Annuciation has no place here
I am a bit of a snob when it comes to language. Grammar, syntax, punctuation. I love it all. I think about it before I go to sleep at night. It’s part of what makes me both terribly interesting and horribly annoying. I’ve almost successfully kicked the habit of correcting people’s redundancies and use of the word “irregardless,” but I can’t help squirming in my seat when I hear them. I’m also a bit of an old lady regarding the pronunciation of words, to a fault. For instance, say “antifreeze” out loud. When you do, you probably say something like, “annifreeze.” Right? Well, I say “anTIEfreeze.” I didn’t even realize I did it until my sister pointed it out to me. And now I hear it with other words too. I say “EIther” instead of “EEther.” Stuff like that.
So this weekend I went to a friend’s birthday party. It was hosted at this amazing house near Mt. Vernon and due to a shortage of beds, several of us slept in tents in the backyard. I borrowed Jeff’s deluxe sleeping bag and was looking forward to having my craving for sleeping in a tent appeased. Unfortunately, snoozing under the stars for one night made the craving even worse.
On my way home, I was thinking about how much I want to go campin’, and I realized that I call it “campin’.” And the reason I do is exactly the reason I love it. Having an excuse to wear no makeup, put my hair in a ponytail for days in a row, live in jeans that are so stretched out they barely stay up. You can’t call that kind of living campinG. You have to call it campin’.
What I’ve learned from this realization is that as hard core about language as I am, and as much as I love that that’s true about me, even I need a break from it sometimes. Which is why I’m going to take my next paycheck and buy a tent. I don’t care if I have to go alone, I’m going campin’ again before the end of the summer.