He done well when he sprung for the high ball

I AM astounded by the incorrect and ungrammatical English I hear constantly, especially when listening to young, well-educated people being interviewed on radio and TV.

Admittedly, a number of those I’ve heard recently were prominent sports personalities, but they come from a wide cross-section.

Many are educated to university standard and are in teaching, banking and other professions.

In recent weeks I saw a young man receive the Man of the Match award after a big Sunday game.

He was “delighted we done well. In fact the entire team done well, but I’m disappointed that my last attempt at a score went wide when it should have went over the bar”.

I have learned since then that he is a secondary schoolteacher. I’m a retired primary teacher, and my blood ran cold having to listen to his destruction of the English language.

However, this English is only too often the norm nowadays.

Stuff like “he sprung for a high ball”, “he sunk it in the net”, “he might have did that earlier”, “he should have went for an earlier score”, etc, is commonplace, even among some well established journalists.

Education, how are you. God be with the teachers of my day.

SB MacCoitir

Highbury Estate

Carrigaline

Co Cork