While we anxiously await tonight’s City of North Miami Beach budget workshop so that I can blog about current events, I thought I’d go off on a random tangent about a favorite topic of mine – using proper English.

One of my pet peeves is the word “conversate” and its intended progressive verb form, “conversating.”  First of all, let’s get something straight.  There is no such word.  It’s made up.  I understand that “conversate” might have been derived from the word “conversation” in the convoluted sense of some idiot’s imagination.  But for those who don’t know, people who are engaged in a conversation are conversing, not “conversating.”  Let’s put it this way; if you are using your “imagination,” would you be “imaginating?”  Jeez, I hope not!  For some odd reason, the word “conversate” has taken off in popular culture to the point that I hear people mention that they conversate at an alarming rate of about once a week.  The bastardizing of the English language, and specifically the word “converse” has become all too commonplace.  Several years ago my husband told me that one of his old fire chiefs actually said “conversate” over the airwaves, much to the embarrassment of his crew.  Obviously, no one corrected him since he was the boss.  Which is why I find it even more “concerning” that there are actually people in positions of authority who can’t speak proper English.

Of course, this brings me to my next pet peeve, which is the latest use of the word “concerning.”  Nowadays far too many people use the word “concerning” as a substitute for various words, such as “disturbing” or “alarming.”  For example, one might say, “I find the lack of proper word usage to be very concerning.”  In reality, the word “concerning” is a preposition and it means “having to do with.”  An example of how it should be used is, “There are several things concerning the lack of proper word usage that I find very disturbing.”  What is really alarming is that not too long ago I heard Katie Couric say on national television, “This is something that is very concerning.”  At that moment, I knew the battle for saving the English language was probably a lost cause.  I will, however, not give up the fight.

I’m quite sure that English teachers all over America are probably pulling their collective hair out every time they hear the word “conversate” or the word “concerning” being misused.  But, I’m guessing if this topic never appears on the FCAT or other standardized achievement test, most of those teachers never had the chance to teach their students proper English since they’re too busy being forced to teach to the test.  My rant against the FCAT, and the poor teachers who are being held hostage by it, will have to wait for another day.

In the meantime, you can add these two items to the growing list of things I find irksome when the English language is improperly spoken or written, along with omission of necessary apostrophes, substitution of the word “your” for “you’re,” lack of proper capitalization, improper conjugation of verbs, outright misspelling, and other crimes that an alarming number of allegedly educated people commit on a daily basis.  I often lament that there is no special prison for those who are found guilty of grammatical homicide.

Okay, I realize that in the scheme of things, especially with all of the national and global crises we are facing today, the proper use of English rates pretty far down on the scale of importance.  But, I ask you this:  How many of today’s problems could have been avoided if certain people had taken action instead of standing around conversating all the time?  You may not think this is a big deal, but I find the lack of intelligence on this planet to be very concerning.  Beam me up, Scotty!

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”