Dean Christakos« Deep thoughts in Comics Subversion | Main | Reflections on July 4th »
May 17, 2008
Things to keep in mind when nitpicking about language
The author of the blog Stuff White People Like seems to have run into me on a bad day and decided to hit at me personally. At least, he must have, because entry 99 is dedicated to grammar:
White people love rules. It explains why so they get upset when people cut in line, why they tip so religiously and why they become lawyers. But without a doubt, the rule system that white people love the most is grammar. It is in their blood not only to use perfect grammar but also to spend significant portions of time pointing out the errors of others.Ouch. The grammarians among us must always remember this truism, however:When asking someone about their biggest annoyances in life, you might expect responses like “hunger,” “being poor,” or “getting shot.” If you ask a white person, the most common response will likely be “people who use ‘their’ when they mean ‘there.’ Maybe comma splices, I’m not sure but it’s definitely one of the two.”
“The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.” - James D. Nicoll
Posted by Dean at May 17, 2008 10:36 PM
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Comments
It was probably inspired by the recent publicity of http://www.jeffdeck.com/teal/blog/ .
Posted by: de at May 19, 2008 2:52 PM
It was probably inspired by the recent publicity of http://www.jeffdeck.com/teal/blog/
Ok, that is my new favorite blog.
Posted by: Dean at May 19, 2008 11:17 PM
On grammar, from the geeks and comicists: http://xkcd.com/326/
Posted by: ECRRC at June 9, 2008 2:48 PM