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Remember diagramming sentences in grade school? Yeah, right. Neither does Sarah Palin. Slate tried diagramming her convoluted sentences, and they came out looking like this. (If you want to know what she's saying, click through.)
“I know that John McCain will do that and I, as his vice president, families we are blessed with that vote of the American people and are elected to serve and are sworn in on January 20, that will be our top priority is to defend the American people.” [Slate]
The New Yorker brought to our attention two Dartmouth grads (of course) who call themselves the "Typo Eradication Advancement League." They traveled cross-country for three months, correcting typos as they went! It was blogged, and the little twerps were thankfully busted for "correcting" historic signage in the Grand Canyon. Christ, these people are annoying.
They sound like commenters when you guys get on my ass for making typos. (Whaddya want? I don't have a copy editor and apparently I can't fuckin' read, I know it! Love you anyway. ;) )
Regardless, misspelled signs are part of this country's charms—I especially enjoy the ones in big cities painted and misspelled by foreigners new to the English language.
Stunts like these are another reason why recent college grads are so unsufferable and arrogant elitists who will soon be humbled once they join the workforce. They got schooled, though: according to the New Yorker, "After pleading guilty to conspiracy to vandalize government property—they had relocated a wayward apostrophe and inserted a comma—the young grammarians were barred from national parks for a year." Good. And take your Wite-Out (TM) with you!
How many, how many articles have been written about the semi-colon in the last six months? A brief history of 2008: the media can't stop writing about semicolons. The New York Times notably got excited in February when they saw some MTA signage properly punctuated; of course, there were also articles bemoaning the decline of the semicolon; there's also a hoo-ha in France about the mightiest form of punctuation. Last week's Boston Globe piece—possibly the nadir of the genre—is titled, "Sex and the Semicolon." Let's chronicle the semicolon trend piece in 2008:
April 4, the Guardian: "An elegant pause - or merely a 'pretentious comma'?: For and against the semicolon: The end of the line?"
April 6, Sunday Telegraph: "Punctuation is not a political issue; or is it?"
April 25, the Guardian Weekly: "Jon Henley examines claims that the French semicolon has been rubbed out by Anglo influences"
May 2008, in Corporate Writer & Editor: "Why writers need the semicolon; The semicolon is mysterious, but it provides a much needed wink, pause and reflection."
May 12 in New York Mag: "Anarchy and Semicolons; A novel in which a punctuation mark could almost be called destiny."
June 20, in Slate: " ; ( "
June 27 in Slate: "A Punctuation Nation Speaks Out"
And finally:
August 10, Boston Globe: "Sex and the Semicolon"
Remember Delia's, the clothes catalogue and online shopping site? (In high school, we considered Delia's the height of coolness in teen-girl apparel.) Well, a tipster informs us of a totes obvious punctuation error on one of their kitschy message t-shirts. She e-mailed the company, but they seemed totally uninterested in the error. Adds our tipgirl, "We must spread the word that these people are IDIOTS. WE CAN'T ALLOW OUR CHILDREN TO PARADE AROUND TOWN WITH THE IMPROPER USAGE OF "ITS" ON THEIR CHESTS!!" Well, it's better than those "Porn Star" shirts that 14-year-olds were wearing a few years back! Click to enlarge this grievous punctuational (sic?) error.