As a copy editor, my eyes and ears are constantly peeled forinconsistent spelling, antiquated grammar and misplaced (orcompletely disregarded) punctuation.
Themusic industry is full of such mistakes; sometimes they arewarranted, but most times they are not.
Musicians, apparently, have never heard of any sort of properEnglish etiquette.
They seem rather far behind in their ability to spell, consideringit is a concept most of us have known since elementary school.
Take, for instance, such artists as Limp Bizkit, Pharcyde, Eminem,Kandi, Gorillaz and INXS.
The correct spellings of these acts should be Limp Biscuit, FarSide, M and M, Candy, Gorillas and In Excess, respectively. But thosein the music industry don’t seem to care.
Instead of being awarded popcorn statues and platinum albums fortheir success, musicians should be given dictionaries.
Maybe then they would be able to at least spell their namescorrectly.
Along with their posse of agents, makeup artists, clothingconsultants and vocal coaches, they should hire a copy editor.
Someone needs to let these guys know how off the charts they arebefore they hit the mainstream.
Given the fact that they can’t spell, better grammar is probablyasking too much of them.
Why is it OK to butcher a word to make it fit nicely into a song?Sure it is a form of expression, or at least that’s what they’ll tellyou, but it’s not a form that respects the basics of the Englishlanguage.
Jennifer Lopez is one such artist who disregards proper English.”Love Don’t Cost a Thing”? Love is a singular subject, therefore thecorrect noun would be doesn’t, not don’t.
Even the King of Pop can’t escape the problem of poor grammar.Michael Jackson’s “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin'” has three grammaticalerrors in the title alone.
Snoop Doggy Dogg? Not only is his name spelled wrong (it’s D-O-Gfor those spell-check and dictionary deficient folk), it’s alsorepetitive, and unnecessary repetition should be avoided wheneverpossible.
While we’re on the topic of grammar and spelling, what is it withdropping letters from words and shortening them with apostrophes?Linkin Park, Lil’ Romeo, Guns N’ Roses? The role of an apostrophe isto show possession and plurality, not originality.
Errors like these can be the biggest nuisance to copy editors whenat work editing. We should be free from the misfortune of having tolisten to these mistakes in our cars and at home on our stereos.
From an editor’s point of view, sometimes I wonder what exactlymusicians are thinking when they write lyrics and choose band names.
Is it really necessary to break grammatical rules to make linesrhyme, or to alter the English language because someone feels it isnecessary to make a point?
I guess it can be, or so some musicians think, but songs thatappeal to listeners without tearing apart proper English are alsopleasant to hear.
In the erroneous words of newcomer Bubba Sparxxx (What is with allof the x’s?): “This is Bubba talk, gotcha open wide / I giggleoutside the booth, but ain’t no joke inside / This is complicated, atleast to y’all it is / Just let me sell 50 million, then I’ll call itquits.”
I guess for some musicians, it is essential to tamper with English– it appears they even sing songs about it. If using colloquialismand inaccurate grammar sells records, generates money or simply makesthem happy, of course they’re going to keep doing it.
Musicians will keep speeling them words wrong, speaking therefaulty grammar and slang, and singin’ or playin’ music to they’reheart’s content, even though altering the English language isinappropriate.
–Courtney Westerhof is a journalism sophomore.
–This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of TheDaily Aztec. Send e-mail to letters@thedailyaztec.com.Anonymous letters will not be printed — include your full name,major and year in school.
