I have unintentionally caused my fourth grade son to miss the honor roll for the first time in his school career. When we brought him home, at age six, he could not speak or understand English. My wife is a well-educated Northern lady that is very careful to use correct grammar…me on the other hand, I’m a simple country boy from the South and had no problem using words like “ain’t”. However, I did spend several years attempting to retrain myself to speak correctly and use proper grammar. I thought that I had conquered the problem until I started writing Southern dialog, then, all of the self-improvement I had worked on disappeared.
My son, who is now eleven, picked up on it instantly and used his newfound vocabulary in school. His teacher, also a Northern lady, repeatedly warned him and finally deducted points from his grade. So, you see my problem? It would not be fair to insist that he “do as I say, not as I do”. I am trying to be careful but things still slip out and this book I’m working on will take at least another year to complete.
