Mini Grammar Nazi

One of the most intruiging things about watching my kids develop is their language acquisition. Ellie was an early talker. It'll be interesting to see what Matthew does. He used to say mama when he was upset. Now he reaches for me and says, "MABA!" in a despairing voice. Hmm.

Anyway, I think if I ever went back to school (and that's a giant if), I'd want to study language acquisition in children. That was definitely one of my most interesting classes in college. I sort of wish I'd done ESL or something of the sort. Grammar is fascinating, isn't it?

I took a grammar class in college since I specialized in English. The prof looked like Ned Flanders from the Simpsons. Eerie. Anyway, I'm going along in the semester, enjoying myself, diagramming sentences to my heart's content, when one day the class all gets together to try to... I dunno, like, protest the class or something. Apparently everyone was failing the class and not a single person enjoyed it. OOPS! Sorry for ruining the curve, everyone! Of course, I didn't speak up and defend the class, but it's not like they would've been able to do anything about it anyway. Please.

Most of my friends know how anal I am about grammatical consistency and accuracy. I even edit my blogs to make sure they are grammatically correct. Peter's first draft of skits are always punctual nightmares, but it's fun because I like correcting. If I could walk around with a red pen and just correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. errors I see in public without being offensive, I'd be a happier person. Sad, huh?

What was my point? Oh yeah. So I always make a point to use adverbs correctly. Talk quietly, Ellie. Drive more slowly, Daddy. Don't scream so loudly, Matthew. Ellie has lately picked up on this. We were going somewhere the other day, and she goes, "Daddy! Don't drive so fastly!" Such a proud moment for me. :) The overcompensation thing is so interesting. For awhile, she said things were "my's" all the time.

Totally irrelevant story: Ellie and I went to get Jamba Juice. It was near a Starbucks, so Ellie goes, "There's a coffee next to Jamba Juice!" I asked her, "What's the coffee store called?" She replies, "Decaf!" I dunno... I thought that was funny.