Lady Webster (Again)

I must find a new title for my mother. We've always called her "Lady Webster" but I am becoming her so maybe she'll become "Queen Webster."

She has a command of the English language like no one you know (with the possible exception of English professors.) Just possible ...

I spent my entire childhood learning the proper way to say things, finding the proper words and being told, "Look it up." A habit that continues to this day.

My parents sent me to college. I earned a degree in journalism. Not bragging, just a life experience. My mother can run circles around me in the proper use of any comma, any hyphen or the difference between sit/set, lay/lie. Sometimes she will ask me, "Is that the word you really meant to use?" They could've saved a lot of money on college and I could've camped at her feet.

So here I go down that slippery slope. Girlfriends will be trying to tell an interesting or horrific story (usually about an oldie) and some look will cross my face. And they ask, "Is that the wrong word?" I'm surprised they don't just run. The baby often looks at me like I have a mental illness.

Often, I take a deep breath and let it go. To some, it's insulting to be corrected.

I love to be corrected. I am 44-years old and my mother still gives me little grammar and punctuation tips. She tells me to write it down and I do. Forget gifts -- this makes me giddy. We could probably spend endless days on a deserted island. We would take our dictionaries and diagram sentences and forget to make that "HELP" sign out of twigs.