Now Is The Winter of Are Discontent

I'm not a grammar cop. I don't even play one on TV. In fact, I ignore a lot of things because it's just not worth the effort, and I realize that I make all kinds of mistakes as well. However, there are some things I just cannot stand. They drive me absolutely insane. The biggest one has to do with the first person plural possessive pronoun. That's right. "Our"

I realize that many people are going to pronounce this many different ways, but it remains the same word. No matter how you decide to say it, it is our. Over the past several years, I have seen more and more occasions when the word "our" is replaced in writing by the word "are." I won't argue with you if you pronounce it like that. I won't correct you if you don't know the difference between who and whom or good and well. I won't get upset with you for ignoring the words "to be" after the word "need" in a sentence. (The dogs need fed. The floor needs mopped.) I won't even complain if you decide to leave your preposition dangling out in the wind. (I'm looking at you people from Wisconsin who say "Would you like to go with?") But if I have to see one more sentence that says something like "Try Are Carwashes!!!" I'm gonna turn into Michael Douglas in Falling Down.