Please don't say I'm being pedantic, spelling and grammar are as important today as they ever were. Unfortunately, it seems that more and more often I see examples of how our standards have slipped. Don't worry, this is not going to be a "things were so much better in the olden days" type rant, at 31 I hardly feel qualified to make that sort of statement. But I've always been a fan of the use of the English language and an ardent adversary of it's vandalism. I choose the following statement to make my point, as the omission of just one comma can change the whole meaning of a sentence;

"Let's eat, Grandma."

Let's eat Grandma".

So with just one flick of the pen, we have saved Grandma from being served up with a lovely red wine jus.

Although this is an extreme example, it really does illustrate a point; in the age of instant communication - the email, text message - extracting the intended meaning of the message is as important as ever. Have you ever noticed how sarcasm does not translate in your text message? You can capitalise to demonstrate volume, italics to delineate importance, but for tone, you're as good as lost in the woods. And you forgot to pack a cardie.

The problem is essentially that the English language is a messed up bunch of contradictory rules that can trip up just about anyone. So why would it be, I ask you, that when a business owner decides to set up their operation, issue a catchy name and slogan, provide artwork to a signwriter and have the name splashed up in bold white on blue on the side of their leased premises at considerable cost, they forget to double check that "SOFAS" plural doesn't have an apostrophe because the SOFA doesn't own anything, and if it did, it forgot to tell you what it was.

Don't even get me started on the now defunct and sadly missed pet store "Puppy's To Guppy's". That's thousands of dollars in spelling errors on registrations, signwriting and advertising.

Yes it is important, and no it's not embarrassing to make a mistake; even the most careful writer stops to check if there's more than one 'S' in "occasion", whether you meant "whether" or "weather", if "you're" talking about "your" possessive or if there are "too" many 'O's in too.

The English language has always been in a constant state of flux; where there are rules, there are rulebreakers. We like to think of these rebels as riders on the storm who don't take prisoners; where the proper noun "Google" becomes a verb, "I googled it", where the contraction O.K. becomes an adjective, 'okay'.

I am aware that this all seems very geeky, but I truly feel that if the message is worth preserving, the meaning is worth investing in. So, until my next rant, see you's later.