I am probably the last person in the (cyber) world who still does not have a Tumblr account. I don't know why but the whole thing just does not really appeal to me. And please don't even try the "You just haven't tried it long enough to enjoy it," excuse on me because I did try it at one point but it never got to me. Sure, it looks fun reblogging and sharing pictures and quotes. Call me old-fashioned but I actually like and prefer having a blog in which I can really write on and does not need to have followers to be deemed worthy of maintaining. I don't need the pressure of having to follow people whose lives I don't give a care about and seeing them constantly re-appear on my dashboard -- I think Facebook is already doing too much of that for me.

That being said, I can't help noticing how much my Facebook homepage has been converted into a second avenue for Tumblr updates. The other day I couldn't help clicking when I saw one interesting quote -- I figured this was what Tumblr thrived on: the intrigue and curiosity by what one has posted -- and was suddenly taken into an unplanned Tumblr-hopping. This is the part where I should be saying, "Boy was I wrong to turn my back on this place! It's awesome!" But no. What I got was a sad, sad realization.


More than half of Tumblogs I stumbled upon (sTumbld? Haha) had typographies with really, really bad grammar. As in, holy [expletive] awful. The place was brimming with love or emo quotes, most of them having the most obvious but often neglected grammatical errors. And actually very cheesy too but I can let the mushiness slide. The grammar however, I cannot. I don't know if this was just the Grammar Nazi/English major in me kicking in, but whatever it was, it pained me. Really.

First thing that came to mind was "Why?" Why can't they differentiate YOUR from YOU'RE? Or THEIR from THEY'RE? Or that EVERYONE is always singular therefore it's supposed to be "Everyone 'has' or 'had'" and not "Everyone have"? Come on, we learned these in grade school. It's really all just basic grammar.

And the next thing was another big "Why?" Why aren't people reacting? These quotes are still being reblogged repeatedly with only "Love it!" and "Awww, tagos??" comments but no one actually commenting on them. I understand it may be embarrassing, but if you can't correct it, you can at least not reblog it. The more it gets re-published, the more people think it's okay. In the first place, I'm not even sure if people know they are grammatical errors or they're just letting it slide. I have to admit that it irks me, especially when the errors are glaring at me in big, bold, colorful letters [e.g. "Everyone have that one special person.."] as if doing it on purpose. It's irritating to see some angry girl having a poorly constructed bitchy statement to her ex on her page. Honey, not intimidating at all, trust me.

Now before you go on the offense let me just say: We're human, we're not perfect. I know. And I too admit to grammatical mistakes sometimes. We can't help it, especially when we're really furious or excited. Of course we're bound to miss a few letters here and there. But that shouldn't be an excuse for sloppy grammar every single time. We should at least be conscious of the rules because they wouldn't be taught to us if they weren't important.

Maybe some of you will say, "Who needs to get the English language right anyway? Most people understand it whether you get it wrong or not." Let me tell you how fallacious that statement is. The number of people "getting" that grammatically incorrect statement doesn't make it any less wrong. It still has an error; it still needs to be corrected. The English language is a system with rules and guidelines that we follow in order to use and maximize the language fully, and we cannot do that unless we actually go by them. It's like proving an equation without using the right theorems. Where's the sense in that?

It saddens me that most people don't care about grammar anymore. They deem it unimportant compared to other more pressing issues in life to worry about. Well, that may be true. But it wouldn't hurt to at least brush up and go back to the basics now, would it? If anything it can only lead to self-improvement and less embarrassment. I think there's nothing classier than a bitch who can get her prepositions right.

I hold the English language in high regard, not only because I'm a CW major but simply because it is a language that should be respected. Much like Filipino or any other lingua franca for that matter. Grammar is one of the most basic but essential things we learn in school that actually matters a lot in the real world -- the least we can do is get it right.

And while we're on this, you can check this out: 10 Words You Need To Stop Misspelling.

I am probably the last person in the (cyber) world who still does not have a Tumblr account. I don't know why but the whole thing just does not really appeal to me. And please don't even try the "You just haven't tried it long enough to enjoy it," excuse on me because I did try it at one point but it never got to me. Sure, it looks fun reblogging and sharing pictures and quotes. Call me old-fashioned but I actually like and prefer having a blog in which I can really write on and does not need to have followers to be deemed worthy of maintaining. I don't need the pressure of having to follow people whose lives I don't give a care about and seeing them constantly re-appear on my dashboard -- I think Facebook is already doing too much of that for me.

That being said, I can't help noticing how much my Facebook homepage has been converted into a second avenue for Tumblr updates. The other day I couldn't help clicking when I saw one interesting quote -- I figured this was what Tumblr thrived on: the intrigue and curiosity by what one has posted -- and was suddenly taken into an unplanned Tumblr-hopping. This is the part where I should be saying, "Boy was I wrong to turn my back on this place! It's awesome!" But no. What I got was a sad, sad realization.


More than half of Tumblogs I stumbled upon (sTumbld? Haha) had typographies with really, really bad grammar. As in, holy [expletive] awful. The place was brimming with love or emo quotes, most of them having the most obvious but often neglected grammatical errors. And actually very cheesy too but I can let the mushiness slide. The grammar however, I cannot. I don't know if this was just the Grammar Nazi/English major in me kicking in, but whatever it was, it pained me. Really.

First thing that came to mind was "Why?" Why can't they differentiate YOUR from YOU'RE? Or THEIR from THEY'RE? Or that EVERYONE is always singular therefore it's supposed to be "Everyone 'has' or 'had'" and not "Everyone have"? Come on, we learned these in grade school. It's really all just basic grammar.

And the next thing was another big "Why?" Why aren't people reacting? These quotes are still being reblogged repeatedly with only "Love it!" and "Awww, tagos??" comments but no one actually commenting on them. I understand it may be embarrassing, but if you can't correct it, you can at least not reblog it. The more it gets re-published, the more people think it's okay. In the first place, I'm not even sure if people know they are grammatical errors or they're just letting it slide. I have to admit that it irks me, especially when the errors are glaring at me in big, bold, colorful letters [e.g. "Everyone have that one special person.."] as if doing it on purpose. It's irritating to see some angry girl having a poorly constructed bitchy statement to her ex on her page. Honey, not intimidating at all, trust me.

Now before you go on the offense let me just say: We're human, we're not perfect. I know. And I too admit to grammatical mistakes sometimes. We can't help it, especially when we're really furious or excited. Of course we're bound to miss a few letters here and there. But that shouldn't be an excuse for sloppy grammar every single time. We should at least be conscious of the rules because they wouldn't be taught to us if they weren't important.

Maybe some of you will say, "Who needs to get the English language right anyway? Most people understand it whether you get it wrong or not." Let me tell you how fallacious that statement is. The number of people "getting" that grammatically incorrect statement doesn't make it any less wrong. It still has an error; it still needs to be corrected. The English language is a system with rules and guidelines that we follow in order to use and maximize the language fully, and we cannot do that unless we actually go by them. It's like proving an equation without using the right theorems. Where's the sense in that?

It saddens me that most people don't care about grammar anymore. They deem it unimportant compared to other more pressing issues in life to worry about. Well, that may be true. But it wouldn't hurt to at least brush up and go back to the basics now, would it? If anything it can only lead to self-improvement and less embarrassment. I think there's nothing classier than a bitch who can get her prepositions right.

I hold the English language in high regard, not only because I'm a CW major but simply because it is a language that should be respected. Much like Filipino or any other lingua franca for that matter. Grammar is one of the most basic but essential things we learn in school that actually matters a lot in the real world -- the least we can do is get it right.

And while we're on this, you can check this out: 10 Words You Need To Stop Misspelling.