Killing me soft(ly)

Like Snooze, I'm a real stickler for good grammar and spelling. While I am somewhat more lax about applying these rules when speaking rather than when writing, some things make me cringe.

At the moment, I am going into month three of my mother-in-law's visit. Now, I adore my mother-in-law. She is supportive, a wonderful and caring grandmother, and would do anything for me. This should be good enough for me, right? In a perfect world, it would be. Unfortunately, in a perfect world, bitchy women like me wouldn't exist.

Sadly, my mother-in-law seems to have an allergy to adverbs. I know it's petty of me, but it drives me insane to hear her utter statements like the following:

I found a pear that wasn't froze.
Make sure you drive careful.
Please sit quiet.

I mean, is it too much to ask her to add the appropriate letters to the end of each of those last words in the sentence??!!

Along with her obvious omission of adverbs, she somehow manages to slaughter the King's English in other ways. These are a few of my all-time favourites:

There is some boughten water in the fridge.
The cat ran acrosstt the street.

Sigh ... I know these things shouldn't matter. She's a good person, but I find I have to bite my tongue when she speaks in this manner.

Recently, my mom asked me to help out a young girl who is applying for pre-med at McGill. The girl had asked my mom for a reference letter. She passed along her four page cover letter to my mother, which sent my poor mom into a tizzy. Since shit flows downstream, my mother gave me a copy of the offending letter and asked me to help the girl fix it up. Shocked and appalled at the lack of the girl's ability to write properly and convey her ideas in a clear and concise manner, my mother kept repeating "But she was born, raised and educated here" (i.e. in Canada).

I suppose this is what I find so disturbing about people's inability to speak or write correctly; English is their first language. My mom and dad arrived in North America as adults. English wasn't their first language. Hell, it wasn't even their second language. My dad has a huge number of publications to his name and has always been complimented by colleages on his incredible grasp and use of the English language. I have to admit, even if from a biased point of view, that my dad is a beautiful writer and an articulate speaker.

Why then, I ask you, is it so hard for Canadians to speak and write properly? I feel like Canada's answer to Henry Higgins!!