ONE-UPMANSHIP -- QUESTION -- GRAMMAR GLITCH

Republic -- "If you can keep it".  (Democracy)                                                        Accountability for Jan. 6 insurrection.                                                                        U.S. Select House Committee on January 6th Hearings will continue in the fall.

QUESTION:  Will legislators get their priorities straight to concentrate primarily on doing their jobs legislating and lessen one-upmanship in political game playing?

Ella Fitzgerald -- Accentuate The Positive {The Harold Arlen Songbook}

GRAMMAR GLITCH

"Sticky words" -- I've done it again!   I see after publication in my previous post a "their" that should have been a "there", not just once but twice!   Here are the offending words I wrote:

"Perhaps we might ask are their there writers producing entertaining older people's stories?  Are their there screen writers creating stories for films?"

Oh, woe is me if the grammar monitors noted as the Blogger automatic language didn't catch my mistake.  I hastily added those sentences in my last re-reading when the hour was late, tired, and did not conduct further editing.  I do know the difference for use of their/there but for some reason when I hastily type, my brain is not selective with those words as it should be.  Mostly I'm thinking of what I want to say, I guess.

Strangely, this word glitch seems to occur primarily with these two words, their/there, as I'm not aware of other such homophones that my brain ignores when I type (words that sound the same when spoken but are spelled differently, have different meanings, to which could be added "they're").  Possibly my brain's automatic editing mechanism is short-circuited on these words for some reason.  If you ever notice my writing other such incorrect words, let me know as I'm curious.

This isn''t the first time I've become aware of this word mistake.  Years ago a blogger whose writing I respected wrote a post about word errors some bloggers made.  She specifically mentioned their/there as an example.  She expressed concern about the difference mattering for correct usage.  

I had to laugh, immediately responding in a comment that I knew I was guilty of mixing their/there.  I stated I knew the difference in usage, didn't know why that error occurred and probably needed to take greater care editing.  Yet it continues as I've noted periodically in my writing and now this.  I long ago alerted my brain to be more careful when I was typing those words.  Clearly, my brain function has been unresponsive to my chastising on each occasion.  Now I'm wondering what other errors I may be making that I haven't taken the time to identify.

Maybe if I was writing an article for renumeration my brain would give writing those words greater significance.  But then, I might also have the luxury of others editing my compositions for such errors before publishing.  

Blog writing for me has been a bit more casual than some writing I've done I must admit.  It's not that I don't care.  I do try to avoid feeling pressured about any aspect of blog writing and publishing.  Sometimes I do just sorta throw a piece together at the last minute so am hurried.  I tend to think of my blog writing as primarily an entertaining pastime that surprisingly to me others read.

I will confess that over the years when I engage in personal correspondence with friends/family who know me well, beginning with using old-fashioned pen and paper, then using a typewriter, now in emails/texts they and I sometimes misspell words.  We may not want to take the time to check the spelling, may use them incorrectly when we can't think of the exact word we want.  We may not punctuate correctly on occasion, too, for a variety of reasons.  Perchance our lives have been hectic, we're exhausted, our time is limited, we're having interruptions, or more.  If any rules have changed we may not have kept up.   

We don't judge or concern ourselves with each other's errors, sometimes apologizing or laughing about them, since we know the other is not illiterate.  Keeping in touch with legible content is the priority and our relationship is all that matters.  If anything is unclear, we question but don't condemn.  I guess this falls under, we know the basic writing rules, or most of them, but allow ourselves to break some of them on occasion.

Perhaps I tend to think of you, my blogger buddies, in somewhat the same way as those friends -- that you will overlook some of my shortcomings when you read here as I do reading some of your blog posts.

My apologies if my sometimes-lax writing offends some or discourages reading here.  I do recognize and respect the value of more careful writing.  I am sometimes irritated by books I read with writing errors since I expect more from them.  I tend to judge businesses poorly but laugh at some of them if their advertisements violate the writing rules.  I've read some deliberately make such errors just to attract the attention protesters/protestors give them.  

I wonder if others of you have become aware of experiencing writing errors you persistently but unintentionally make though you know better, or may allow to occur with less thorough editing?

SQUIRRELY SPRING SPRUNG

 
Remember that limerick we used to sniggle conspiratorially about  in our youth because of that forbidden 'bad' word that we dare not say aloud -- at least if any adults nearby?    Those were the years long before George Carlin and his seven dirty words made this verbiage quite tame by comparison.

Spring has sprung,
Fall has fell,
Winter's here,
and it's colder than .....  'last year' (we would giggle and say)

 And then, for English grammar rule lovers was this enlightened tidbit:

We conjugate swim ..... swim, swam, swum
Now conjugate dim .....

Back to the topic of weather -----

"Soupy marine layer" is what TV's weatherman forecast for  this coming morning -- again.    I don't mind since we have an over-abundance of sun days most of the year.   Six weeks ago I was delighted to observe what I thought was one of the first signs a California spring had arrived. 

I was about to exit my parked car at the retirement community where I provide some health care rehabilitation services.   Suddenly, movement under the green leaf-filled umbrella-like tree next to the walkway caught my eye.  There they were -- tumbling around, flitting here and there in short jerky movements as they ran a few steps, stopped abruptly, frozen in place, surveying their surroundings, probably for any signs of predators.  Then, with a flick and swish of their bushy red tails, as though they were mechanical toys winding themselves up, they resumed their antics. 

Transfixed, I soon concluded what I was observing was a courting dance.  The same slightly larger squirrel was making mounting advances on the smaller one who would repeatedly simply sit down each time the pursuer made his critical move.    He would then temporarily scurry aside, but soon return to repeat the flirtatious  process.    Each time the object of his attention would quickly sit down thwarting his efforts for a more intimate relationship.   Aha, I thought!  I have just witnessed the practice of squirrely world  birth control.  

I wonder if the squirrels were as misled as I was that spring had actually arrived.  Since that time my weather prognostication on seasons of the year has been turned upside down.  Our weather has seemed bizarrely unusual in keeping with climate changes continuing to be in evidence all over the world.  Southern California, where I live, can definitely attest to our weather becoming much more erratic in recent years with this one  no exception. 

My Christmas cactus has really been traumatized.  The hearty green plant has adapted in a strangely unique way.   The bright fuchsia red blooms have blossomed in staggered sequence each time on a different portion of the plant on three different occasions since the beginning of the year.     This week, one lone blossom has emerged in what must be a final fourth attempt to synchronize with nature.

I am of the persuasion that the world macro weather picture can be attributed primarily to two different causes for climate change.    Scientists have said our earth is slightly tipping on its axis which accounts for some of the changes we're experiencing.  Scientists have also determined man-made pollution in the atmosphere is contributing to climate changes.   This laypersons opinion is that there is no simple black and white, either/or, one or the other explanation.  Both events are at play.
 
I become annoyed with all the time, energy and words spent arguing over which cause is responsible.   Why can't we all just acknowledge the scientific facts indicating both contribute?   Why not recognize the axis tipping which we know is  beyond our control?  Why not devote ourselves to addressing those pollution factors over which we have control?    Why don't we concentrate on making accommodations to these changes with a goal of human adaptation so we can survive on this earth?

Meanwhile, we better be checking for another planet to which a select few of our species can migrate, just in case we fail to preserve life as we know it on Earth.  Perhaps, that's how Earth became populated in the first place.  Species on another planet had to leave, came to earth and here we are.   I don't find this earth-settling  scenario  incompatible with various religions beliefs.   Perhaps we'll eventually have to leave our planet.  Perhaps this is our history which we're doomed to repeat if we don't learn from past lessons.