GrammarBlog

Ever wondered what it would look like if you filled a blunderbuss with apostrophes and fired it at a web page?

Take a look at MarloDee Design's and wonder no more.

Related post : When tortoise owners go bad

Labels: apostrophe abuse, punctuation, The List

More gastronomic & linguistic innovation from As You Like It.

Apologies for the poor quality photo; I must have been shaking with contempt when I noticed that their latest menu referred to "Gateaux's & Cakes".

UPDATE: Here's an article discussing the above issue.

Labels: apostrophe abuse, As You Like It, foreign language spelling errors, menus, photos, The List

Labels: middlesbrough, spelling, The List

Using a well-worn expression incongruously or erroneously is a linguistic crime born of ignorance.

Perhaps I'm naive, but I didn't expect to find it committed by a seasoned writer in this week's Observer. In an interview about what she "knows about men", Julie Burchill (whose name now graces our list) uses the following heinous verbal concoction:

There are lovely men and lovely women and rubbish men and rubbish women. The trick is telling the pearls from the swine before you get involved with them personally, sexually or financially.

Telling the pearls from the swine? What? What does that mean? Has she grotesquely misunderstood the meaning of the original expression, or has she resorted to borderline-malapropism in order to illustrate some sort of achingly-hip socio-political point that's way over my head?

When in Rome...

Labels: The List

GrammarBlog has been up and running for a few months now and we're having lots of fun. We are all first time bloggers so we spent a couple of months finding our feet, then Tom implemented the lovely design and we haven't looked back since.

Yugo (1981-1991)

It was the lowest-priced new car of the 80's, produced in Yugoslavia and introduced to US market in 1986. by Malcolm Bricklin. It sold very well, but the main reason for that was the price of the car, not it's reliability or efficiency. The list of the problems with this car is quite long. Owners complained basically about everything – engine problems, steering problems, problems with the stereo, problems with the seat belt, problems with the floor. The car could stall and fail to restart without prior indication or warning. Since it was so cheap, could we really expect it to work flawlessly?

Pet peeve: Today I went to Smith's grocery store, and in the frozen foods section I found an appalling abuse of frozen treats. There were signs for frozen pizza, budget dinners and (at this I gasped audibly): "popsicle's." Gag me, please. Between that and their difficult self check-out, I may never go there again.

Labels: friends, The List

Sometimes our quest to protect grammar requires action, not words. Which is satisfyingly ironic I suppose.

Restaurant menus are not massively verbose tomes. Nor – as the food-snobs among you are doubtless aware – should they ever be.

Whilst dining recently in the comfortable but contrived surroundings of Newcastle 'GastroPub' As You Like It, I felt compelled to take matters into my own hands:

I advise that all GrammarBlog readers and contributors take a red pen along to restaurants in future. Remember to add http://spandg.blogspot.com to your graffiti.

Oh and yes &ndash sadly I hadn't the time nor the inclination to highlight every grammatical and linguistic horror on the menu; one look at the smorgasbord of errors and trite capitalisations in the above photo ought to give you an indication of just how dreadful the whole thing was.

Labels: apostrophe abuse, As You Like It, menus, photos, revolution, The List

Words are important. Words are powerful. Choose the wrong words and although you are trying to convey one particular meaning, you may inadvertently convey another.

This is especially true and damaging when considering a sales pitch. With a sales pitch you are trying to persuade people to part with money in exchange for something you are offering.

Website solutions should always be custom made for a client. Here at ICBusiness we listen to your requirements BEFORE trying to sell you something you do not need.

Labels: funny, marketing copy, The List

Labels: foreign language spelling errors, Malmaison, menus, The List

Remember you should alway's bring your tortoise indoors at night

Labels: apostrophe abuse, enemy, The List