For my fellow grammar/spelling fascists on DU.

[malthaussen]

62. What has always puzzled me...

... is the fact that people who prefer and promote correct usage are considered fascists or nazis, which would seem to indicate that they are considered extremists. There is a moral there somewhere, if I could just work out what it is.

I don't object to the odd neologism, as after all English is a living language. I find it odd that outright mistakes are defended as simply the normal variations to be expected as a language matures. Obviously by that argument, there is no reason to observe any rules whatsoever.

My own pet peeve comes from the world of sports. When, for example, a batsman makes two hits in four attempts, he is said to have gone "two for four." Whoever coined that phrase clearly did not understand what the different prepositions mean: it ought to be "two in four," or "four for two." But English is a living language, and this usage has become so common that I doubt whether even trained journalistic professionals realize that they are butchering the language when they use it.

And don't get me started on "Between you and I." According to a friend of mine who lives in the South, that usage is so common there that even the English teachers don't know it's wrong.

-- Mal