Let's Fix America With Grammar [View all]

Let’s Fix America With Grammar
In the MAGAsphere, sloppy language leads to foolish thoughts, and much worse.

Kirk Swearingen


(Medium) This week, a niece messaged me about a sentence in a children’s book. She sent a photo that showed a whimsical drawing of a pink dog above the line “I wish my dog were pink.”

She asked if that should have been “I wish my dog was pink.”

I replied that the subjunctive mood in English is little understood and pretty much gone now — given that the language follows speech rather than writing — and noted, jokingly, that I wish more Americans were better educated.

My quip naturally made me recall Donald Trump’s 2015 campaign comment about how he loves the poorly educated.

Trump loves the poorly educated because he can rely on them to not understand civics and to fall for his ceaseless lies and grifting. He is smugly confident that they will also look past his many, many deficiencies as a president and a human being. Did he not brag that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose any voters? ...................(more)

https://kirkswearingen.medium.com/lets-fix-america-with-grammar-6667ea6c99b3