All Americans Should Learn Standard English, But Maybe Not From Me

It seems that one David Brown is running for the mayor of Solvang, a small town in Central California.

I took this photo of one of his campaign signs today, as I noticed that it contains a grammatical error that I intend to call to his attention shortly.

“Traditional values” is a plural subject and thus requires the plural verb, “meet” rather than “meets.”  What he has here is equivalent to saying, “The boys meets the girls.”

Now, Solvang isn’t Palo Alto, home to Stanford, nor is it Cambridge, Massachusetts, but there are plenty of people around here who grew up learning standard English.  They deserve better than being forced to drive by this.

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Oops.  I just began the process of contacting Mr. Brown via his website.  He’s a local mortgage broker, dad, and sports coach–all those good things that make him qualified for local politics.

The headline on his site reads:  We Put Our Client’s Needs First.  Presumedly, he has more than one client, thus this should be “clients’.”

Given all this, does it really seem like a good idea to correct his grammar?  He actually seems like a nice and fairly successful guy.  God speed.

Again, this isn’t New York City.