Wednesday, June 29, 2011

The Grammar Nazi



Pat Hatt and his cat Orlin*, of It's Rhymetime fame, have called me a "Grammar Nazi."


(*Don't ask. I mean, what kind of nut would ever make the claim that one or more of his blog posts were written by a cat, right? Heh.)

Well, it's true that I'll occasionally make wisecrack comments about spelling errors, typos, grammatical glitches, and the like, but I only do it once in a while. If I were to imperiously correct every "mistake" I see on blogs, and on the internet in general, I'd sleep a lot less than I do already... and I'd be a lot less popular!

Admittedly, I used to be much worse... like, in my high school days. I'll quote here from "My Island," a lengthy (and all-true) storyline published on my old David'Z RantZ blog:

[Patty] was remarkably tolerant of my irritating habit of correcting her (and others). I say "remarkably" because for the most part, Patty wasn't all that tolerant of anyone's overbearing traits. But don't get me wrong, being tolerant didn't mean that she was totally accepting of my constant corrections. In fact, after she'd sent enough good-natured insults my way in return, I broke the habit. By that time, however, Patty had begun calling me by the nickname of "Professor." In later years, she only used it occasionally; she resurrected the name whenever she needed advice, answers to trivia questions, etc.

Anyway, fellow babies, in Pat's (and Orlin's) honor, I decided to retroactively add a "Grammar Nazi" label to any and all of my posts here on The Lair of the Silver Fox which talk about grammatical errors, spelling snafus, and virtually anything else related to the complexities of the English language! In fact, I did the same thing with the applicable posts on my old, retired David'Z RantZ blog!

So... If you're ever feeling masochistic enough to O.D. on all of them, the "Foxyblog" Grammar Nazi posts are all here (including this one), and the David'Z RantZ Grammar Nazi posts are all here!

And finally, although I can't embed it on this page, here is a link to a short YouTube video about Grammar Nazis... cuz I'm not the only one!

Thanks for your time.

26 comments:

  1. see this scares the crap outta me cause i am the antithesis of good grammar...lol

    ReplyDelete
  2. love the clip...I bet you wish you wrote it! ha.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Okay, does this mean I have to start blocking you from my blog? Heh, heh!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Tag this post. I see at least one spelling error ( ducks behind the sofa... )

    Seriously tho'...the fact is the new generation is being brought up learning how spell in "text". It's bad enough to learn other languages or military spelling ( yes, I speak "Acronymics"... )

    And unless there is a group of English professors devoting their time to correcting blog articles, most folks won't give a second glance if a word is spelled wrong or mis-used, wot?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I didn't know who that T. was until the very end! 'wot?' certainly gave it away! lol....

    ReplyDelete
  6. Dang! Betsy ya found me out!

    ReplyDelete
  7. While I may not use the English language correctly at all times (I'm horrible with punctuation), I love the Grammar Nazi. My pet peeve is the overuse of the word utilize or should I say the overutilization of the word utilize.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Don't worry, no one needs to run and hide. I don't bother leaving comments like "Hey, didn't you mean to write its instead of it's?" all over the place, and don't intend to start now. (I do sometimes make an exception when reading Pat's blog, but it's to tease him, not correct him!)

    I also make allowances for the fact that most people write their posts in a hurry and post 'em without proofreading. (You should see some of the emails I send!)

    Generally, when I see a bunch of bloggers making the same mistake in a short span of time, I'll draft a post about it if it starts "getting" to me.

    @Brian: Well, with your particular style, you can call most of it "artistic license."

    @Roy: Please don't! I'd hate to miss out on great photos and music!

    @T: We old-timers shouldn't point too quickly at those young whipper-snapppers. Most of the bloggers whom I follow are over 40, and they make a lot of goofs.

    And finally, @Betsy: "Wot?" I guess "T" must be someone who's British, huh? ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. @Kate: There are words that bother me -- no matter how long they've been around -- because I know they originated with people screwing up the original versions of said words. Like "adaption." It was supposed to be "adaptation," but once a significant amount of people had used the "wrong" version, it entered the language. (And although I thought that occurred relatively recently, it actually goes back several generations, as I discovered about a week ago.) Same with "commentate," "conversate," etc. They're what linguiists call "back-formations."

    ReplyDelete
  10. Orlin: "Oh a post all thanks to me. Who says there isn't anything nice about the Grammar Nazi."

    Pat: "You realize he's making fun of you right?"

    Orlin: "No Pat I believe he's making fun of you. What can't handle it because it's true?"

    haha nice post, love the picture. Wow didn't realize there were so many of you, this could be a regular coo. Do I get an "artistic license" too? Or are you going to make me wait in line?..haha

    Fun post and pick away, I can take it anyday.

    ReplyDelete
  11. @Pat: Yep, I never "pick on" anyone who can't give it right back!

    @Orlin: Oh, great. I think I just swelled that fuzzy head of yours a bit more! Oh, well...

    ReplyDelete
  12. @ Betsy had to change due to the massive hacks on gmail. No worries tho' ;)

    @David, so I make a lot of goofs, eh? I'll admit to the "over 40" part, tho'... :P And you mis-spelled...oh never-mind! :]

    BTW, I'm freed up for rides; nights only for now ;)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Subs ~ you need to lay off the coffee a bit. You're changing names and personalities faster than we can misspell words for Silver! ha.

    ReplyDelete
  14. @Betsy, Aye b'n doon t' aight t' tain cuppas a day, luv ;) Ony mair b' a bit muckle, y'ken!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Ah, that does beat my 12 cups a day! You are the Caffeine King for sure! :) But, um, Subs...er..a...T., don't you think it's a bit much?

    ReplyDelete
  16. @Subby, or T, or whomever: I wasn't aiming that "over 40" comment at you, friend. Hell, among my blogger buddies, you're just a wee bairn!

    ReplyDelete
  17. @Betsy: "Aye b'n doon t' aight t' tain cuppas a day, luv ;) Ony mair b' a bit muckle, y'ken!"

    Uhhhh... yeah. What he said. :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Subs said he was doing about 18 cups a day and it only made him a bit confusing, you know?

    At least that's what I think he said. ha.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hm. I thought he meant he was doing between eight and ten cups.

    And heck, you should be in the same room with him when he's that revved up!

    ReplyDelete
  20. 8-10? No, I'm sure that's just before breakfast. ha.

    With him? Well, being online with him is plenty, that's for sure. hahaha.

    I think Subs has gone to sleep...he has to work tonight. He's missing out on all the fun! ha.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Oh so T. is Subs, never caught on to that one. Guess maybe I should drink coffee too, to keep up with all of you. Yeah I'm hyper enough, don't need that.

    hahaha WV is sKINGsa

    Orlin: "See Pat even Grammar Nazi's blog recognizes me, don't worry you can be the court jester, as I continue to pester."

    ReplyDelete
  22. A...hem. Allow me to translate my bad Scotch-English:

    "I've been doing 8-10 cups a day, luv. Any more would be a bit much, y'know?"; so SF is spot on, with the first part...

    @Betsy, I no longer work nights unless I'm playin' D.D. ( no, not Dungeons and Dragons, more like Designated Driver, wot? ) Email me for the horrid details :P

    Too much coffee is never enough! ( my record is 9 litres in a 24 hr. period...! That's somewhere round 50 cuppas :P )

    ReplyDelete
  23. @SF, Ayem no sic a wee baird onymair, y'ken?

    ReplyDelete
  24. You can pick apart anything I write, humiliate me if you like...I'm just freaking glad to see you back! :) (and I only sort of double checked this!)

    ReplyDelete

I strongly urge you to sign up for follow-up comments, because I (usually) reply to your comment! Comments left for me more than three weeks after a post is published will not appear until I approve them, but they will be answered eventually!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...