pet peeve o' mine

I frequent a lot of writers' message boards. Wordplay, Done Deal, TVWriter (though, not as much -- mainly because I don't believe that Brody's word on TV is law), Artful Writer. I read a lot of writers' blogs. Basically, I'm about as immersed in writing and reading about writing as I possibly could be. Mainly because I'm avoiding writing as if it were a sport.

The common denominator here is writing. The people who post are all writers. So, when I see my biggest writing pet peeves occur, it's almost worse.

Now, I'm not perfect. In no world am I even near perfect. I make typos all the time. Hell, there are a ton of them on this blog (and Murphy's law dictates that in a post about grammar there will be grammatical errors -- please know that the errors will be mistakes, not idiocy -- though, I am an idiot). But, my pet peeves aren't mere typos, in my eyes. They're born out of an ignorance of our language. Let me also preface this with, I'm not a grammar nazi. Really. I just despise ignorance.

The top three are:

1. There's a lot of bananas in that truck.
2. He should of looked out for the banana truck.
3. Looking out for the banana truck is no harder then looking both ways when you cross the street.

There are, of course, more than that. But those are the three I hate the most.

Do you see the problem? Please, god, tell me you see the problem. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me you do. Because, if not, you're as idiotic as I am. Believe me, that's an insult.

If you read these examples and don't see a problem, please go out and get yerself some book larnin'. Because, if you're like me, a writer, it's embarrassing that you wouldn't see the issue. Because, uh, you're a writer. A writer who doesn't have a grasp on your own language.

If your excuse is that you're just posting on a message board or a blog or whatever, well, that's not an excuse. Why wouldn't you always write using proper English? Why wouldn't it be second nature to you, a writer? And, really, if you're using that as an excuse, you're even more of an idiot than I'd originally thought. In fact, you might be more of an idiot than I am. And, that's sad.

If your excuse is that it's your vernacular, well, you're an idiot for employing vernacular born out of idiocy.

So, please, if you're a writer... give a hoot, don't be an idiot.