January 2008
64 posts
“One must regard the hyphen as a blemish to be avoided wherever possible. My...”
– Sir Winston Chuchhill
A day in the life of a GrammarBlogger →
I’ve just had an MSN conversation with fellow GrammarBlogger Tom and I feel like sharing. Tom: in this context, would you put ‘yes’ and ‘no’ in quotation marks: Tom: It’s a simple question and usually can be answered with a yes or no. Gez: maybe Gez: yes Tom: right - Paul and Mike both concur here Gez: that’s ok. if it offends you stylistically, I...
A day in the life of a GrammarBlogger: I’ve just had an MSN conversation with fellow GrammarBlogger T.. http://tinyurl.com/33zh3v
No need to shout! →
Regular contributor and twitter friend Aliya has got in touch to voice her discontent at being confronted with a grammatical error when attempting to sign up to Zlio, a web 2.0 shop thingy-ma-bob. Yes, that’s the technical description. “Please confirm informations bellow.” I really like this. I can imagine people yelling their email addresses at the screen, eager to try this...
No need to shout!: Regular contributor and twitter friend Aliya has got in touch to voice her d.. http://tinyurl.com/2re6qx
When it comes to Keats, I echo the sentiment of Hugh Grant’s character in Bridget Jones’ Diary. http://grammarblog.tumblr.com/post/24987363
Getting a bee in the proverbial bonnet about the pronunciation of aitch. We shouldn’t succumb to ‘haitch’. A common error is still an error.
“Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter: therefore, ye soft...”
– Fuck me, I love Keats
Reading: “The Hyphen War and the Velvet Divorce” (http://tinyurl.com/3366lc)
Anarky For Ever →
The best graffiti ever? Found on a Russian photo blog (warning: occasional arty nudity).
Anarky For Ever: The best graffiti ever? Found on a Russian photo blog (warning: occasional arty nudi.. http://tinyurl.com/3x6xax
@cgerrish “An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing”
Merry X’mas: Merry Xmas Apostrophe!, originally uploaded by Stone Scarab. I can’t wait another .. http://tinyurl.com/25cejv
Merry X'mas →
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Merry Xmas Apostrophe!, originally uploaded by Stone Scarab.
I can’t wait another eleven months to post this.
Redemption for Marlo: Before Christmas, I posted about the frightening use of apostrophes on MarloDee.. http://tinyurl.com/0
Redemption for Marlo: Before Christmas, I posted about the frightening use of apostrophes on MarloDee.. http://tinyurl.com/2sfvlz
Redemption for Marlo →
Before Christmas, I posted about the frightening use of apostrophes on MarloDee Designs’ website. A few days ago we received notification of the following comment. Hello! This is Marlo from MarloDee Designs. I think I have fixed all the punctuation errors on my website. Wow! I didn’t mean to blind Heather. I did have a couple of people send me email’s pointing out my...
National Grammar Day: Lovely, lovely Martha Brockenbrough, she of SPOGG fame and author of many wonde.. http://tinyurl.com/yq9k3o
Hanson talks balls →
I am the proud manager of a hugely unsuccessful Fantasy Football team with the Daily Telegraph. The venerable Alan Hansen is the resident celebrity pundit and earns his endorsement fee by writing (or maybe just approving ) the odd email newsletter.
We’re used to sports pundits talking rubbish, but this email takes the half-time orange. The one good thing about being a TFF manager as...
National Grammar Day →
Lovely, lovely Martha Brockenbrough, she of SPOGG fame and author of many wonderful MSN Encarta articles, has bullied the powers that be into holding a national grammar day in the US.
Here is one reason why she thinks they need it. National Grammar day is on March 4th (that’s what we linguists call a pun—get it?) and may or may not feature an angry, pitch-fork brandishing mob torching...
Just used ‘inference’ when I meant ‘implication’. Time to take a dose of my own medicine. Has anyone seen my cilice?
Hanson talks balls: I am the proud manager of a hugely unsuccessful Fantasy Football team with the Da.. http://tinyurl.com/23cr43
GrammarBlog’s word of the day is effusive: meaning excessively demonstrative.
Feeling slightly guilty that a GrammarBlog reader sent hate-mail to a website we blogged about. Post coming soon.
Quote of the day goes to Big Sam (the original) http://grammarblog.tumblr.com/post/24370778
@internjen Do tell.
Every time I receive an email asking me when something will be ‘actioned’, I die a little inside.
“What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.”
– Samuel Johnson: English author, critic, & lexicographer (1709 - 1784)
For example, treating ‘none’ the same as ‘not one’ (singular): I know everyone breaks that rule but surely it’s still a good rule to know.
I’m getting annoyed with usage guides that say, “This is the rule but people have been breaking it since XXXX so don’t worry.”
Still get annoyed about the unnecessary punctuation twit this adds.
Laughing at: “Prose before Hos T-shirt. Amazing.” (http://tinyurl.com/37ytoq)
Will buy unwanted apostrophes for cash: I think I will try to make Cartoon Friday a regular feature h.. http://tinyurl.com/2oxw8h
Will buy unwanted apostrophes for cash →
I think I will try to make Cartoon Friday a regular feature here at GrammarBlog.
Cheer This slice of Friday cheer was brought to you MRP. I often think there would be a quid or two to make buying up superfluous apostrophes and selling them to those in need. Apostrophe brokering would be my ideal career. More often than not, these thoughts are followed a few hours later by a stinking hangover. ...
@mjkeliher Thanks for the link. I found a better definition on wikipedia http://tinyurl.com/2o2wrb
Word of the day: Rickroll (verb). To be tricked into clicking a link leading to a Rick Astley video. http://tinyurl.com/24qsth
GrammarBlog’s Tom has just received a formal client email containing the word ‘thru’. Repent sinners; the end is nigh.
@_ade Good save!
A message from Christina: Christina Aguilera has dropped a sprog. Heat readers are no doubt beside th.. http://tinyurl.com/2agtkm
A message from Christina →
Christina Aguilera has dropped a sprog. Heat readers are no doubt beside themselves. I, on the other hand, couldn’t really claim to give a toss if it wasn’t for the grammatical error made by Xtina (does that pseudonym make anyone else get a little bit of sick in the mouth?) in her official announcement. Dear fans,Today is a very joyful and special day for Jordan and I as we welcome our...
Reading: “Verbs Gone Wild: Are We Taking Too Many Liberties with Language? - MSN Encarta” (http://tinyurl.com/39h6fh)
When did we drop the possessive form in the phrase, “for goodness sake”?
@mjkeliher Good thinking Batman; that seems to have worked. http://twitter.com/mjkeliher/statuses/584536142
We’ve been trumored (I suppose the British spelling would be trumoured) http://truemors.com/?p=23026
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage describes ‘thru’ as “nothing less than standard.” Pah! Not in my name.
Through and Thru: Is anyone else really sick of seeing the word ‘Thru’? Of all the various inane mark.. http://tinyurl.com/2dv8jq
Through and Thru →
Is anyone else really sick of seeing the word ‘Thru’? Of all the various inane marketing spellings it’s the one that winds me up the most. I’m not sure why. Maybe ubiquity is a factor; it does seem to crop up everywhere. The Grammar Vandal currently has a poll on her site asking visitors their opinion on when it is acceptable to use ‘thru’. I’m on team...
You must be Joaqin: No, he’s deadly serious. How do I spell my own name again? It’s spelt Joaquin, Jo.. http://tinyurl.com/3xaxg6
You must be Joaqin →
No, he’s deadly serious. How do I spell my own name again? It’s spelt Joaquin, Joaquin. This was found over at SPOGG.
A.A. Gill’s food column this week is side-splittingly funny. http://tinyurl.com/2qtk2k