Grammar Police

Okay, A,

So that you can relax, you said "leaving J and I here"...but it should be me (i.e., leaving J here, leaving me here; leaving J and me here). Nothing to lose sleep over. Seriously. It's just a sickness for me. Honestly. I edit everything in my head. The superintendent of schools will be speaking to us at convocation, and--although he's good, he makes mistakes--I'll be sitting there listening, correcting his grammar in my head. In general I find the two most common mistakes relate to the overuse of subjective pronouns, especially after the preposition between, e.g., "between you and I." NO!!!!! Take that back, it's "between you and me"!!!!!!!!!!!!! The second is the use of an adverb after the word feeling. "I was feeling badly." NO!!!!!!!!! You were feeling bad. I know that one is a little tricky, but you're not modifying the verb there, not describing one's ability to feel. Feeling badly means one's ability to feel is impaired. What we need there is the feeling. Bad. I feel good, I feel bad, I feel happy, I feel sad. What the f**k is so hard about that??? When the weatherman says "dress the kids warmly" I want to scream, "um, that could be a little creepy!" Dress them [in] warm [clothes]. Go ahead and undress seductively for your spouse, but for god's sake just put some warm clothes on the kids. Sheesh. Thank god I'm perfect. haha

Funny that you should say you may end up incarcerated or institutionalized before M becomes an adult...my sister M always often includes the caveat "if he lives to be 18..." Anyway, tonight is my turn for a dose of a fifteen year old, but unlike you, I get to give him back. My sister M and her husband went on vacation to Mexico this morning (sans children), and my niece A is in Poland for the month (she left Monday--all by herself), so J is around alone tonight (tomorrow he goes to soccer camp). I told him I'd take him to dinner and the bookstore (a summer reading/Auntie Barb tradition). Since I was just on line looking up restaurants in Portland, Maine (I found one that has a Wine Spectator rating, and includes Pacific NW wines (yay!)), where W and I are going next weekend for a wedding, I am much more in the mood for gourmet...but will settle for mini burgers and salad bar since I get to spend time with my nephew who is growing up so fast, and who suffers a little from the fact that his father is a jerk and his mother lives on the edge of a nervous breakdown.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Love, Barb