The English Language-- Death by Writing?

Television writers—the people who create the dialogue spoken by actors-- are murdering the English language.  I’m not talking about people who blather away on reality shows or chitchat with each other on news programs, although there are some killer grammar gaffes that come from them. Anyone who vocalizes on camera is liable to torture the tongue.  When people must think fast and talk at the same time, they make mistakes. Just this morning, The Weather Channel’s Stephanie Abrams said,

“…up in the Northeast, right where me and Al are…”

This unscripted, unrehearsed utterance is painful enough.  She and Al Roker (who recently said, “Yeah, it’s annoying—Just like myself.”) are people, who in their line of work, ad lib on air. It’s not easy to remember language rules and to use them all the time.  But it would be wise for these professionals to know correct grammar and to practice using it consistently, so that such atrocities do not issue forth at work. Ms. Abrams, especially, would benefit from some grammar lessons, as she seems to have been napping during English class.

But speaking proper English and writing proper English are two different efforts. Those who have grammar lapses in speaking aloud may sometimes be forgiven. Instead, I refer to those who actually think about what their characters are going to say and put it in writing.  It is in scripted television—dramas and situation comedies, for example—that bad English should not be spoken by good characters.  The evil offenders are television writers who craft the faulty sentences that actors then must deliver.  (Do actors ever say, “This grammar is terrible! My character wouldn’t say that!”?)

Let’s look at some examples of just one type of crime: reflexive pronoun abuse.  Here are bits of dialogue from scripted television programs:

·         “Do I seem like the kind of person who can’t laugh at themselves?” 

female character on an ABC Family program

·         “No one is pinching themselves more than I am.”

 female character on a CBS drama

            Why is this a problem?  Children, English language learners, and grammar-deficient teenagers and adults think that what they hear on TV is right.  We copy what we hear.  Poor scriptwriting is teaching poor grammar.

            The writers could have penned,

 “Do I seem like the kind of person who can’t laugh at herself?”

“No one is pinching herself more than I am.”

In both cases, it was clear that the speaker was in need of a feminine pronoun.  What were those writers thinking? 

I hear mauled grammar on television every day.  Some of it just happens, but much of it is written and passed off as “screenwriting.” It misleads and mis-educates.  It can be prevented.  I invite you to share the phrases that give you pain.  Please quote exactly, and cite the type of show on which you heard it and the character who said it.

 Violence and sex on TV are objectionable.  So is bad grammar!  It’s killing our English language.