John Gordon Ross » Language

Grammar Nazi in the Workplace

JohnRoss — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:38:12 +0000

The 100 Greatest Movie Insults of All Time

JohnRoss — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 13:13:04 +0000

Or at least some of the funniest. It is an extremely foul-mouthed selection, you have been warned, but my own favourites lean in the other direction. How can you beat this exchange from Casablanca?

Peter Laurie – You despise me, doncha?
Humphrey Bogart – Well, if I gave you any thought, I probably would.

English is the Latin of Today

JohnRoss — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:07:47 +0000

see more Epic Fails

Mediaeval Helpdesk

JohnRoss — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:12:02 +0000

National Freelancers Day

JohnRoss — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 18:09:15 +0000

I made the idle comment to a friend that November 23rd was National Freelancers Day in the UK. After a couple of minutes of him rolling his eyes and twitching his mouth as he tried to get his head around the concept, he said, “They’ll all get the day off, then, I suppose?”

In fact, I don’t think a National Freelancers Day is an entirely ridiculous idea. Not that I think freelancers deserve any more tribute than factory workers or post-office clerks, but because freelancing nowadays is much more important in terms of the economy as a whole than it used to be (or at least it seems that way to me, I don’t have statistics to back me up). And if I am right, I think it reasonable that, on the one hand, people should be made aware of this sociological shift, and on the other, that freelancers should be given institutional and government support.

I do think ‘Freelancers Day’ should have been written with an apostrophe at the end of the first word, though. It should be placed after the ‘s, there being no ambiguity as in Mother’s/Mothers’ Day (is it a homage to your mother in particular, or mothers as a whole?). So I find it a little ironic that the authorities in question did not employ a competent freelance copywriter to name the day.

Google Translator Toolkit

JohnRoss — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:43:30 +0000

The Google Translator Toolkit is handy for small-scale stuff like blog posts, or at least I find it so. Here is a video presentation:

I Can Do That

JohnRoss — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:34:15 +0000

John McIntyre Available

JohnRoss — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:29:21 +0000

The Internet‘s most prominent prescriptivist, John McIntyre, has been elbowed out of his position presiding the copy desk at the Baltimore Sun. I might be imagining things, but his last post at his blog You Don’t Say was actually put up by a colleague, which smacks to me of “you’ve got ten minutes to clear your desk out before the security guys escort you out of the building.”* His obliged departure is a blow to all right-thinking Net denizens with an interest in the English language, for his affability, intelligence, humour and tolerance of other viewpoints made that blog exemplary, and it is to be hoped that he will resume blogging as he promises to do sooner rather than later. At least, as soon as possible after he treats himself to a well-earned extended vacation somewhere more amenable than Baltimore.

*No, I was right (at least, if you believe the kind of unreliable news source John would mistrust). According to the blog dcrtv, those canned (it was a bloodbath, apparently) were told to “leave the building immediately.”

You are not true

JohnRoss — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 15:54:58 +0000

I think this proves once again that no amount of endeavour is as creatively fruitful as plain old getting it wrong. I found it on a forum, posted by someone from an Eastern European capital, who was evidently trying to say to another poster, “You’re wrong.” But isn’t that “You are not true” (the original in bold, as well) both more plaintive and more beautiful?

Hitler, Grammar Nazis and a Job Application

JohnRoss — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:46:41 +0000

Found via Grammar Blog and You Don’t Say, among other sources:

And if you enjoyed that, you’ll like this: