I have spoken at least a few times here about being somewhat of a stickler for proper grammar. I don’t claim to be an expert (I do misspell things from time to time, and I used to — gasp — blog in all lower-case letters) but I do like to edit, and I do catch more mistakes than most. I come by it honestly enough. From kindergarden through my senior year of high school, I doubt I ever submitted a paper that my mother hadn’t first read with red pen in hand. She’s a teacher, which probably explains her own attention to grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
Today, Blogger indulged my pet peeve with an entire article about it, containing such gems as: “Though Blogger gives everything else away for free, sadly the service does not come with a cranky grammar bitch with blue pencil in hand.” and “You don’t need to know the 17 reasons to insert a comma into a sentence. (Although, if you did know all 17 reasons, that would be totally hot.)”
Love it.
That article also led me to a New Yorker piece pointing out all the errors in a best-selling book about proper punctuation. I’ve considered buying the book (“Eats, Shoots & Leaves”) myself, but am less inclined to do so after reading the New Yorker article.
In other linkage, the BBC site had an interesting article today as well, discussing the aftermath of Hurricane Charley. Not in terms of homes and lives lost, but in terms of the incredible amount of stuff that Americans have, and the odd things they bemoan losing.
