Is high school English that hard?

[no poker or bridge content]

I saw this quote today on RotoWorld and it started me thinking:

"Derek Anderson dismissed what looked like a heated sideline discussion between he and Braylon Edwards as a non-issue."

When you have a pronoun after a preposition, it takes the objective case. How about "...heated sideline discussion between him and Braylon Edwards as a non-issue." Using the word 'he' is more pretentious and tricks writers into using it, I guess, but it's wrong. (I won't go into the clumsy sentence construction. I'm just focusing on grammar for now.)

How about this one? "Just between you and I, here is a secret." WRONG. Instead, you should say "Just between you and me, here is a secret." The word "I" sounds fancy, but it's incorrect.

Sometimes, bloggers are the worst. Many of them can't spell, and more than a few of them have trouble expressing themselves. The following is something written on a blog in which the author had previously stated that he'd like to get a gig reporting on poker, such as at the WSOP.

"I’m currently sitting here watching a guy on PokerStars play in a couple of tourneys and giving advice along the way in a certain game. Mostly on Stud 8 and some on Stud. He has done pretty well and is at the final table of one tourney right now with the chip lead. Should be interesting to see if he wins. In the time I typed this sentence he just became second in chips. It is interesting watching people play mixed games that are weak in a couple. Fortunately he was bright enough to seek help. Anywho, not much else going on."

Let's take a look at what he has written.

"I’m currently sitting here watching . . ." The word "currently" isn't exactly wrong, but is redundant and doesn't add anything; take it out. Maybe what he means is that he is sitting on an electric chair. Now, that would be shocking (ouch).

"... watching a guy on PokerStars play in a couple of tourneys and giving advice along the way in a certain game." I believe he means in one of the games.

"Mostly on Stud 8 and some on Stud." We all know that a sentence requires a subject and a verb (although either one of them could be implied). I don't see a subject or a verb.

"In the time I typed this sentence he just became second in chips." Um, no, not really. He might have dropped to second place in chips, but he didn't become second in chips. I'll let it slide that he meant "keyed" instead of "typed" and there is a comma missing.

"It is interesting watching people play mixed games that are weak in a couple." Do you know what he means by this? I think I do, but, then again, I'm not really sure. If he means people are weak in a couple of the games, then he should say "who" rather than "that."

I know we are allowed quite a bit of latitude in our written expression in blogs. They are not Pulitzer Prize material, and they are not intended to be. A little care, however, and some proofreading would be nice. These two things shouldn't be too much to ask. Did you notice I just (correctly) used to, two and too in the same sentence? Don't get me started on that one.

This just in: there, their and they're are three different words. Spelling isn't that hard, folks. I'm just sayin'.

We learned in high school English that its and it's mean two different things. Neither are difficult or tricky. High school kids can do it, and bloggers can too.

I have seen bloggers say "I peaked at my hole cards." Well, maybe they did if they were playing on a mountain.

Now, I'm off my soapbox. Rant is concluded.