Maxwell’s Café #6- Hoo Kares Boot Gramr?

Who wants to give up on good grammar? NOT me!

Pictured is one of many tweets I have been seeing of late that wants to forgive lazy writing for a “good story.” I will never agree that it’s a good idea to ditch grammar. People seem to want to either homogenize writing completely with apps and programs that tell everyone what’s “right,” like grammarly, so all writing is exactly in the same vein, or they want 2 dtch grmr totly, cuz we 🥫. But machines and programs and apps don’t have the thing humans have that make writing art. If you don’t recognize that, perhaps you shouldn’t be a writer.

Language has indeed changed over time, sometimes to a nearly Mandela effect kind of degree, there are loads of folks who remember alot rather than a lot for example. While I understand that language evolves and changes over time, what I won’t get behind is its devolution, unfortunately, I feel very alone in that sentiment.

Will these new gatekeepers of literature, who in the big picture have been writing for all of about half a minute, be allowed to decide for everyone else that grammar doesn’t matter? Will they be the ones deciding what a “good” story is? Will dumbing everyone down become the new hittin’ thang?

All they’ve got to do is make it trendy and they win. Is it already happening?

Am I the last logophile standing?

All it would take to change things for the better is for people to use all the energy they waste worrying about what everyone else does or trying to be dictators of grammar, and spend that time productively instead. Spend that time writing a good, well rounded story with all the elements a good story has, including good grammar.