I choose "prig"Steve at BTD says he's not part of the Grammar Police: Make no mistake - I do not call myself a grammarian. That's just cruisin' for a bruisin'. Rather, I am of the school that thinks writers should, upon mastering the rudiments of style, dwell predominately in the vernacular and make judicious use of poetic license. I have a linguist friend, a southern gentleman, who delights me with his email colloquialisms... "I useta would eat Moon Pies and RC when we stayed down east."While I don't call myself a grammarian either, I do try to be grammatically correct as much as possible, even though there are probably some mistakes I still make or of which am not even aware. There are two problems with this, as Steve points out, namely that sometimes correct grammar sounds ridiculous and some people will see or hear it and think it's incorrect. But despite these problems, I'll continue to fight a losing battle and be a prescriptivist on this. Hey, just because other people are wrong doesn't mean I have to be. I do not, however, correct other people's grammar. That's just asking for a kick to the shin, and I don't need any of those. The only time I DO correct someone else's grammar is when that person tries to correct someone else's, but is wrong or makes another mistake in the process. I can solve one of Steve's grammar dilemmas though: Accomplished grammophiles are constantly confronted with intractable word-choice dilemmas. Speak right and sound wrong? Or speak wrong and sound right?How about: Q: Who is there?And Steve, you spelled 'gimme' |
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