[Sorry, last Language Log-related post tonight]
If you find yourself getting frustrated by grammatical blunders, the Language Log’s Langer Management course is for you.
Go. Now. And read the required readings. All of them.
[And, yes, I saw some of myself in the cartoon. Kind of scary.]
I’ve long had personal issues with the Strunk and White book, The Elements of Style. Blame it partly on my brother, whose copy it was that I first read when I was a teenager. Much of my antipathy comes from the sheer number of people who treat it as a bible. Most people that I know consider it an integral part of their reference library, though the degree of deference given to it varies among them. I, on the other hand, refuse to own a copy.
If you have an interest in linguistics or in the English language, Language Log should be a stop on your daily trip around the Internet. I don’t visit it nearly often enough, though it’s been linked from our blogroll for months. In his latest post, If you could possibly do without them they must be banned, linguist Geoffrey K. Pullum takes a few well-aimed and very caustic pokes at Strunk and White, not for the first time.
Phrases like “The answer to that, of course, lies in the vice-like grip of noxious and misguided little book of which the content was decided roughly a hundred years ago, a book full of recommendatory maxims that have been elevated into fascist edicts.” read like poetry. Be still my heart.