Though you have made many good points, Lord J, I didn't see a need to waste time in typing a book to state that poor grammar is not a good habit.
You all could've just said, "Take the time to correct grammatical errors. If you are unsure of something, read a dictionary, or WIKI it.
On the contrary, simply stating an opinion has no real power. I ran into a problem with my post in that I couldn't come up with any convincing argument as to why. I certainly said my opinion, but opinion hardly matters if you can't back it up. That's why I called out for help (and, as I expected, Lord J took up that call - I wasn't feeling particularly intelligent at that moment, nor am I now, for that matter.)
Oh, and by the way, it's not a Liberal tendancy. I'm more of a conservative, and heck, when I get going, and if I'm in the mood... I'll do just what Lord J did.
PS If you're unsure of something DON'T bloody Wiki it. Pick up an encyclopedia or dictionary, or look it up in a peer reviewed journal article or something of a similar nature. Don't just trust Wikipedia, it leads to the Dark Side. Of course, Wikipedia is often correct, but things can slip past their moderation. I know someone who told me he was able to write on an article about the Samurai that the last one was called Tomachiro Cruise - as well as putting up a picture from the movie - and it got past their moderation. He was trying to make a point on the fallibility of their system. Plus, the problem with Wiki is, everyone begins to think they're an expert on everything because they can look it up on Wiki. For me, save for certain topics (ie. Star Wars stuff) it's a last resort.
Okay, okay, so I'm just a Wiki hater. But there's something about that mass-information system that doesn't sit right with me. Maybe because it is just information. It just teaches bits and factoids, without really making you think and learn the topics. What I went through regarding the grammar there isn't something that could be learned via Wikipedia. It came from what I've been taught regarding languages in various languages courses (chiefly Greek), and from researching it in the dictionary. I looked at the word, a hypothesis struck me, and I sought to prove it. Knowing a whole lot of facts isn't a substitute for being able to think through something - I'd rather know a tenth of the facts and have a reasoning mind, than know everything there is to know, and not be able to reason through it myself. That limitation must be remembered. Wikipedia cannot give you knowledge or understanding, only facts - and even that's shaky, sometimes.
PPS Funny thing that you just said that about opinion and reasoning, Lord J. Everything that follows before this PPS I wrote as you were writing that.
