Monday, January 25, 2010

Thanks for Writing My Post for Me, Cash

Did I ever mention that I have a sister who sometimes writes me the most hilarious e-mails? Well, I do. This is cash's input for today:

One of the secretaries at my work listens to a Top 40s radio station every day. There are these two songs that are played constantly these days. Both have blatant grammatical problems in their choruses:
1. From Alicia Keys and Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind": "New York! Concrete jungle where dreams are made of!" What on earth does that even mean? What is she trying to say?
2. From Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance": "You and me could write a bad romance." Well, obviously. Maybe "you" and "I" could write a better one.
Am I too picky to expect better grammar from a world where everyone who titles a song with "you" actually uses "u" instead?

And then when I asked cash via e-mail if I could post this on my blog, she also brought up another song that really hurts my grammatical ears (not that they are fine-tuned or anything) when I hear it. We can thank Paul McCartney for this one: "But if this ever-changing world in which we live in..." In which we live in? Aaaaah! Seriously, it hurts.

No, Cash. In my opinion, you are not too picky to expect a song-writer to write correctly. Also, I think that the problem with #1 is the same problem that I hear all over these days (especially in church). People sometimes don't think about real meanings of sayings when they use them in their conversations. They know what they mean, but it doesn't really fit the situation.

Another grammatical pet peeve I have in songs: "If I was..." or "If today was..." It's enough to lose my fanhood. Attention musicians: "Were" should be used with "if." When in doubt, think of Fiddler on the Roof. "If I were a rich man..."

Regarding "u" for "you:" probably my biggest problem with the substitution of a letter for a word is that I guess I'm too dumb sometimes to get it. On Facebook earlier today I was reading a comment, and the person substituted "y" for "why." This is a problem for me because to me "y" equals "and," not "why." And it didn't make any sense. Sometimes I confess to using a letter instead of a word, but that is generally while texting when I'm trying to be fast or trying to fit it all in one message. I guess I should be more versatile. R u thinking that, 2? Gr8!

So, how about u guys? What do u think about grammar and/or letter substitution for words?

11 comments:

Mellissa said...

Any time you're ready to start a picket line so we can stop substituting letters for entire words, call me up! It drives me crazy!

cash said...

I am sure there are many more offenders, Cardine. I'm just horrible at discerning the words pop singers sing. Do you remember how long it took me to figure out what Seal was singing in "Kiss from a Rose"? (This was before our handy interwebs had every song lyric at our fingertips, of course.)

Jill - GlossyVeneer said...

I suppose I allow a little more freedom in grammar for the sake of "art"... but then I often wonder how many pop songs are truly "art".

But I loathe letter substituting. I'm kind of like you, sometimes I can't figure out what is being said because I'm trying to find complete words!

Laurel said...

It is hard to tell what they're singing. And then there's country music...(but I still like it.)
I'm trying to convince my eight year old that 'writ' is not the past tense of 'write'. I don't know where she learned that one.
My pet peeves:
we was... (heard that more in Cedar)
acrossed - it's just not a word

Dana Cheryl said...

I don't mind substituting letters for words. It makes texting work as a means of serious conversation. I usually live at least a 1000 miles from my home. Most people can't really afford an unlimited calling plan but an extra $15 for texting is possible. From Monday through Friday I do most communicating via text. It would take entirely too long if we spelled out every single word. Although now that I have an iPhone with its exceptional predictive texting feature I find it far easier to make it without the shortcuts. Long story short I think that texting shortcuts are here to stay and I might as well adapt or die... lol! ;)

Anonymous said...

I think I could write a whole post on "lol"... but I won't.

There is a car that commonly parks across the street from where I live with something abbreviated on the license plate. I can never figure it out and it drives me crazy... it's something like chrsthrst (which is actually kinda long)... is it someone's name? Is it a religious message? What? I just don't know....

julie said...

I'm with you on the letter substitution...I only do it if I'm trying to get a message to fit into just one text. I know some people that abbreviate everything and I have to decipher it in my head. What can I say...I like proper grammar and punctuation, even in texts!

banana said...

I am with you. Unfortunately, I don't think this issue will ever go away. There are now many of my former HS students who are at parenting age. Once I got a whole test full of "IDK" answers. It took me forever to figure out that she wanted me to read it, "I don't know".

tearese said...

I HATE the common use of texting terms for real words (r u :-))
I feellike the next generation is not going to know how to spell or construct sentences at all.

Cardine said...

I am so glad that I'm not alone in my feelings! WooHoo!

Indy said...

Language is interesting. I have never been more aware of what I was saying then when I was not around my language 24/7. It made me really think of the meaning behinds words. Language is beautiful!!!