Gramagical

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Do You Believe in Magic?

“The word grammar has taken a bit of a nosedive since the days when some tipsy scholar north of Hadrian’s Wall mixed up his r’s with his l’s. Today grammar connotes everything unglamorous: absentminded professors; fussy schoolteachers; British grammazons with binding names like Lynne Truss; nagging perfectionists; pedantic correctionists; high school students asleep at their desks, stalactites of drool hanging from their lips. Long lost from grammar are associations with power, magic, enchantment and mystical energy.”

—Roy Peter Clark, writer, writing coach and vice president of The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, from his new book, The Glamour of Grammar: A Guide to the Magic and Mystery of Practical English (2010)

• Editorial Comment: You’ve cast a spell on me….

• Photo of the Day: PeezPix defers today to The National Geo
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