First off I'm British, many may have noticed this already. ;)

Secondly, I'm really crap at spelling. This is because I simply don't write that much since I left school 17 years ago (my hand writing is also terrible unless it's in capitals).

Thirdly, when I attended school our, education 'experts' in the Inner London Education Authority decided that grammar should definitely take a back seat as it wasn't that much of a priority. In some schools it was decreed that anything other than phonetic spelling cramped children's creativity! So I was never 'taught' grammar, I just picked up what I could along the way.

But, I have to ask, isn't it in the interests of communication to keep the English language (at least in a written context) consistent?

In London, it's quite common for someone to ask another if they would borrow them something. Not 'lend me', 'borrow me'. Directly changing such a basic word's meaning can't be helpful in good communications. Parker has, at times, severe attacks of Malapropism (from the character Mrs Malaprop in the play The Rivals), right meaning, wrong word. (e.g. Mrs Malaprop declares at one point, "Yes, basking like an allegory on the banks of the Nile.")

This drives me bananas as, quite often, I could be highly insulted by some of his substitutions if it were not that I generally know what he intends. I still end up having sometimes-tense conversations with him until I finally fathom what it is he's on about.

My point is really, I suppose, while I'm not a fanatic about spelling and grammar, I do feel that some consistency should be maintained. That we should have a common ground where everyone knows what you mean, with the least possible confusion. On Mudcat this can be very important because we don't hear each other's voices nor do we see their faces, therefore much of what we take for granted during verbal communication simply doesn't exist.

For example, "Robin Hood tore his leather jerkin off."

Now depending on where you put your punctuation, you could end up offending someone without meaning to.

"It is said that he had his house made backwards."

Now, a spot of bad spelling there could also get you into trouble.

It's just a thought, but I wouldn't mind the occasional brush up course when it comes to these things. Anyone up to the challenge?

I think I need a lie down now.

TTFN M'lady P.