Why do Americans with at least 12 years of free English education speak and write so poorly?

Question

Are we a land of dummies?

In writing, especially on the Internet, I see people write "loose" when they mean "lose". For instance, "She never looses her smile."
THIS IS WRONG!
It should be, "She never loses her smile."
Loose means "not tight".
Lose means "out of sight"
Get it? Got it? Good!

Then there is the use of the word "myself" when "me" or "I" is correct. The only time a person should use the word "myself" is if the person uses the personal pronoun "I" earlier in the sentence.
People say, "James gave a doughnut to Frank and myself."
UGHHH!!!

Another horrible mangling of the English language is the misuse of the phrase, "I could not care less." Many people say it incorrectly, as follows, "I could care less."

You have to put the word "not" in there or you lose the intent of what you mean to say. If you do not use "not" then you are essentially saying that you do care, but that it is possible for you to care less than you do.

a propos....

my·self 1.. (used as an intensive of me or I): I myself will challenge the winner.
2. (used reflexively in place of me as the object of a preposition or as the direct or indirect object of a verb): I gave myself a good rubdown. She asked me for a picture of myself.
3. Informal. (used in place of I or me, esp. in compound subjects, objects, and complements): My wife and myself fully agree. She wanted John and myself to take charge. The originators of the plan were my partner and myself.
4. (used in place of I or me after as, than, or but): He knows as much about the matter as myself.
5. my normal or customary self: After a few days of rest, I expect to be myself again.
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Popularization of an illogical phrase suggests the idiocy and illiteracy of large numbers of people. Wonder if "idiot" and "idiom" come from the same root...??? Hmmm... etymology anyone?

Answer 1

I write very well, but do not invest a lot of time to make my responses perfect for Answers.

Having said that, (and complained about this myself some time ago) too many people are functionally illiterate. Others are lazy, and yet others non-English speaking/typing types.....and lastly, many are young people who have not yet had any training in articulation via the written word.

At the end of the day, we have been turning out sub-standard graduates for a long time. As far as I am concerned, most of the public school systems in this Country are mediocre at best. From my own personal experience, I would say that 80% of the teachers I encountered were incompetent. The other 20% were heroes.

Consider the recent flap over Miss Teen USA regarding the question of why so many within the US can't place the United States on a map. These people go through 12 years of school, and don't know where the USA is located on a map?

The Stupid Nation.

Answer 2

I think that this is probably not the greatest place to judge the use of the language. Many people on here are bored, in a hurry or tired.

Sometimes, phrases get misspoken and become well used as in, " I could care less." If that be right or wrong, that is the phrase that is generally used. People hear the intent of the phrase. I doubt that many are worried if the message is clear or not.

In terms of English itself, the U.S. speaks a very different dialect from that of the folks across the pond. I do not say that to justify the misuse, but to clarify that language changes.

We have many rules that just do not make a lot of sense, and a lot of words that sound like too many other words.

Hopefully, in terms of a formal piece of writing, we would spell check everything, proof read it a number of times, and have another, more educated individual read it for us as well.

On here, I just want to answer questions and help people out. I am not looking for a big, red A+ at the top of my answer.

Answer 3

A little research will show that our model of education was primarily intended to make little Prussian soldiers/obedient factory workers, literacy and numeracy were second.

The system is in fact doing exactly what it was designed to do, it's impossible to really teach someone efficiently anyway given that classrooms have been overcrowded and underfunded for so long.

In my local high school there are at least 30 kids in a class, there's gang violence, drugs in the halls, and more than half of the kids don't even speak English.

I don't think we're going to be seeing a modern-day Chaucer coming from that.

Sorry for the bad punctuation, 2 AM here.

Answer 4

Your point is well-taken, but only one of your three examples is a propos. Reflexives can and are used in the way you decry. You just don't seem to know the complete rules for reflexives. And "I could care less", while seemingly illogical, has now become an idiom, and as we know idioms do not have to be logical; they just have to be.

Answer 5

I share your frustration. While schools are pushing their students to achieve high standardized test scores, many are producing students with poor English grammar. I believe there is less of an emphasis upon proper sentence structure, spelling and grammar and more of an emphasis upon being able to write a book report and score well on a test. Today, many people use text messaging as a form of communication. Text messaging makes it easy for people to take shortcuts when they spell words. People then develop the habit of taking shortcuts when their mode of communication does not require shortcuts. When I was in school, we had spelling bees. Today, there is less of an emphasis on spelling and fewer spelling bees. I have even seen teachers who do not use the proper spelling or correct usage of a word.

Answer 6

I totally agree, the grammar and some of the saying of Americans is just stupid. I can't understand how this is possible either, especially when there are 12 years of school available to them and many more Americans go to University than Australians do.

Answer 7

Because they don't care. They think it's being anal to always correct themselves and think it's not going to make any difference to anyone so long as they're understood. They're going to be in for a shock someday, aren't they? After one or two rejections from college or employment or the military, they will see the sense of what we tell them. Maybe.

Answer 8

Good question but the answer is quite complicated. You will need a govt grant and a uni degree to come to any worthwhile conclusions. Then, when you have your answers the next thing to ask is, what are you going to do about it? Oh dear, I hope my grammer and spelling are up to scratch.

Answer 9

[They also think the words "woman" and "women" are interchangeable and that an apostrophe-"s" is needed for all plural words.

Oh -- and another good one is their use of "could of" or "should of" instead of "could have" or "should have." They really think it's proper to say "should of"!]

I think the problem comes from students not reading for enjoyment. Their hatred of reading isn't limited to assigned materials, but extends to novels, short stories or the materials that intelligent people like to cover for no other reason than enjoyment.

Answer 10

I am one of the worst in writing and spelling. I have hhad some college, but I make many mistakes anyway. I just hope people will answer or reed my answers for content and overlook my mistakes. Great question