Grammar and a Culture of Ignorance

Desdemona · **Posted:** Wed Aug 29, 2012 5:57 am

Desdemona wrote:

(Stop trying to fight with me, you contrarian blackguard!)

FootFace wrote:

Too late! I'm in the groove!

Very well, then - have at thee!

FootFace · **Posted:** Wed Aug 29, 2012 9:36 am

I'm the one on the left.

tinglepants! · **Posted:** Wed Aug 29, 2012 10:12 am

FootFace wrote:

I'm the one on the left.

Meta-pun!

FootFace · **Posted:** Wed Aug 29, 2012 11:31 am

Like I said: on a roll.

lutin · **Posted:** Thu Sep 06, 2012 7:55 am

In sum: http://stroppyeditor.wordpress.com/2012 ... rammarian/

Desdemona · **Posted:** Thu Sep 06, 2012 8:20 am

lutin wrote:

In sum: http://stroppyeditor.wordpress.com/2012 ... rammarian/

This. Is awesome. Particularly since I once wrote a parody of the same song for a G & S obsessed colleague; only in that case it began "I am the very model of an arms and armor curator..." (Nothing nerdy about that!)

FootFace · **Posted:** Thu Sep 06, 2012 8:49 am

And along those lines (kind of), here's a script I wrote years ago for a medical editors' conference my dad attended. He and some other editors performed this thing. It's longish, so I'm spoilerizing it.

Spoiler: show

lutin · **Posted:** Thu Sep 06, 2012 10:28 am

I read all of that. (And was thoroughly entertained.)

mumbles · **Joined:** Tue Oct 19, 2010 2:53 pm **Posts:** 2664

That was some of the best Quincy fan-fic I've ever read.

Desdemona · **Posted:** Thu Sep 06, 2012 8:02 pm

just mumbles wrote:

That was some of the best Quincy fan-fic I've ever read.

And this is not praise to be given lightly!

Anek · **Posted:** Fri Sep 07, 2012 8:55 am

Awesome!!!

seitanicverses · **Joined:** Wed Oct 20, 2010 1:57 pm **Posts:** 3854

Footie, I looooooved Quincy (actually, I wanted to be a forensic pathologist myself for a time as a young'un influenced, to some extent, by that show) and your script was hilarious and awesome!

lycophyte · **Posted:** Fri Sep 07, 2012 8:41 pm

crowderpea wrote:

Speaking of accents, my grandfather worked really hard to eliminate his very heavy southern Appalachian accent so that he could "pass" as a non-mountain person. He only completed about three grade years before he went to college for the first time. That college was a farm/college at the time, so I guess he spent his time copying flatlander accents and shoveling poo. Once it was all said and done, he had a PhD from Vanderbilt and fancied himself quite the intellect. Eventually he wrote a book celebrating his Appalachian heritage and trying to preserve some of the local words and whatnot. I think he regretted abandoning that part of his heritage for so long, but felt that he had to do so to accomplish his goals.

That was kindof rambling! I guess I just want to say I hope that we get to a point where someone can be successful regardless of their dialect/accent, but I also see a value in a standardized formal English for use in professional writing. I also think that standardized form will continue to evolve.

From an English major and grammar nerd who also has mad respect for her 'sang huntin' ancestors.

What's the book? I'd love to read it!

I have a classmate who super-adapted to the southern App accent. He sounded like his family lived up in a cove about 6 generations back and just made it out. His parents were from Massachusetts and met doing Americorps!

And I've got a very slight accent now that i've been down here 5 years. (how's that for grammar!)

I know I've lost some grammar and spelling skills. I have an ex, who came from a more privileged background than my own (talk about grammar, that sounds weird) and I wouldn't correct her spelling but if we were chatting online and we were talking about something and she misspelled and I didn't correct it, but I spelled it correct when I replied on the topic. I would also use bigger words. She was really manipulative and emotionally abusive and basically shamed me into dumbing down my writing (in less formal settings), and I don't know if it ever fully recovered. This was over 10 years ago and we only dated 5 months...but it has really turned me into someone who won't take seriously anyone who uses no punctuation in a message on OKCupid.

lycophyte · **Posted:** Fri Sep 07, 2012 8:58 pm

I didn't know there was a Newfie accent and dialect. Reading the wiki article, I'm trying to figure out how t say "yeah" on an inhalation. I can't figure out how to talk in at all. My throat hurts from trying.

I really love dialects, and it makes me sad that they are fading/homogenizing away. I want to go to Okracoke in the hope that I'll hear the brogue but its probably harder to catch nowadays. I had a classmate from Okracoke, but her parents weren't so she didn't have it.

Now I want to watch The Story of English again. Its all on youtube.

lycophyte · **Posted:** Fri Sep 07, 2012 9:01 pm

Ok wait, it just sounds like a loud whisper?

eta- Oh no! My first comment! "correctly"

lycophyte · **Posted:** Fri Sep 07, 2012 9:22 pm

interrobang?! wrote:

nor's a fankle

In other news, you are really hot.

acr · **Posted:** Sat Sep 08, 2012 12:47 pm

FootFace wrote:

And along those lines (kind of), here's a script I wrote years ago for a medical editors' conference my dad attended. He and some other editors performed this thing. It's longish, so I'm spoilerizing it.

Spoiler: show

lutin · **Posted:** Mon Sep 10, 2012 11:44 am

mollyjade · **Posted:** Fri Sep 14, 2012 9:11 am

http://xkcd.com/1108/

crowderpea · **Posted:** Sun Sep 16, 2012 7:59 pm

lycophyte wrote:

What's the book? I'd love to read it!

It is called Reminiscences of an Appalachian . He published it himself about twenty years ago, so there are about five copies besides the ones in the regional libraries. It's actually really cute; he wrote it in third person. I am sure my grandmother was thrilled with the little anecdote where one of his eight siblings said, upon first meeting her, "You looked better in your picture."

lycophyte · **Posted:** Wed Sep 19, 2012 9:31 am

crowderpea wrote:

lycophyte wrote:

What's the book? I'd love to read it!

It is called Reminiscences of an Appalachian . He published it himself about twenty years ago, so there are about five copies besides the ones in the regional libraries. It's actually really cute; he wrote it in third person. I am sure my grandmother was thrilled with the little anecdote where one of his eight siblings said, upon first meeting her, "You looked better in your picture."

Wow, I'm surprised the local universities here don't have it! Alas. Lucky your grandmother gave him a chance.

crowderpea · **Posted:** Sat Sep 22, 2012 9:04 am

lycophyte wrote:

crowderpea wrote:

lycophyte wrote:

What's the book? I'd love to read it!

It is called Reminiscences of an Appalachian . He published it himself about twenty years ago, so there are about five copies besides the ones in the regional libraries. It's actually really cute; he wrote it in third person. I am sure my grandmother was thrilled with the little anecdote where one of his eight siblings said, upon first meeting her, "You looked better in your picture."

Wow, I'm surprised the local universities here don't have it! Alas. Lucky your grandmother gave him a chance.

Well, she came all the way from Colorado by herself on a train, and they had already written each other pretty racy letters. So I think she had pretty much decided already, lucky him. They were quite the epic couple. They met because my grandfather was traveling with a circus. I have pictures of them in each others' clothes while they were "courting"; my grandfather makes a hideous woman, but my grandmother was pretty foxy in mens' clothing. Then she traveled across the country to marry him, and they proceeded to raise five kids on the $0 my grandfather made as a preacher; meanwhile, he put himself through grad school at Vanderbilt. They were married for over 70 years!

Desdemona · **Posted:** Sat Sep 22, 2012 5:06 pm

crowderpea wrote:

Well, she came all the way from Colorado by herself on a train, and they had already written each other pretty racy letters. So I think she had pretty much decided already, lucky him. They were quite the epic couple. They met because my grandfather was traveling with a circus. I have pictures of them in each others' clothes while they were "courting"; my grandfather makes a hideous woman, but my grandmother was pretty foxy in mens' clothing. Then she traveled across the country to marry him, and they proceeded to raise five kids on the $0 my grandfather made as a preacher; meanwhile, he put himself through grad school at Vanderbilt. They were married for over 70 years!

What a wonderful story; thanks for sharing it!

crowderpea · **Posted:** Sat Sep 22, 2012 5:32 pm

Desdemona wrote:

crowderpea wrote:

Well, she came all the way from Colorado by herself on a train, and they had already written each other pretty racy letters. So I think she had pretty much decided already, lucky him. They were quite the epic couple. They met because my grandfather was traveling with a circus. I have pictures of them in each others' clothes while they were "courting"; my grandfather makes a hideous woman, but my grandmother was pretty foxy in mens' clothing. Then she traveled across the country to marry him, and they proceeded to raise five kids on the $0 my grandfather made as a preacher; meanwhile, he put himself through grad school at Vanderbilt. They were married for over 70 years!

What a wonderful story; thanks for sharing it!

Every time I think about it, I am fascinated all over again. I could talk about those two forever.

One last fun fact: the cabin my grandfather was wallpapered with old newspapers, and he taught himself to read by reading the walls!

Okay, this is the last fun (but not vegan) fact: my grandmother had a shadowbox full of the rattles from when she was teaching by herself (before she met grandpa) in the sandhills, and would find rattle snakes in the play yard and have to kill them with a broom handle and a knife.

Okay, this really is the last one: I have a 75-year-old picture of my grandmother wearing pants AND rock climbing. In heels.

lycophyte · **Posted:** Sun Sep 23, 2012 9:26 pm

So cute amd awesome!

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