Cato's Grammar Grumble

Started by Cato, February 08, 2009, 05:00:18 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Ten thumbs

Quote from: Cato on February 16, 2009, 06:11:43 AM

Any other bad grammar candidates from songs? 
I don't have the exact wording to hand but there is one modern hymn (or religious song if you prefer) that proclaims that Jesus will knock all rulers off of their thrones. Where the possessive 'of' comes from I cannot imagine. There seems to be no logic for it.
A day may be a destiny; for life
Lives in but little—but that little teems
With some one chance, the balance of all time:
A look—a word—and we are wholly changed.

Jay F

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on February 16, 2009, 06:26:05 AM
Or it could be authentically degraded grammar from the prairies . . . .

Back in the deeps of GMG Time I must already have pointed out one of my pet grammatical quarrels with Sir Paul, the duplicate preposition which 007 is sent to eliminate in Live and Let Die:

. . . this ever-changing world in which we live in . . . .
Wasn't he singing "world in which we're living"?

karlhenning

Quote from: nicht schleppend on February 16, 2009, 10:36:06 AM
Wasn't he singing "world in which we're living"?

Nay. Doesn't sound like it, and the duplicate preposition is how it's always been printed.

Cato

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on February 16, 2009, 11:01:47 AM
Nay. Doesn't sound like it, and the duplicate preposition is how it's always been printed.

That cinches it: The solution of "we're livin' " is charitable. But given the sloppy pronunciation of Sir Paul...   8)

Certainly he is not the only one in that boat: there is a reason why there is a website called "Misheard Lyrics."   $:)

"Off of" is heard everywhere, even from supposedly educated people.
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

Dr. Dread

Lyrics were never McCartney's strong point.

Cato

Quote from: Mn Dave on February 16, 2009, 11:53:26 AM
Lyrics were never McCartney's strong point.

Neither is music!   :o

But he was strong in "cuteness:" I believe he won the "Cutest Beatle Contest" every time!   8)
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

Dr. Dread


karlhenning

Quote from: Mn Dave on February 16, 2009, 02:17:50 PM
Don't go there. We will fight.  ;D

Tee-hee!  ;D

Well, he did tolerably well so much of the time.  One cannot but admire the sturdy minimalism of:

Why don't we do it in the road?
No one will be watching us.


"Grinning a grin," though, sounds poor to me.

Jay F

#168
Quote from: Cato on February 16, 2009, 11:46:33 AM
That cinches it: The solution of "we're livin' " is charitable. But given the sloppy pronunciation of Sir Paul...   8)

Certainly he is not the only one in that boat: there is a reason why there is a website called "Misheard Lyrics."   $:)
I had to listen to that song a lot in 1979 (at work, in an ad agency, can't remember why). I guess I just had to have it say "in which we're livin'" if I were to make it through another day (no, not "Another Day," "Live or Let Die").

Cato

#169
Quote from: nicht schleppend on February 16, 2009, 02:28:34 PM
I had to listen to that song a lot in 1979 (at work, in an ad agency, can't remember why). I guess I just had to have it say "in which we're livin'" if I were to make it through another day (no, not "Another Day," "Live or Let Die").

Was that "agency" in Guantanamo?   $:)

What annoys me here on this subtopic is that many songs could be grammatically fixed with no problem:

Example: The very annoying Alanis Morissette and her "What If God WAS One of Us?"  (Subjunctive "were" works perfectly musically.)

Actually, Alanis Morissette should be fixed!   0:) 
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

Dr. Dread

I don't think that was Morissette, was it?

Cato

Quote from: Mn Dave on February 16, 2009, 03:09:09 PM
I don't think that was Morissette, was it?

Well, when I remembered the line, and then checked it on Google, her name came up as the singer.  But another "Googling" also brought up somebody named Joan Osborne.

Both stand accused!   $:)
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

Dr. Dread

Quote from: Cato on February 16, 2009, 03:18:26 PM
Well, when I remembered the line, and then checked it on Google, her name came up as the singer.  But another "Googling" also brought up somebody named Joan Osborne.

Both stand accused!   $:)

Yep. Joan Osborne. That's who had the hit.

Dr. Dread

Quote from: Cato on February 16, 2009, 03:05:34 PM
Example: The very annoying Alanis Morissette and her "What If God WAS One of Us?"  (Subjunctive "were" works perfectly musically.)

Actually, a lot of fiction authors do this too.  :-\

You can't pick on pop music though. It ain't cool to sing like a square, yo.  >:D

Cato

Quote from: Mn Dave on February 16, 2009, 03:41:55 PM
Actually, a lot of fiction authors do this too.  :-\

You can't pick on pop music though. It ain't cool to sing like a square, yo.  >:D

I wrote earlier that bad grammar is part of its "low-class charm."  A true musica populi I suppose!   8)
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

karlhenning

Anyway, ought to be the world in which we live . . . the world in which we're living still rings a little colloquial.

karlhenning

Quote from: Mn Dave on February 16, 2009, 03:41:55 PM
It ain't cool to sing like a square, yo.  >:D

The Pav made 'em melt, you know.

Cato

Yesterday we drove 100 miles through the center of Ohio and counted 8 falcons on patrol at the edge of the highway!  We saw another one this morning right here in a suburban neighborhood of Columbus (Metro Pop. c. 1 million).

Tercel is the official name of a male falcon, coming from Latin for one-third: there was a belief that only 1/3 of the species at any given time was male.

Another good word struck my eyes today: blogobore!   :o

Anybody know a blogobore?   0:)
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

Dancing Divertimentian

Quote from: donwyn on February 09, 2009, 06:44:30 PM
Luckily for my sanity it's on the decline.

Quote from: sul G on February 16, 2009, 06:20:30 AM
How did this slip through?

I'm so sorry to hear this!

I misspoke - I should have said "it's" gone altogether.
Veit Bach-a baker who found his greatest pleasure in a little cittern which he took with him even into the mill and played while the grinding was going on. In this way he had a chance to have the rhythm drilled into him. And this was the beginning of a musical inclination in his descendants. JS Bach

Sean

Cato

QuoteIt is the counterpart to "the = thee" being used in front of everything: "thee" for "the" is permissible only before vowels.

Thee also seems appropriate sometimes when you're speaking slowly, the being such a short sound to leave hanging in the air.