You Know What I Mean?

  I am a stickler for grammar. I know when to use you’re instead your. I am well-versed on the proper times for to, too and two. I have even mastered the ever puzzling who vs. whom quandary. When I hear or read grammatical errors it is like the proverbial fingernails on a chalkboard. It’s painful. To make matters worse, I live in a region where proper grammar is considered ... well it isn’t considered at all. Phrases like “we was” and “I done it” are commonplace and sometimes people will just make up whole new words like “hisself” (“So he said to hisself…”). These assaults on the English language trigger a visceral, almost painful reaction in me. I know that my grammatical snobbery says more about my character flaws than it does my linguistically challenged neighbors. Should it bother me as much as it does if a co-worker jumbles their tenses? Probably not. Is it normal that my neighbor using the wrong verb form in a participle causes me to visibly flinch? Nope. I have a problem and...