An Absence of Literacy

I have long bemoaned the demise of literacy in this country.  As an example, the distiction between bring and take has all but disappeared, and this holds true for journalists and newspeople, who should know better.  It has become commonplace to hear someone utter something like, "Bring your car to the repair shop."  If you don't understand the distinction, check a grammar site on the internet for an explanation.. When I hear someone confuse bring and take, it sounds like a two-year-old's scream to my ears.

For today's post, I turn once again to the St. Petersburg's Times to illustrate the post's title.  Howard Troxler column Sunday dealt with e-mails he had received in response to a previous column about new laws that change voting procedures and voters registration in Florida.  The following quote reveals a person who does not care enough to check what he writes before sending it.

Liberals and democrats rant and rave when anyone wants to equalize the voters rights. For over forty years moving or changing a name, meant simply to updated your information on Election Day. Of course it meant no one could challage your vote, so you could hop around to any polling place, all without the dreaded act of respondability, the Word that liberals and Democrats fear the most, it means they have to do something, and its not free, or at someone elses expense. Yet today we want people to take the step towards respondable personal acts, as american have been freeloading for too long. So to you Mr. Troxler, I want the Governor to ink this Bill and let get back to one vote per citizen. Just like are fore fathers wrote it.

"Challage?"  "Repondability?"  "Are fore fathers?"  These examples point out some glaring errors in communicating the mesage, and I'm certain the astute reader can find several others.  I won't comment on the message content, just the grammar and syntax.  Heaven help us if the writer graduated from a Florida school system, or worse a Florida college or university.  Fortunately, Mr. Troxler did not reveal the author's name, or it might have caused that person great embarrassment.  I just hope that this was not an example of the best responses.