"Mending" My Mending Ways [UPDATED [again]]

First things first: there's a new link over there under the "Other Crazy People" label (that's the one written in German). Yes, my title for it is a horrible, horrible pun that has nothing to do with the content of the blog. You're welcome. :p
The blog itself is definitely worth your while: if you aren't already reading it, you should be. Go on, git. It's ok, I'll wait. *whistles nonchalantly*

Back? See, wasn't that fun?

Now for the business:

After much thought and consideration, I have decided to retire from the Grammar Gestapo.

Ironically, this decision is largely due to some discussions we've had in my lingusitics class. As I believe I've mentioned before, the various dialects of English have no intrinsic value. Each is perfectly good for its own societal niche. Some linguists have actually posed the following: "Dialects are not deviations from a language; rather, a language is a conglomeration of dialects."

I'm not sure I've said this before, but arrogance is one of the few character traits I cannot stand (no details here; that's another topic). Well, it's pretty arrogant of me to presume that anyone really cares what I think of queemy speech style, and to believe that I have some kind of authority to correct queem in queemy day-to-day conversations.

Not only that, but it's pretty much impossible to prevent changes in a language. It just happens, and no amount of hard-headedness on my part can alter that.

For these reasons, I'm going to try to curb my formerly-rampant verbal nit-picking and cut the world some slack.

However, I'll still be more than happy to edit some papers, and I'll be just as strict as I always have been. For that matter, don't be too surprised if I throw out some corrections on blogs. In the arena of writing, there are still firmly-established rules and conventions to be followed (for now, at least).

I haven't quite worked out all the details of this plan of self-reformation (i.e., just how lenient will I be), but expect to see me squirming more and nagging less, or at least trying to.

I guess you could say that I'm retiring from the Grammar Gestapo to join the Grammar Guard. Or something...

ADDED 8/19/04
Despite my newfound, grudging respect for alternative dialects, I still hope to continue using Standard American English, or at least something close to it. If any of you ever catch me slipping up, please don't hesitate to point it out.