17 November 2012

Do I get extra credit for two double-dactylic words?

by Cecily
Lexical vexical
Wanton Logomachy
(reckless misuse of a
word or a phrase)

Hypergrammatical
overperfectionists
rarely admit their
erroneous ways.


more double dactyls:
Ivan T. Sanderson
Goldilocks
Tom Swifty
Sad Scruffleupagus

01 November 2012

Down with prescriptivism

by Cecily
I love very many things about this blog post. First of all, I got very nostalgic about the post title, because remember when I made a hilarious joke about Vietnamese soup and logic? Yeah me too. Those were the good old days, when all my post titles were Tom Swifties* and the posts themselves came oftener than trimonthly.

Anyway, in Kory's post are a number of gems. Top three:

  • I drafted the reply I wanted to send and saved it to my Nobody Knows The Trouble I Seen folder.

This is the greatest folder name of all time. And now I have one too.


  • Everything we’ve done to and for English is for its own good, we tell it (angrily, as it slouches in its chair and writes “irregardless” all over itself in ballpoint pen).

I'm not sure what, exactly, I love about this so much. Except that it seems possible that I, at some point now forgotten, might have written "irregardless" all over myself in ballpoint pen.

  • I bet Latin doesn’t sneak German in through its bedroom window, does it?

LATIN. What a goody-two-shoes.

Also the actual content of the response is good too.





*I drove to work the other day behind a car whose license plate was 'T. Swift'. When I told my brother this, and added "Why didn't I think of that?", he responded with:

"Forget "I", Why didn't WE think of that?" he pronounced.

Nice work, Brother Will.