The most misused word in the English language

Okay, I don’t really know this for a fact, but I’m pretty certain you’ll agree with me on this.

I recently received a manuscript back from my editor with much of the dialog marked up for incorrect grammar.  

Now, I try and make my characters as lifelike as possible so I listen to the way people talk and universally, whether educated or not, the word can is used in place of the word may. This is a sad bastardization of the English language, but none the less, in spite of the games we were taught as children the word may has all but disappeared from our language.

Remember “Mother May I “, a game we played for hours which was sadly replaced at some time by “Simon says”?

My English teacher in high school would answer, when the asked, can I do this or that; “If you are asking for my permission, yes you may, but you can only do it if you are able.”

So when a character uses can instead of may in his or her conversations, it is only a reflection of the times we’re living in.

Of course I’m not talking about Literary Fiction, which should offend the reader if the word is misused, but my characters seldom rise to the level of a literary professor or an English Major.

So, to keep my characters as true to life as possible, they seldom use may when asking a question, that is, unless they are a character from an earlier time when proper English was taught and spoken and not abused.
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