Slog

News & Arts

Line Out

Music & the City
at Night

« The Art of Video Games at EMP: Free… | Great and Gross Comments About Char… »

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Language Grammar Help for Valentine's Day

Posted by Gillian Anderson on Thu, Feb 14, 2013 at 10:16 AM

From SMBC

FacebookShare

Comments (9) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

then≠than

Posted by vhi8dt on February 14, 2013 at 10:52 AM

Thetan != Theseus, @1.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on February 14, 2013 at 10:59 AM

Hate to be a wet blanket, but is this really grammar? Or is it diction? Syntax? Simply word choice?

Posted by carnivorous chicken on February 14, 2013 at 11:08 AM

I can't help mentioning this brief vignette.

Many years ago, I had a temp job doing some simple wp at a legal services firm downtown, and the contractor/proofreader was a demented, illiterate female named Dalton (I'll refrain from mentioning her last name).

Dalton was obsessed with the idea that the spelling of "grammar" was "grammer" -- un-frigging-believable.

Even though I repeatedly assured her it was "ar" at the end, she was a true believer in the "er" ending --- and after I pointed out the dictionary, spell check, and my experience as a participant in the National Spelling Bee strongly suggested otherwise.

The short tale of the illiterate proofreader --- only in a legal environment (and Seattle) could such a thing occur.

Posted by sgt_doom on February 14, 2013 at 11:23 AM

I should also mention that I was in-between computer jobs so in great need of any and all work to pay the rent, and Dalton saw to it that my time at this legal services office was quite short -- all due to her illiteracy.

Illiterates can be mighty, mighty nasty.....

Posted by sgt_doom on February 14, 2013 at 11:24 AM

@3-- Don't worry, you're not being a wet blanket. You just don't get the joke.

Posted by lopes on February 14, 2013 at 11:44 AM

@5 "Illiterates can be mighty, mighty nasty..... "

So basically the world is controlled by the Illiterati and not the Illuminati then.

Posted by skidmark on February 14, 2013 at 12:11 PM

I love this.

Posted by Sandiai on February 14, 2013 at 2:12 PM

@6 No, I get it, you're confusing me with @1, I think, who either didn't get it or else got it and just wanted to explain it to everyone who didn't. But the joke isn't based on grammar, it's based on... something else.

Posted by carnivorous chicken on February 14, 2013 at 2:22 PM