William Safire, hear my cry!

I’ve received two messages today–one letter, one e-mail–both using the word “here” in the following manner:

“I’ve been teaching here at XXX since…”  and

 “I work for X and X here at church…”

Do either of those sentences need the word “here”?  Isn’t it superfluous?  Could they not simply have said, “I’ve been teaching at XXX since…” and “I work for X and X at church…”  Why add “here”?  How does it help clarify the thought?

This bothers me not because I’m the grammar police (although I’ve considered applying) but because they were professional, not personal notes.  It also concerns me because it happened twice in one day, and that’s how these things go.  Pretty soon, if we’re not careful, we’ll hit the tipping point and we’ll see it everywhere, just like that bugger “journaling.”

To be clear:  If you are texting me, e-mailing me about dinner plans, or sending me a quick note to say how much you miss me, I will not bother to be bothered by your grammar.  Text away!  These are personal notes between friends.  I couldn’t care less about your grammar.

But when grammatical errors are made in professional correspondence it bothers me.  I remember several years ago when I received a letter from the Reading Dept at my son’s school with “comprise” misused.  Granted, that can be a tough one, but if you’re not sure about it, don’t use it.  There are lots of other words to choose from.

Okay, I’m climbing down from my high horse now.  The air is rather stuffy up there!  I’m going to check my email for a nice personal note, which I will love, grammar errors and all.