grammar snob and good manners

When I was little, my Grampy would either not respond, or say "What?" until we corrected our grammar when we were talking to him.

Like if I said, "Grampy, can me and Ali have some Fig Newtons?"

He'd say, "Who?"

And I'd be like, "Me and Ali, you know, us." Confused, pointing to my sister.

And he'd say, "Who?"

And then I'd get it.  "Ohhhhh... can Ali and I have some Fig Newtons?"

And then he'd sort of smile and say yes.  They always had Fig Newtons. Those are my favorite.  I could easily eat a whole slab of them in one sitting, but lets not go there.

As a kid, it used to get irritating.  My dad did the same thing, he'd poke us with a fork if our elbows were on the table, and we always had to put our napkins on our laps.  You know, all of that annoying stuff that kids could care less about.

As an adult, I find myself doing the same things to my kids (not poking them with a fork necessarily).  Poor grammar gets on my nerves.  I am especially appalled when actor on television uses poor grammar, or Cod forbid it is actually in a published book wrong.  Like the person who edits the writing didn't even notice that what was written is so not grammatically correct??  I'm pretty sure that's kind of their job!  Anyway, I like good manners.  I value them.  And I like that when Alex and I went to a luncheon at The Waldorf for one of the attorney's in his firm, I knew what to do with all of those utensils.

So to Grampy, who I hope is watching up in heaven and smiling, I'd like to say thank you.  And I get it now.