Things That Threaten My Sanity: Near Grammatical Misses
Obviously, country lyrics are not going to be written in the Queen’s English. Different language rules apply, and that’s fine by me. However, it still bugs me when a songwriter or singer leaves just one word out of place. Especially when the correct word would have fit just as well. Taylor Swift’s line about “talk[ing] real slow ’cause it’s late and his mama don’t know” comes immediately to mind. “Talk real low” would sound virtually the same and make a whole lot more sense, so why not use it instead? Probably just to bug me. That’s more of a diction thing than a grammar thing, though. (Okay, it should actually be “talk really slowly,” but we’re not old schoolmasters here.)
More troubling is the 2002 Travis Tritt album cut and cowrite “Time to Get Crazy,” which seems hellbent on repeating the phrase “as bad as I hate to” as many times as possible in a three-minute timespan. I’m not the anointed master of language, so let’s turn this one over to the people for a vote.
Google, do your thing:
Search results for “as bad as I hate to”: 18,400, with Travis Tritt lyrics at #4
Search results for “as much as I hate to”: 1,210,000
Go go gadget calculator:
1210000/18400 = 65.76…
“As much as I hate to” is over 65 times more common than “as bad as I hate to.” This means that if you were in a room with 100 other people and polled them on this question, there would most likely be just one person arguing for “bad” against the protestations of everyone else. If that person insisted on loudly singing the incorrect phrase over and over again in a mocking fashion, he would probably get mugged.
They’re both monosyllabic words. Why do you insist on giving me pain, Tritt?
lazy songwriting man. just lazy, as if it doesn’t matter if they get the best word in or not.
oh and “Go go gadget calculator” as satisfying as those kinds of references are, you know we’re getting to the age where “the kids” are going to start giving us a hard time about them. what a shame…
I’m not writing for the kids. I’m writing for adults who are still immature enough to appreciate 80s cartoon references. That’s my target audience.
“I’m writing for adults who are still immature enough to appreciate 80s cartoon references.”
must be why I’m such a fan
There are also countless songs that say “He/she DON’T.”
The Backstreet Boys has a line that says “more better.”
Taylor’s “talk real slow” sounds like the typical teenager way of speaking English.
Thanks for coming by, Linda.
I think even most teenagers would agree that talking in hushed tones so that someone won’t hear is better described as talking low than talking slow. Perhaps the guy in the song also has some sort of a speech impediment, though? I don’t know.
Ooh, I loved Inspector Gadget when I was a kid. I still love it, who am I trying to kid? Dr. Claw was my favorite (even though we only saw his arm – and his computer) I’m a big fan of the cat too – Mad Cat. I caught an episode of that show on the Boomerang network at like 4am a couple months ago …
I’m a firm believer that the rules for spoken english should be far, far looser than the rules for written english. I never want to hear “(I Can’t Get Any) Satisfaction.”
That Taylor Swift line bugs the hell out of me and my wife too. I guess his mama can only hear snappy dialogue.
Ah, you know what gets me going–that Taylorr Swift word choice. Why? Why? If I ever interview, I *will* confront her about it…in a nice way, of course.
Chris, I agree that there are times when the grammatical error is the better choice, but that’s not the case with the examples used in John’s post. I’m cool when the error fits better, but frustrated when the correct way would fit just as well.
John, we agree on music and we agree on this! Talk about an irrational pet peave of mine.:)
–Leeann
One that always irked me was “Twenty years have came and went” from “Angry All the Time”. “Have come and gone” is correct and would’ve fit just fine. “Have came and went” just sounds awkward.