No, this is not a travel post. Or a regretful post. It’s a grammar post.
It apparently takes a lot of effort to use grammar correctly and to avoid saying the now ubiqitous “I should have went.”
Even though I am a bit of a grammar stickler, I also understand that grammar mistakes are not the biggest problem bedeviling our society. Absolutely not. I’m not trying to be a snob here. These are just observations.
I cannot help but notice similar errors, more and more from professionals, highly educated people of all ages. Language definitely changes over time; perhaps this new fangled version of grammar will become the norm.
Why am I so resistant to such changes? It signifies that people don’t know they’re making a mistake; they aren’t checking. They just repeat what they hear. We already know that far too many people mindlessly repeat what they hear, whether it’s ideological nonsense, manosphere crap, health myths, or celebrity gossip.
Grammar creep is real. I just read a website post by a food-related professional I respect that actually used ‘gonna’ instead of going to. That surprised me. Two years ago I taught a grade nine student who was absolutely shocked that gonna was not a word to be used in formal written work. She didn’t even know that it’s a contraction of going to. I was shocked; maybe I’m the problem.
