"The difference between the right word and a similar word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug."           --Mark Twain (Samuel Clements)

I actually had a longer thing in mind for my second blog, but I'm tired, and I like this quote. I'm a bit of a word snob or a member of the "grammar police", I guess. I am not flawless, God knows, but I like words. I like to know what they mean, why they mean it, and how to use them well. My mom is my ally. She catches my slips and we talk about new words we've learned. Scintillating stuff, to us. Mom makes a great proofreader.

As much as I love language, I've also developed more tolerance of other people's use of it as I've aged. I understand more about regional/dialectal differences and I try not to get too hung up on spelling and grammar in things such as FJ posts. That said, I ADORED the post that started, "I have a deep-seeded dislike for people who give English a bad wrap by claiming that for all intensive purposes, the original meanings of phrases, and the corruptions from this day in age are one in the same, or barely a hare's breath apart." And the follow up, "This is the cross-eyed bear. Now as a pennants, I must dusk off my creativity to give this game a new leash on life." I cannot, for the life of me, remember which wonderful poster authored these gems, but THANK YOU! (Mom says thanks, too.)