Stupid Politicians

The woman who was my representative in Congress before I moved to my present residence has been characterized as the stupidest woman in Congress. During a hurricane last year she demanded that the local government provide sandbags to protect her home. A current opponent, playing on this incident, had his supporters deliver sandbags to her home. Her reply, repeated on the local radio stations, was one double negative after another. "It's not no game." "Don't bring no trash . . . " She may think that the second negative reinforces or emphasizes the first, but it really cancels it out.

I'm tempted to send her a letter saying how grateful I am that I was able to move out of her district. Those recordings really make her sound like an uneducated idiot. She's listed as the top earmarker in this area, bringing "federal funds" to her district, but I'm still praying somebody will defeat her.

"You and me" or "You and I"

A lot of people use one or the other ALL the time, either not knowing which is right or not caring. Determining which to use is really very easy. If you would say "I" or "we", use you and I; if "me" or "us" sounds right, use you and me.
Examples: When you and I went fishing, did you have to forget the bait?
That boat was just made for you and me!
You and I tried to catch something for dinner, but they just weren't biting for you and me.

"Me" or "Myself"?

I keep hearing people use "myself" incorrectly. i.e "Send it to Tom or myself" Well, you could send it to me, but I'm the only one who can send it to myself. I'm sure you can find other examples every day on radio or TV. Keep your ears open--if I get enough samples, I'll add another post and give you credit for submitting them.

Does Anybody Write (or Speak) "Standard" English Anymore?

Nobody on radio or TV seems to know the difference between less and fewer, or between good and well. They are doing good, and eating less calories, and buying vehicles that use less gallons of gas per mile. Now one can do good, but that refers to good works. What, in context, they seem to mean is that they are doing well. To get to the grammar lesson, do is a verb that needs to be modified by an adverb, not an adjective. Well is an adverb; good is an adjective. As a previous post noted--if you can count the items you are referring to, use fewer, i.e. fewer gallons, less gas.

Another ubiquitous error is the use of the possessive form ('s) to indicate a plural. How did that get started? Could part of the problem be the pop psychology idea that we damage our children when we(God forbid)tell them that something they've done is WRONG? Is their self-esteem really so fragile that correcting their errors will destroy them? Of course the longer this goes on, the fewer people there will be who know that others are mangling the English language, so the manglers will just appear normal rather than ignorant or uneducated. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how we can reverse or at least slow down this trend?