To Lose One's Job

How exactly does a person 'lose' his/her job? Do you leave it behind on the bus or forget to pick it up from the drycleaners?

Having recently been told that I would be 'let go' (another one see, like you let go of a child's hand?!) I have found myself telling friends and family that I've lost my job and seem to be hung up on the silly wording of the language. Obviously I'd rather focus on the English language than the harsh reality of my precarious situation, forgive me but I'll save that news for another gloomy post.

Language is endlessly fascinating to me and as a languages graduate I'm becoming more and more of a geek about the evolution and rules of English grammar and punctuation as I get older. The more I write the more often I stumble on a question that I can't answer or have a gut feeling about but can't explain the grammar rules behind i.e. who vs whom, which vs that, when to use Future Perfect Continuous Passive etc.

Grammar, spelling and punctuation are the tools of the writer's toolkit and yet I'm of a generation that was not taught grammar or punctuation; I had to learn the rules of my own language to help me learn two other languages. I swear to God that I was sat in an A'Level Spanish class and couldn't explain the difference between a noun and an adjective so how on earth was I going to manage learning another language if I didn't get to grips with my own and it's labeling? I had years' worth of swotting to do but I did it and now I'm hooked (see, told you I was a geek about it).

Lane has written a fantastic post on today's Novel Racers' coffee break about grammar and it's heartening to see from the comments that many of us have weak points when it comes to grammar which is why this community is so great because if you get stuck someone else usually knows the answer.

Now if only one of them can find me a job.