By grammarnazi-forareason - 03/07/2013 06:48 - Sweden - Stockholm

Today, I had the questionable honor of explaining the difference between "your" and "you're" to my boss, and very diplomatically make her see why her poor grasp of language could affect our credibility as a communication agency. I'm Swedish, and English is my third language. She's American. FML
I agree, your life sucks 57 629
You deserved it 3 753

Same thing different taste

Top comments

Talientary 8

This will probably offend some people, but oh well. I'm an American. Let's just say that I can name a few different versions of "English" that I've heard that you probably wouldn't recognize. I wouldn't expect much from the stereotypical American. #yoloswaql8rlol

Comments

Nikkitaria 9

That's the worst possible plague that could happen. It only affects those who have a brain.

Well you sir don't know the devastation that came from the second one let alone the first.... with today's technology...tanks helicopters jets nukes imagine the devastation that will come from a third one

GoodLookingGeese 10

Play the last of us and see of you're into this

Everyone thinks they would be awesome and survive a zombie apocalypse, when in reality chances are that they would simply be eaten.

But, Walking Dead has taught us well.

DKjazz 20

World War 3 won't work. Americans have a habit of being on the winning side of those

Samster2000 9

Correction: the USA has a habit of joining in at the last moment when the war is almost won. Put them in the driving seat however, and you get a completely different story (see Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq etc.)

Now, the problem with starting a third World War like #58 suggested is that, like all past ones, it would just allow the Americans to let others do the work up until the U.S. deem it financially beneficial to help out.

Funny, seeing as we were there in WWII from '41 to '45, not to mention fighting on two or three fronts, like the Eastern, Pacific, and African theaters. So i guess we just let everyone else do everything for us.

TheDrifter 23

They're just pointing out that the rest of the continent had the advance halted and had already been at war for two years before the Americans deigned to show up. Even the Canadians made it there on time.

American civil war II will work, and won't affect the rest of world ;)

Zombies are lame. I vote Leviathans and Sucrocorp.

I agree 1. We shall feed them "YOLOers" and "swaggots" thus cleaning up the old plague with the new one.

108, The last time I checked Europe and Britain were getting there assholes kicked in, before we joined WW2. You should be grateful you are not speaking German. Du dumme Schlampe.

138, the loss of life won't impact the rest of the world. But the economy will tank and the world could be in the biggest depression there ever was.

Leprekhaun 14

I love how this is all really thought out about a WWIII. I for one would like zombies only because you can't run from a nuke.

I thought an IKEA comment might be seen as random for this post. somehow it became a discussion on a zombie apocalypse vs world war 3. mind sufficiently blown.

Apparently Corona-virus won the vote.

You should be able to write properly in your own language. That's pretty basic.

If they work in communications field, it is mandatory to be able to properly write. I do make mistakes too, but english is my third language as well.

78 Why does your profile say it's your second language then?

It's not JUST Americans with a poor grasp on English.

Making moneys not a top priority of the company, where have you been?

No-one ever started a business without the intention to make a profit. In fact, that is the sole reason that most businesses exist.

Aren't nonprofit charities still businesses? They want to make money for others, though.

The main objective of a business is to provide returns (profit) to the owner. Even though many non-profit organisations act like businesses they are technically just an organisation much like a sporting club (provide benefit to particular group, not the owners).

Talientary 8

This will probably offend some people, but oh well. I'm an American. Let's just say that I can name a few different versions of "English" that I've heard that you probably wouldn't recognize. I wouldn't expect much from the stereotypical American. #yoloswaql8rlol

Sadly, it is quite frequent that we butcher our own language. Our educational system is seriously flawed.

So only Americans butcher their language? I thought slang was part of all languages. Well anyways, it depends on the quality of the teacher and how much the student actually listens to that teacher. Also the aptitude of the student in a particular subject and the amount of incentive to learn must be taken into consideration. I've had some good English teachers. I tried to pay attention to them. I will admit to napping through class and doodling. My aptitude for language skills is actually below par. I could never sound out word in my head for some reason. I often forget how to spell some words. I can never grasp every last rule of commas, semicolons, and colons. My incentive to learn wasn't too high.

59-Not being able to tell the difference between 'your' and 'you're' isn't slang, it's not knowing basic English parts of speech. You're right about it not being only Americans that can butcher their native tongue, but as the previous comments above you state, the American education system is in such a state that it is pumping people into the corporate world that don't even know the difference between the two words I mentioned above, and it's not just English skills they lack, unfortunately. I'm sure many of my fellow classmates, before I moved to Canada, will still (as many did before I left) refer to Africa as a third world country, and won't be able to point Afghanistan out on a map. Shit, some of them probably think Iraq and Afghanistan are the same place.

59- I know seniors in high school who have taken 4 years of English classes. Do you know what we learn? How to read books and write about them. I know too many seniors who don't know proper grammar. Sure we use slang, but I feel that proper grammar wouldn't be such a hard thing to teach.

#80- It's not a hard thing to teach. That's why it is taught in elementary school, not high school. Students should already know how to use proper grammar by the time they reach that level. High school English classes shouldn't be about re-teaching things that kids should have already learned.

90- I agree that they shouldn't reteach it, but if students don't know it or remember it when they're in high school, it should be looked over again.

Jimmothy68 5

I feel like it's solely based on the school you go to. I just finished my freshman year and, having gone to two high schools, two middle schools, and two elementary schools, I've been taught by a lot of people. The school I'm going to now, however, is by far the best I've been to. For instance, in geography we had to know every country, and geographical landmark of three continents throughout the semester. So I feel like saying the educational system as a whole is flawed is incorrect.

RedPillSucks 31

The "System" is flawed because there's no good holistic approach to education. Sure, depending on the neighborhood you're in, you find a good school. Schools are funded with property taxes, so the areas with higher salaries will have better schools. It sucks for you if you live in a middle class or poor area though.

#90 key word...SHOULDN'T...but sadly...a lot of times is needed. I work in a school system and can tell you first hand that even in elementary school the educationl system is so flawed that teachers aren't allowed to teach basic skills..they are mandated to "teach the test" because so much importance is placed on state standarized testing

I'm from Britain and you'd be surprised at the moronic babble that seems to pass for English now. I think part of the problem is the growing number of people who hate 'grammar nazis'. There's no such thing as a grammar nazi. There are those that are literate and those who are not. The illiterate should be forced to pull themselves up, not drag the literate down.

Slang might be a part of a language, but if a person in the work place can't spell correctly because they only know slang. That is called stupidity.

Zimmington 21

Yes 119! That's all I was taught throughout school. I pretty much sought out to learn new interesting things myself because in class we "Have to get you ready for the TAKS." I guess something I'll actually use in life can wait?

bettyboop428 24

120: I wish I could thumb you up hundreds more times just for your last sentence.

Lct1196 31

Technically, we don't even have a national language as Americans, so we don't have a native language to butcher.

i apologize for our education system...My dad had a teacher tell him "ain't, ain't a word" So you can see the problems we're dealing with....

Technically, "ain't" can be used as a word, as long as it is used by children, and in place of "am not".

Funkymunky1511 4

Foreigner study second language who alway notice and learn grammar is better than so many native people. It's truth for every language, i think it's not only education system in America

"A'int" was added to the dictionary. It is an official word, as is "funner" which was added in 2010.

TheDrifter 23

Wait, they're dumbing down the dictionary to compensate for poor grammar? That's just sad.

Your all idiots. It isn't that hard to use you're language's proper grammar. You're schools have obviously failed you since your so incompetent. If only you're parents helped you as a child you're mind wouldn't be so slow. "You're" and "your" are so simple. (If you haven't noticed, I'm being sarcastic.)

ravenevercross 19

#146, lol. I was about to correct your first use of the word "your", but decided to finish reading your paragraph instead. I realized what you were doing quickly and it made me laugh. Well done.

They've also put a few common text phrases in there, such as "lol" and "omg." So, yes, they're dumbing it down! Yay! Don't quote me on this but I do believe they've also added in some Ebonics because it is part of the "African American culture."

I feel you. I'm Korean, and I often need to correct Canadians' grammar.

This is why I hate to be American sometimes. Others make us look like fat, stupid, drunken idiots.

So if the rest of the world didn't exist, Americans would think better of themselves? I think I finally understand!

Bbbuuut... Christopher Walken is from America...

You should visit Australia mate. Apparently we're dumb drunk and racist. That's two out of three.

heinous966 15

Well, according to statistics, most of us are fat, ignorant, idiots.

dixiefoxx 22

Yeah, I know a guy that's in my grade (I'm going into 11th) and he's fat, obnoxious, ignorant, mean... (calm down, this guy made my life hell at a point, and if you met him, you'd see how mean and obnoxious he is -.- and... He is putting on some weight) I hate being American sometimes because of our stupid stereotypes, and people like I mentioned above make it so we have these stereotypes.

163 - I could pick apart your grammatically incorrect paragraph, or I could just act like I don't care, since what you do or think pertains only to you. Ah, decisions decisions. By the way, feel free to thumbs this down.

Swedish as well, Speaks english better than most americans i've met. Thanks to a childhood of videogames

grahmagog 14

Having english as my only language, i know we can get lazy as there are so many words and varients for the same thing, when a foreigner learns english, its harder for them as they have to learn all these varients, so most have a better understanding of it, where as we're already learning it from before birth, it comes to us naturally, and we have to think less about it, unlike the foreigners that learn it from ages above ours, i guess what im ttying to state is that we all get lazy with our mother tongue, learning a new language means we have to learn all about it so we pick up on these trivial bits of information

Normally I hate doing this but it seems appropriate here... *variants

There are so many grammatical, punctual and spelling errors in this little paragraph, I don't know where to start. It also makes absolutely no sense. "Learn language before birth"? Huh? This is the proof that the American educational system is broken. This country is going down hill! No wonder America is the laughing stock of the world and nobody takes us seriously. Such a shame.

All I can say is that I wouldn't make similar mistakes in swedish. Except for "tyvärr", which I still don't know if it's supposed to be only one r in.

grahmagog 14

We all make mistakes in any language we have, even the "grammar nazi's" make them, and to be honest im not arsed at all, we have the ability to still make sense of whatever is written before us, regardless of spelling or punctuation amd all that other crap, and yes we do start learning language from before birth, we start picking out key words such as mom and dad, even lunch time, we start listening to tones and music, thats how a baby knows when dinner time, without understanding the word, they know what it means by the sound, if you play a particular kind of music to the womb, you can almost guarantee the child will grow to like that music, as a species we're incredibly smart

Well, I´m Swedish as well and i just want to add that Swedish is a very difficult language to learn since we have many bendings of words that does not follow the grammar "rules". Still, i don´t see as many Swedes as Americans make misstakes in their own language...

FinJage 18

I'm Finnish and Swedish is obligatory for us, but I have to say that it's the easiest language.

Okay first of all, commas are not periods...

InfamousRaider 15

Rocker_chick who the hell are you talking to...no one used commas as periods.

RedPillSucks 31

81 was pointing out that grahmagog's comment had one long sentence with commas as the only punctuation, instead of breaking it into multiple sentences with periods.

Two R's. It's one of my favourite words, just because pretty much no other has two R's in a row. It looks so odd. Doesn't make any sense though, since the Ä is long, and they're generally short when followed by double letters.

#29 It is "tyvärr" ;) Think "värre" And also, I don't really think that "being lazy" with your mother tounge is the problem this time.. Just being plain stupid (or ignoring all sort of education, which is pretty much the same thing as being stupid).

And also, #153, it it not a long "ä" in tyvärr.. Or at least not in any dialect I've heard o.O

Actually, I think Swedes are just as bad and care just as little. Our education system is seriously horrible, with teachers who can't spell. I've had to correct several of my teachers' for särskrivning for instance, rök fritt and rökfritt isn't the same... tyska lärare, klass rum, elev råd. Also, have you noticed that most of our myndighetsnamn have logos with bad grammar in them? Pensions myndigheten... till växt verket? I've given up a long time ago, but the most horrible thing is I can't have kids because homeschooling is illegal here in Sweden, and I will never subject my kid to the horror that Swedish schools are.

HungerGames95 13

39 isn't stereotyping at all...

There is no law that says that you can't teach your child as well as have him/her in school. I could both read and do fourth graders math when I started school, courtesty of my grandfather.

Ultimativefail 11

I'm German, English is my second language. Thanks to the Internet, I am not too bad at it. And English grammar really is kind of simple.