Cato's Grammar Grumble

[Karl Henning]

Chief among the offenses, I think, must be to keep he, fer gosh sakes.

[Cato]

Chief among the offenses, I think, must be to keep he, fer gosh sakes.

I have recently heard such idiocies spoken on the T.V. news shows (sigh) more than a few times (SIGH).

The word "totally" is "totally" out of control.  (I believe this monster arose in the 1980's as part of DumbTeenSpeak/ValleyGrrrl nonsense in movies. )

Yesterday at church our poor deacon gave the sermon.  I use the word "poor" not in an economic sense, but in the sense of of someone who must speak in public, is terrified by the duty, and therefore very poor at executing it. 

Among his babbled words were the terms "totally unique"     and "totally empty"    .

I suppose one could make the case that the speaker is simply trying to emphasize the adjectives, which I totally understand.   

I am reminded of The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, a 1950's movie written by Dr. Seuss, where the villain (an insane piano teacher) asks the 9-year old hero who is holding an unknown weapon:

"Is it...ATOMIC?!"

Hero: "Yes sir, VERY ATOMIC!"   

[Karl Henning]

!!!

[zamyrabyrd]

Chief among the offenses, I think, must be to keep he, fer gosh sakes.

Where are the editors and proofreaders?

[zamyrabyrd]

"Is it...ATOMIC?!"

Hero: "Yes sir, VERY ATOMIC!"   

Anything can be ATOMIC, in fact everything IS.

[Karl Henning]

Where are the editors and proofreaders?

They just get in the way of my expressing myself!

[BasilValentine]

Anything can be ATOMIC, in fact everything IS.

Well, everything that isn't subatomic or energetic or plasmic or photonic or neutrinoish anyway.

[ritter]

The word "totally" is "totally" out of control.  (I believe this monster arose in the 1980's as part of DumbTeenSpeak/ValleyGrrrl nonsense in movies. )

Yesterday at church our poor deacon gave the sermon.  I use the word "poor" not in an economic sense, but in the sense of of someone who must speak in public, is terrified by the duty, and therefore very poor at executing it. 

Among his babbled words were the terms "totally unique"     and "totally empty"    .

...

The deacon should at least be commended for having avoided the word "like" in front of "totally".   

We do not employ "totally" in Spanish as you do in English, but its widespread use in America these days reminds me of a regional (Canary Islands) idiom, the use of which I think is dying out (praise the Lord!); people used the adverb "francamente" (frankly) on its own, as an adjective...If something was "francamente", it was beyond the pale, even if the (necessary) adjective was missing from the phrase. 

[DaveF]

Where are the editors and proofreaders?

Clive James describing his first job, as a proofreader, after arriving in England:

The typescript was for a children's book about dinosaurs.  'As massive as a modern home and weighing many tons, Man would have been dwarfed by these massive creatures...'  I spent the next two days sorting out tenses, expunging solecisms and re-allocating misplaced clauses to the stump from which they had been torn loose by the sort of non-writing writer for whom grammar is not even a mystery, merely an irrelevance.

And when James dies (which he seems in no hurry to do, despite having spent most of the decade telling us he's off any day now), we'll lose one more who knows and cares about its mysteries and irrelevances.

[André]

The deacon should at least be commended for having avoided the word "like" in front of "totally".   

We do not employ "totally" in Spanish as you do in English, but its widespread use in America these days reminds me of a regional (Canary Islands) idiom, the use of which I think is dying out (praise the Lord!); people used the adverb "francamente" (frankly) on its own, as an adjective...If something was "francamente", it was beyond the pale, even if the (necessary) adjective was missing from the phrase. 

In québécois, the adverb franchement (same as francamente or frankly) is used to convey disbelief, disgust, or simple bemusement. Not unlike the famous Rhett Butler line in GWTW, but the meaning is not quite the same.

French from France: C'est franchement stupide!
French from Québec: Franchement! C'est stupide!

[Ken B]

Chief among the offenses, I think, must be to keep he, fer gosh sakes.

No. He uses he, he pronouns.

[Karl Henning]

Cross-post (and this where I really wanted to post this, only Tapatalk drills down only so far in the Sub-forum)

This year's nominee for best appearance of a string instrument in a movie review:

"Cut to some years later, after del Toro has established himself as one of the hottest directors worldwide and Disney sold their Miramax label: viola! director's cut."

[Karl Henning]

Not a finished thought/sentence, is it?

Celebrating our long history of open-minded curiosity and tolerance is not closed-minded bigotry, no matter how hard you try.

[Ken B]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/feb/21/college-writing-center-proper-grammar-perpetuates-/

[Jo498]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/feb/21/college-writing-center-proper-grammar-perpetuates-/

It all began going downhill about 350 years ago when vernacular languages crept into the university. If the language of the university is "universal" but nobody's mother tongue, there will be no grammar tribalism.

[Ken B]

It all began going downhill about 350 years ago when vernacular languages crept into the university. If the language of the university is "universal" but nobody's mother tongue, there will be no grammar tribalism.

I blame Dante.

[bwv 1080]

I find myself cringing every time the word 'basically' comes out of a co-workers mouth.  Its a pretentious  equivalent of 'you know' or 'like'

[Karl Henning]

yakfill

[Karl Henning]

Batman shineth in the darkness:

The premiere episode of the Batman TV show debuted a superhero with a flare for dancing and an weakness for attractive women.

[Kontrapunctus]

Newscasters seem to have forgotten about verbs. I frequently hear statements such as this: "The FBI investigating allegations that..." Grr...