Harlan, This One's For You.
My old friend Harlan regularly corrects my poor grammar. I noticed this BBC article today and couldn't resist posting a link.
P.S....You're moving up in Google.
posted by Michael
©The Main Point by Michael Main
1 Comments
1 Comments:
?Moving up?? Heck! We?re *at* the top. And even without the word ?old,? we?re up to fourth place on Google.
Something told me to check your blog before I poured my first cup of coffee today? Once again, the adrenaline effect has reduced my need for caffeine.
But let?s get something straight. I rarely correct your grammar because it simply isn?t poor. You couldn?t have lasted this long in radio if it were.
But as they say, ?in space, no one can hear you punctuate.? :-)
The lack of a comma after my name in the title above may have been intentional ? a generous, caffeine-deferring gesture, perhaps ? but yesterday?s apostrophe in ?brother's-in-law?? what?s up with that?
The BBC essay and comments were fun, complete with reader feedback about other English bugaboos, mistakes in the essay itself, and directives to ?get a life.?
Folks in that last group never seem to realize that they?re saying worlds more about themselves than their targets. Writing carefully would be a major effort for the ?get-a-lifers,? but they shouldn?t assume that others have the same degree of trouble.
We all have standards, and frequently they?re high for the categories in which it?s easier for us to make the grade. That?s human nature, I believe. The trick is to be kind to other folks while maintaining those standards.
As for the Google standard, let?s declare victory and quit before some celebrity names their dog ?Friend Harlan? and our ranking plummets.
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