Happy National Grammar Day!

How will YOU celebrate?

Not something to celebrate

Did you know that, for a long time, the word celebrate wasn't something that a lot of people, well, celebrated?

During the mid-sixteenth century, the English language underwent a shift from Middle English to Modern English, and with that came an intellectual battle called "The Inkhorn Controversy." An inkhorn was literally a horn used for holding ink, and the most learned men got just a tad carried away inventing new words (celebrate, for example). They were doing this largely to sound important, and opponents decried them.

Other words created in an attempt to get an edge above the rest? Encyclopedia. Exaggerate. Immaturity. (Too bad ironic isn't one.)

Apostrophe catastrophe

If you folks haven't noticed, there's nothing that makes me cringe like a misplaced apostrophe. (Book's for sale! Kid's eat free!) But in some cases, it turns out the problem is more about style than someone not paying attention in English class.

Ask around different publications, and you'll get a variety of answers as to how you should properly punctuate something like "farmers market." Apostrophe before the s? After? Let's have anarchy and go without it? If you're not following a style guide that's telling you what to do, here's a good way to decide: In some cases, the farmers actually own the market, in which case, the word is possessive and you'd use an apostrophe (location would depend on whether it's one or multiple farmers). In most cases, however, the farmers just rent stalls. In that case, farmers serves more as an adjective, and you can leave it alone.

Another example is "writers strike." Do the writers own the strike? In most cases, no, so you can leave it unpunctuated.

By the way, I just found out there's a blog called "The Land of the Misplaced Apostrophe's." (Cringe!) I got super excited thinking there was another blogger out there with whom I could bond, but I then I found out it's actually just someone ranting about everything from Glee to drag queens to graduation ceremonies. Oh well ...

A bunch of baloney!!

Hey folks. I guess it's been awhile since something urgent in the grammar world caught my attention. I recently started a new book, The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver. It's delightful and country, but I've come across a few instances of—gasp—incorrect word choice!

Here's an example:

"I ate a baloney sandwich." Well, if that were true, you'd just be eating a really weird, fake sandwich. Here, the author has confused baloney (phony) with bologna (a large, smoked sausage). That particular word is used more commonly if someone says something, perhaps, that you find a little questionable. "What a bunch of baloney!"

Here's another example:

"I felt a little badly about foisting her on Lou Ann ..." See the problem here? This is one that's commonly confused. Has someone ever asked how you're doing, and you were unsure of whether to say "I'm good" or "I'm well"? Same thing here. The culprit of the confusion is the lowly, misunderstood linking verb. A linking verb simply calls on you to redefine the subject (he is, feels, seems, appears), whereas an action verb describes an action that's taking place (he runs or he paints). Following a linking verb, you use a predicate adjective (good)—not adverb (well). If you were to say "I'm well," you'd be referring to your health—literally, how you are feeling. "I am good" refers to your overall disposition, which is usually what people are asking for in that instance. Good is how you are—you're not really taking action to be that way.

So back to the first example. Bad vs. badly. Feel can be both a linking verb and an action verb. In this sentence, by using badly (adverb), she's saying she literally feels poorly—not very well. I always imagine hands trying touch something, but not having a good sense of touch. What she means to say is that she feels bad (adjective)—she's experiencing guilt. This is because feel is used as a linking verb here, connecting the noun (she) to the predicate adjective (bad). You could just as well say "She is bad." Doesn't make sense to say "She is badly," does it?

Wow, long explanation for two simple words! Now, though, you can confidently respond to someone by saying "I'm good." Just don't say you did something good.

One or Two Spaces?

So I finally got an answer to the question I know you've ALL been wondering about: how many spaces after a period?? Thank you, Grammar Girl. You wanna know? I'll tell you in a minute.

See, I always thought the two spaces thing was so weird. I didn't even find out until about a year ago that people did this. I never learned this, but apparently people everywhere were taught growing up to put two spaces between sentences. Like this. Weird. And it's not even a generational thing necessarily, because my mom was taught to do it, but so was my ex-boyfriend. Somehow I missed the boat.

Stylebooks (AP, Chicago) say not to do it. And Grammar Girl told me why this morning (I read her daily devotionals). She says that when you're using a typewriter, go ahead and put two spaces. This is because typewriters use monotype font, where each character is the same width (i and m take up the same space, for example, because all the letters have serifs). On computers, however, i and m are proportional—fontmakers have made up for this width difference, so two spaces are not necessary.

Long explanation, short answer. I feel validated. Cheers all around.

Style

I've been thinking a lot lately about the style I use when I'm writing personal things (e-mails, Facebook posts, this blog). Do I use Chicago style? AP? Should I even care? Of course I think about this kind of thing—I'm an editor. Every serial comma or lack thereof invites discussion. Every spaced ellipses makes a blip on my radar. Each errant "comprised of" makes me wonder what went wrong.

So where does that leave me, a lowly blogger? When I was editing solely at a publishing company, I stuck with Chicago style. Easy enough. I really like Chicago. But now I've got another job, one that defers to AP. OK, so I edit with AP at one job and Chicago at another. I can handle that. But when I'm writing things like this, I'm obsessive enough to still want it to be perfect (even though it's just a silly blog post).

Create my own style? Mix of both? That makes me think about what would be a really fun job: working for the University of Chicago Press (or any company like it), sitting around all day debating grammar rules. Deciding what style rules to keep and what to get rid of. Long live the en dash, for example! Go ahead and change Web site to website. This is getting me excited . . . (or should it be ... ?)

Our Evolving Language!

It's interesting the way language changes. If you talk to a child under the age of nine, he will probably tell you he lost the remote control "on accident." If you talk to someone over the age of thirty-five or so, that person will probably use the phrase "by accident." For anyone in between, you could get either one.

A lot of the time language changes because we simply hear things wrong, and we repeat it, and on and on. Some of these are things I've been guilty of. For example, my whole life I said "All the sudden ..." (the correct phrase is "All of a sudden").

Here are some common errors in English—things you probably don't even realize!

* ATM machine (--> ATM)

* beckon call (-->beck and call)

* butt naked (--> buck naked)

* card shark (--> card sharp)

* case and point (--> case in point)

* center around (--> center on/revolve around)

* cohabitate (--> cohabit)

* heart wrenching (--> gut wrenching/heart rending)

* in shambles (--> a shambles)

* just assume (--> just as soon)

* neck in neck (--> neck and neck)

* one of the only (--> one of the few)

* once and a while (--> once in a while)

* plays a factor (--> plays a role/is a factor)

* prophecize (--> prophesy) Sorry, Bob Dylan!!

* Scotch free (--> Scot free)

* simplistic (--> this is kind of derogatory, you usually just mean simple)

* step foot (--> set foot)

* supremist (--> supremacist)

* safety deposit box (--> safe deposit box)

* unthaw (--> thaw)