I have a problem.

It's more like a sickness, if you get right down to it. I have some strain of OCD. I would like nothing more than to assure you, gentle reader (do people read this blog?), that it is not a severe strain but I am not so certain. I suppose I do not suffer from "full blown OCD" in the classical sense. You are not likely to find me straightening pictures in a hotel lobby. I'm not prone to fits of alphabetizing and color-sorting sugar packets at the local IHOP (my daughter is in charge of those.) However I do get a feeling of ants crawling across my brain when I see language bastardized in any way.

This affliction of mine (and do not think for a minute it is anything less) has caused a number of awkward situations to arise in both my personal and professional life. When I see a misspelling, typo, or grammatical faux pas, I am physically unable to keep quiet about it. I find myself squirming in high level management meetings, growling in movie theatres, and verbally red-lining the people closest to me. Whether it is socially acceptable or not to do so, I must point out the error(s) to anyone who will listen to me. As you might imagine, more often than not this "service" goes unappreciated. I would go so far as to say it is probably downright irritating to others. Nevertheless, even knowing this, I cannot sit comfortably in my own skin if I can't correct the mistake or at the very least grouse about it.

I had some time to reflect on this as I drove to work this morning, following a Scion with a backwards kanji 'AI' sticker on the back. Seeing it made my skin crawl. It occupied my mind the whole way to work and it collected lint in the spin-dry cycle of my mind throughout the day. I know it's neurotic, but I thought perhaps by sharing my irrational state of mind with the world I might know some relief. Now that I'm done, all I feel is ridiculous. :)