated that I was suffering from either hemorrhoids or poison ivy.
So, if a professional, a best selling author and educator, stumbles through the difficult terrain of the English language, how can I judge harshly average Americans who trip over the usage of goes vs. said? I promise to grit my teeth, shift my weight, and to work harder at remaining silent.
I’ll still be a jerk. It just won’t be as obvious.
This bothers me extremely as well, especially coming from educated people such as nurses.
“Here we go.” The first paragraph is the “real” David I know!
David,
Here GOES — Random Thoughts.
1) Roommates should not correct each other in public.
2) Bare ass is not the root word of embarrass.
3) My grammar was from Europe.
4) Do typos bother you?
5) Do you ever run out of topics and thank your lucky stars for a lecturer to provide fodder?
6) My Fodder provided me with a fondness for Math, yet I was not required to attend Math.
7) The use of “Should Have Gone” is grating.
8) Some of your recipes require grating.
9) Do typos bother you?
Michael — No Names Please
I have an office full of “irregarless” users.
My main grammatical pet peeves stem from the misuse of the apostrophe, and errors in the usage of you’re/your, their/there/they’re, etc. But next in line lies the abuse of the word ‘said’. I have a neighbor whose speech is punctuated with ‘he said then she said and then he said and then she said’ ad nauseum. I often cannot concentrate on what she’s saying; instead I’m counting the number of times she repeats the word ‘said’.
ARRGH!
Dave:
I thought it was only the students that I tutor who constantly use the word goes; however from your article, it looks like they are learning it from the adults 🙁
I hope someone sends your blog to the nationally known and respected speaker at the seminar you attended today, so that he can correct his erroneous grammer.
Jo