Letting Go of Grammar Snobs

I just stumbled across what may be the single most valuable grammar lesson I've received to date. All this time I've been tilting at grammar Goliaths I never realized that the best defense against the snobs just might be a good offense or, better yet, a preemptive strike.

The lesson came from an unexpected source: the blog of performer/humorist/outspoken atheist Julia Sweeney. And it appears right in the header of her blog, where every visitor every time sees a disclaimer that includes:

"I use spell check but I miss some words. I have run on sentences, pronoun
problems, and I can blather and forget my point. And, I repeat myself. Please
don't quote me in a newspaper from my blog. Not that I'm so important, it's just
... it happened a few times, and it's embarrassing."

Wish I'd thought of that.

Actually, come to think of it, I'm glad I didn't. Were it not for the regular rip-jobs I get for mistakes (real and perceived) in my grammar column, A Word, Please, I would have never come up with the idea for Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies.

(Julia: In case you see this, drop me a line with an address of publicist/manager/P.O. box and I'll be happy to send you a free copy. You just might recognize a few of the antagonists!)

Posthumous Grammar Snobbery

Brendan Greeley, who worked two summers taking care of William F. Buckley's 36-foot sloop, told his employer: "... how much I enjoyed the job of mate on his boat."

Buckley replied: "First mate. I have a mate. Her name is Pat." Source: Los Angeles Times Opinion, March 2, 2008

From the American Heritage Dictionary:

mate: 5. A deck officer on a merchant ship ranking next below the master.

On doohickeys

As I was saying more than a week ago, I had looked up "doodad" to find a word for little graphics images I was creating. But since then, I've come up with a better term. For small graphics files used on message boards and elsewhere on the Internet as zingers, jokes or commentary, I hereby coin the term:

"image quip"

Of course, when I google "image quip," I see it's been used before, but only by about three people and none of them to refer to the above-described doohickeys.

I created these image quips as a form of rather shameless self promotion, hoping they'll catch on like wildfire on message boards across the globe, skyrocketing me and my little grammar books to international fame or a least into one more printing. So, the-forgive-the-shameless-self-promotion qualifier now stated, here they are. Use them liberally.