Yore has nothing to do with you.

The English language is a confusing, constantly changing labyrinth of words.  So many ways to say things!  So many ways to spell things!  So many big, three dollar words! (Some used here!) I am aware that not everyone has the benefit of having had the inimitable($) Nancy Atchley as an English teacher in 7th grade the way I did, but every American has had some sort of basic instruction in their own language.  Most of us had mandatory instruction for 12 years!   Why is it then that people from other countries who learned English as a second language speak it better than some of us do?  I'm not talking about the people who immigrate here not knowing English (more on that in a second), I'm talking about people who live in another country with a completely different Mother tongue who speak and write English flawlessly while "native" speakers here butcher it.  As for immigrants who can't speak English, ever notice how the people who complain the loudest about having to press 1 for English are the ones who can't speak or write it themselves?  Always a problem on resumes and job applications, the advent($) of social networks like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter highlight how many people don't have a grasp on the written language.  Some of my favorites are Heterographs, words that sound alike but have different meanings and different spellings.  They're (they are), their (belongs to them) and there (not here) are frequently interchanged along with to (direction or point), too (also or more) and two (after one, before three) as well as its (possessive form of it) and it's (it is.)  Let's not forget know (knowledge) and no (not yes).  The one that drives me completely up the wall are your (belongs to you), you're (you are) and yore (times long past).  Seriously?  People don't know that yore is a word that's pretty much obsolete unless you're a poet or write medieval($) bodice rippers?  I once took a job application from a young man who left his previous job because he wasn't getting "inuff" hours.  He didn't get any hours at our place either.  Another application stated the applicant wanted to be "traned in magemen."  We decided to pass on him too.  If you're on a diet, you lose weight, not loose it.  Loose is how your clothes fit at the end of your diet.  When your children's fighting gets out of control, it escalates, not escalades.  An Escalade is an obnoxious vehicle manufactured by Cadillac that people my parent's age drive.  And park in two spaces.  There is no such word as alot.  It's either a misspelling of allot (assign, set aside) or a lot (a great amount.)  Where is a place, were is not.  Were is what you used to be.  Or the first part of the word that names guys who turn into slavering($), crazed wolfmen who kill indiscriminately.  I am not alone in bemoaning($) the sad state of our language.  I have several friends who also cringe when they hear or read someone botching($) it.  They even bust me on occasion.  I have been known to confuse whose (possesive form of who) and who's (who is.)  I created a nifty Facebook note called "Guess Whose Coming to Dinner" and was immediately called out on it.  How disconcerting($) to be caught doing the annoying thing that I find so annoying in others!  (Lady Wendy you know who you are!)  English is our language, why can't we speak it?  People speaking badly.