Curations from the Human Jungle
[This post will likely be above the pay grade of most Silverbacks-- it's above mine, for sure, but, still, it's fascinating to learn about the way language evolves. We learn to speak at our mother's knee, but we don't give it much thought thereafter. Just think about the changes that have occurred in our lifetimes.... Continue Reading →
[I think I picked this up from Facebook, but for anyone with literary pretentions-- that would be me-- it's really quite instructive. SB SM] Consider yourself schooled • An Oxford comma walks into a bar where it spends the evening watching the television, getting drunk, and smoking cigars. • A dangling participle walks into a... Continue Reading →
[“What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.” Turns out Shakespeare got this one wrong. As Margaret Atwood points out in her blog, every revolution is immediately followed by a massive wave of re-naming. SB SM] In the Writing Burrow Whatever comes into my addled,... Continue Reading →
Today's selection -- from Rebel with a Clause by Ellen Jovin. In her very clever book on grammar Ellen Jovin brings to the page her experience answering questions posed to her at The Grammar Table. An ad hoc table she set up around the country to answer the public's grammar questions. Here she fields questions on the Oxford... Continue Reading →