Logins, Setups and Everyday Language Abuses

If language were a child, many of today's internet writers would be cast into the Lake of Fire. Those who aren't Christians would be cast into whatever form of eternal torture is offered by their culture.

What's this about, you ask? Language abuse, that's what! The everyday* misuse of verbs and nouns is an absolute atrocity! The neglect of so many words who have no capitalization is a downright shame! Why, if I had any gumption I'd get up outta my chair and become an activist. I'd get all hysterical and pace the streets, waving my placards and yelling at passing strangers! I'd gather people into marching circles, inciting them to chant things like "Stand Up For Our Language" or "Stop The Slaughter Of Our Little Nouns."

I have feelings about this, you know. I have a protective attachment to the thing maybe. Perhaps I'm a little obsessive about the subject even. Okay, I'm mad. My dander's up! I'm simmering! I'm somewhere between irate and murderous! And I'm not leaving my keyboard until I've vented my rage. Let's mobilize, folks! This thing is an abomination! It has to be STOPPED!

Ahem... sorry.

Let's get to my asterisk up there. *See that word "everyday"? How many times have you read a webpage where somebody is talking about the vast sums of money rolling into his bank account "everyday"? Lord strike me dead! Doesn't everyone who went to school know that "everyday" is an adjective? Our good friend could have said that money rolling into his bank account is an "everyday" occurrence and he'd have been a perfect little writer. Or he could have said that he receives money "every day" and still not have been on the road to the Lake of Fire. (Unless he's lying!) There is a difference. Does everyone see it?

How about all those highly motivated entrepreneurs encouraging their prospects to "setup" an account? Sigh... "setup" is not a verb; it's a noun. I believe our entrepreneur's intent is to ask the readership to "set up" an account. Worries about whether they will stay with the "setup" can be left for another day. Likewise with "login". The word "login", a noun, refers to an act of logging in, or to a location where logins occur. Once you've arrived there, you may "log in" to your account. Again, there is a difference. The words are not interchangeable synonyms.

Why all this fuss about such a small issue, you ask? Well, for starters it's not a small issue. I know we have to devote most of our time to earning money; that's a given. But we who have chosen to use the written word as our vehicle for earning money have inherited a responsibility. That responsibility is to preserve our language and to carry the banner for a higher standard.

The internet is probably the greatest offender of all time in terms of encouraging the destruction of our written word. So much of the email I receive and so many of the blogs I read are littered with the untidy grammar born of carelessness, laziness, and basic literary ignorance. If anyone is going to stop this degradation of our written communication, it is us - the writers.

I would encourage each one of us to reach for a higher standard when composing our posts, comments, and email interactions. Online dictionaries and thesauruses are at our ready disposal. (I kept one open the whole time I was writing this!) There is no reason we cannot uphold our responsibility to those who follow us and leave the language in a higher place than where we found it.

Okay.... my rage is vented... I feel better now.

I think I shall "log out" from here and go complete a "setup" I started earlier.