Finding the Right Words

I think nearly all writers share a love of words. We write a sentence and then listen to it in our minds, checking for rhythm and sense. If one word jars, then we search until we find a more suitable word or we rewrite the sentence. I have just rewritten the first sentence of this blog: originally I wrote All writers share a love of words and are grammar freaks. Then I re-read it and thought that not all writers do love words and quite a lot of writers that I know are not keen on the rules of grammar. And I wondered if I should put a hypen between re-written or just leave it as rewritten. So I've done the hyphen for re-read although I might still change that, too, when I read this blog again.
Does it matter? you might ask and rightly so. As long as the reader understands me, I'm not going to beat myself up over it. But, I have to admit, I do like to pay attention to grammar. I see red when I read something like The Grapes' of Wrath instead of The Grapes of Wrath, or Marys' dress when it should be Mary's dress. Or he was sat in the chair (and I've seen this in a best seller recently) instead of he was sitting in the chair. But maybe I'm old fashioned. Maybe I should get out more.

All of this went through my head yesterday when I saw, for the umpteenth time, an advertisement for something or other which had the words get your free gift. A gift is free, that is why it is a gift. So what is a free gift and should you trust a company who might not know exactly the meaning of the word gift? You could end up getting a bill for something you thought was free.
And another thing that caught my eye: exclusive offer. Exclusive to whom, exactly? If everyone on the internet reads the advertisement, then it is hardly exclusive, is it?
I am always hearing about jobs being up for grabs. Really? Isn't this just a position that is vacant and you can apply for it? It's time we changed that expression. Newspaper headlines tell us a politician or other public personality has been slammed for saying or doing something. Wouldn't the word criticized tell me the same thing and less violently at that?

Let's get more creative in our speech. A friend of mine was recently describing a very tidy, efficient acquaintance and she ended with the words : "she'd mind mice at the crossroads for you."
What a great expression! I just love it and I have been trying ever since to see where I could fit it into one of my stories.