Name your top three pet peeves.

My top pet peeves surround my fellow members of the media…more specifically those that broadcast sporting events.

There was a time when anyone working in broadcasting had to have a license to be on the air. Then everything was de-regulated and anybody can pick up a microphone or stand in front of a camera. Professional athletes get too old to play, so they pick up the mic and pontificate on anything and everything…except the event on the screen.

And worst of all, their grammar is absolutely atrocious! Simple concepts like past and present tense in verbs seem to totally evade them.

For example…
None of them seem to understand that it is He did it NOT He done it!

Did, done, did and go, went, gone are unknown concepts. There are others, but those seem to be the most common…and cringe worthy.

Before any broadcaster, especially for live sports, even picks up a microphone, they should be required to take a basic English grammar class…or at least pass a simple exam to ensure they understand some basic grammar – the proper tense.

He done gone and done it has NO place on television!

Apparently, teaching basic grammar in schools has gone by the wayside; either that, or gutter talk and slang are now the new American dialect.

In college, a fellow student once told an instructor that they didn’t speak English; they spoke American. Someone once told me that when it came time to choose a foreign language in college they were going to take English, because they spoke American.