it's a matter of not understanding the grammar.

Grammar is not an objective absolute; rather it is an innately subjective set of linguistic variables the nature of which will never be understood by seeing language as a set of rules. Where do these rules come from for fuck's sake? Who's up there writing them down? God? Just as there is no God, there is no absolute rule book, and yet people are still talking. See what Chomsky has to say, or even WIKI : Transformational Grammar.

We are born understanding the grammar, the grammar is hard-wired into the human brain ready to deal with the cultural software of language, which we receive in any number of ways, and in any number of vernacular variables any one of which might be said to be grammatically correct as long as people understand one another. Abide by your fairy-tale notions of Absolute Grammatical Correctness all you want, but appreciate that such linguistic diversity a) exists, b) is a very good & desirable thing and c) impossible to govern by a set of rules. Language is a cleansing wildfire, it is where the subjectivity of individual cognition & the objectivity of collective culture intertwine, sparking off the empirical excellence of being alive in the first place. Language a two-way interface that determines the vitality of all cultural change & exchange & the most sweetly eloquent of colloquial intercourse - and in the vernacular, language is at its wildest and most dynamic.

It's the petty nick-picking that pisses me off the most, however; that smug tone of resolute righteousness that pervades such posts as TheSnail's response to WAVs initial could of, and all whimpering and aarghing that followed. Intentional snickering malice? On a folk music forum? Whatever next! Still, whilst such cultural autism is to be expected from enthusiasts of any stripe, when it comes basic human decency there's simply no excuse.