Better Late than Never....

I really hate that phrase. I am not a late person. I pride myself on my punctuality. I live the Dean Immel montra....To be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late, to be late is inexcusable..... Mr Immel was my high school band/orchestra director. He ran a tight ship and we had an incredible music program at my high school.. Mt. Miguel... He was a perfectionist and I admired him for that...heck we marched in the Rose Bowl all three years that I was in high school...His brother, Jerald, was/is a composer who writes music for the movie industry and he wrote all of our material... incredible music. Sooo much fun. I am digressing.. This, too has become a trait of which I am not particularly fond.

We all have pet peeves and things that really "bug" us. I hate ending my sentences with dangling participals and prepasitional phrases..... My DH, Bob, hates that I sometimes ask him, "where is blah blah blah AT? it's the AT that drives him crazy... I hate that he uses the word/slang "got". ie... I just Got this. I hate that word. I also cringe when I hear little kids say, "I wanna go with..." With What? With Whom???

Another peeve is this... the uses of "I" and "Me". I had an interesting conversation with an English teacher the other day. We were having dinner and a gentleman, whom is prominent in our community, said "Going to Peir is a good idea if we can get volunteers to hand out fliers for Bill and I". I thought...man, no wonder our kids have problems with the English language. When he said that, he stopped himself and looked at me and asked if that was proper grammar that he used and I said.... wellll.. no, it should have been Bill and ME. The English teacher argued with me and insisted that Bill and I was correct. It drove me bonkers because I was taught in college that you simply take the other person out of the sentence and see if it makes sense. You wouldn't say...".....get volunteers to hand out fliers for I". Then the teacher said, well, technically, it's the indirect object that receives the modification.. blah blah blah blah blah... She argued. I could not believe it...Then I thought "another reason our kids in the public system are so ill-prepared for ACTs and SATs, and all the other measures of intelligence that are out there."

In the mean time....I am soooooo glad that we homeschool. I mean, I wouldn't want my children stressing out the already stressed OCD sufferers whom have to face every day with the knowledge that grammar is subject to the whims of trend. so.... this is really going to hurt.... I have to run before my kids decide they are going with...... urghghghghghg....

Love you!
Mary