I went to my boss’s office this afternoon to drop off some papers for him to review. As I did so, he said something, then immediately backtracked, saying, “That’s probably not correct grammar, so I apologize!”

I get that fairly often-the fear that because I used to be an English teacher, I must be ultra-obsessed with grammar and ready to drop the ( Read more... )

I had occasion to think about American English and British English while reading on some other blogs today, and it reminded me of the fun I had listening to the variety of accents when I studied abroad in England. And the vocabulary! It just seemed so quaint to my ears.

Lorry? Just doesn't sound intimidating to me.  I know it means truck, like a ( Read more... )

Just a thought: 
It is "through the wringer," not "through the ringer."
Also, it is "wracked with pain," not "racked with pain" (unless you are on the medieval torture device known as the rack). 
Thank you.  That is all. 

So I moved, right?  On Saturday I was driving my car full of junk to the north where I was to deposit the majority of it in a storage unit, where I will never see it again.  Well, on I-5 north, there is this sign, encouraging me to go to Jubitz!  Yay Jubitz!  It must be so exciting, what with their bazillion signs and whatnot, all encouraging me ( Read more... )

Student as he is leaving my classroom:  The definition of Ms. May is, "the act of being fly!"

Me:  A hahahahahahahahahaha!

I am feeling well enough to be irritated, so that's a positive sign.

What, you might ask, has me irritated?  Grammar, my friends, grammar.  One of my few pet peeves has me all in a dither, and despite what Cliff would have you believe, that really doesn't happen very often.  But it has happened today.  Shall we start?  Let's.

Peek:  v., ( Read more... )

Warning: I am going to look like an anal retentive grammar nazi. I apologize in advance ( Read more... )

So today I read the following sentence in a paper I worked on: "Hispanic and White are the two main populations at 37% and 39%, respectfully." I nearly fell off my chair laughing. Instead, I politely suggested "respectively" instead. Sigh. I am evil.

Okay, I don't think I have mentioned this before, but I am obsessed with grammar. When we were kids, Cliff dubbed me the Grammar Nazi. And of late I have noticed a disturbing trend in popular culture, particularly in advertising: no one gives darn about proper grammer. No, I am not talking about products advertized as "EZ Bake" or such rot. ( Read more... )

I am a week away from 26, and I never knew until today that “prerogative” was spelled like that, what with the extra “R” in there. I mean, who knew? Besides the Webster’s people, obviously. Does this mean I have to give up my rights as a card-carrying English major? Does this mean my card gets revoked? Oh, help!