No, it's not incorrect, it's simply a ColloquiaLILism

I can't help but love word play, especially after having grown up with my grammar, manner and vocabulary conscious grandma, who has earned the fitting moniker of Grammer (which is of course pronounced like "Gramma" since Bostonians have the idear that the " r" fell off the moving cah.) So she lectured me the differences between I & me, so I would know that "she make a Sunshine cake with my sister and me", but only if "Julia and I ate dinner first". And recently I thought that after four years of a private college education taught me everything, I realized that she could still teach me that you can't call something "really unique" because if it's unique, then it's completely singular and there's no need for an superlative or comparative adjective in front of another adjective.

My argument was that it was a colloquialism, since our everyday teenagers and adults alike use this kind of exaggerated, over-adjectified phrase. (I did not win the argument, because there was no stretching or bending the rules of grammar.)

However, I continued to think about the definition of a colloquialism. I feel like our language is so exemplary (maybe embarrassingly so) of colloquialisms all over the country. We've got "y'all" in the south and "that's wicked awesome" up by me. Can you really argue that there's anything wrong with that kind of talk? I'll be the first one to take after my grammar-grandma and defend the use of I not me or "I goes before E except after C", but there's no way you can take away those really unique ways of talking in each part of the country.

And don't even get me started about Italy...I'd love to start writing down all the ways in which they have warped and bent and changed the rules of their language. Each region has it's own!! (well, what do you expect? you know how the Italians love to bend the rules....)

I'll have to think about those words they have when I'm not so tired...then I'll write them down (for all you Grammar and Grandpa's out there!) In the meanwhile, if you'd like to argue that "really unique" isn't a colloquialism, then I'll at least argue that it's a colloquiaLILLism.





PS and if you're curious, here's my defense for a colloquialism, as written in Webster dictionary:
Colloquialisms or colloquial language are considered to be characteristic of or only appropriate for ordinary, familiar or informal conversation rather than formal speech or writing. Some examples of informal colloquialisms can include words (such as "y'all" or "gonna" or "wanna"), phrases (such as "ain't nothin'", "dressed for bear"

Stick together

Ciao....wow I finally did it! hello, YOU! Hello, me! my blog! i finally made a blog. i put it off for so long because of a few reasons: I was lazy...I was busy, I had my excuses such as homework...but really it was for all these insecurities and fear of being vulnerable. I mean now that I've written this, it's out there! It's published on the web...I already feel like I'm known! I also have a fear of being judged by friends and strangers alike.

This needs to change.

Oh, this blog is about change too! GOBAMA! The change we need! That's a big inspiration to make a change in my life now: to do something instead of putting it off. To speak my mind and to let other's know it...instead of hiding my opinions in fear of criticism. I've always admired those that speak their mind, whether to defend someone passionately or to make a risky comment that could result them humiliation. I love that courage. I mean why do I really care if my entry is perfect? ("perfect" doesn't exist) If they laugh or don't laugh at my jokes (I admit my future is not in television)? If my spelling is wrong (that's Microsoft's fault) or my stories are meaningful to me, yet meaningless to everyone else? (I'm not an author and who is this "everyone" anyway!!?) Maybe no one will read my blog.

And that' s fine with me because this blog will be my space to write cazzate about my life. To analyze and over-analyze things as boring as "why did I chose the pink scarf today?") and of course to express my not-very-exotic identity as a broke college grad white girl trying to find my destiny in a crystal ball (or on the horoscope websites) while building my future on a foundation as solid as jello, because i am building my future on love. This blog will be about my hybridity as an American, Italophile and ex-Pat...which will be extremely evident in my obsessive referencing to Italy, and through my hybrid lexicon of Italian and English.

This is my space to record the inner monologue that gets tossed around in my brain all day like dice in the dice popper of the 1990's "Frustration" board game. It's going to reveal a lot of frustration in fact....all my curiosity and confusion about the future. That's why my story starts with my open ended dot-dot-dot sentence:

So, Lil e' Qui...now what?


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Welcome to my soliloquy.