“Yes, I know, the grocer’s apostrophe is a weeping pustule on the shining
face of English, and people who don’t know the difference between ‘less’ and ‘fewer’ should be marooned on a small, ice-covered island in
the Arctic Sea. . . . What I cannot defend, however, is asshattery in the name of grammar.
“You may think you are some great Batman of Apostrophes, flitting through
the dark aisles of the Piggly-Wiggly, bringing Truth and Justice to
tormented signs everywhere! But in reality, you are a jerk who has
defaced a sign that some poor kid, or some poor non-native English
speaker, or some educated and beleaguered mom who is working her second
job of the day, spent time making. . . .”
“There is so much to celebrate about our language. English may be a shifty whore, but she’s our shifty whore. Please, this National Grammar Day, don’t turn her into a bully, too.”
—Kory Stamper, lexicographer at Merriam-Webster and blogger @harm·less drudg·ery, “A Plea for Sanity this National Grammar Day,” March 1, 2013
Related:
• Mignon Fogarty—The Grammar Girl: National Grammar Day—March Forth!
• Chicago Tribune
• Christian Science Monitor, including its grammar test
• Martha Brockenbrough & SPOGG (Society for the Protection of Good Grammar)
• Yesterday’s WORD: Did you miss yesterday’s WORDs from senior Microsoft guy Danah Boyd, on national email unplug day? Click here.
• ATVNews: Bank robbery, fatal building collapse & @Napping Aggies, anchored by Eric Jungblut & Katrina Warburton, produced by Emily Landeen
• Women’s b-ball is target of 3rd athletics audit at USU Eastern in 2 years, by Seth Richards
• Ravitz: Writing with empathy, resisting fluff, and making a difference, by Katie Swain
• Fire damages USU ag building, no one injured, by Shayna Marcure
• Redefining ‘beauty’—USU grads take on sexism in SI swimsuit issue, by Dani Hayes
• Coughing Cache residents protest Council inaction on air pollution, by Dani Hayes
PeezPIX by Ted Pease
Coastal Morning
Original PeezPix archival prints, matted at sizes from 5x7" to 16x20" or larger, available for sale: $14 (5x7), $28 (8x12) and up. email ted.pease@gmail.com. Thanks for asking.
(Be)Friend Dr. Ted, Professor of Interesting Stuff
JCOM @ Utah State University—The best little professionally oriented journalism program in Utah.
Original PeezPix archival prints, matted at sizes from 5x7" to 16x20" or larger, available for sale: $14 (5x7), $28 (8x12) and up. email ted.pease@gmail.com. Thanks for asking.
(Be)Friend Dr. Ted, Professor of Interesting Stuff
JCOM @ Utah State University—The best little professionally oriented journalism program in Utah.
One can respond to asshattery with apostrohia ranging from rolling one's eyes to scathing glances.
ReplyDelete