Oh...that stupid grammar nazi came in again

[HEyHEY]

THIS WOMAN CAME IN AGAIN WITH THE PAPER ALL HIGHLIGHTED. Thankfully my copy was all very clean. But she did circle, once again things that aren’t mistakes by Canadian Press Standards. She was hassling my publisher to give her the editor position. He told her no…..when I leave these town I know exactly what I’ll do….tell me what you think of this.

A letter that says something to the point of "You are a rude person, and I don’t give a shit if you have an english degree this is journalistic writing, which you know nothing about."

Then I’ll enclose clippings of where she made her dumb mistakes…I will properly berate her during this portion.

Then I’ll enclose a copy of my Canadian Press style book and tell her to read up on it. Then, once she knows that, she can come in and bother us.

Sound good?

Yes it’s petty, but so am I.

[Dookus]

1. well

unless you're TRYING to antagonize her further, I'd capitalize "English" and not end the sentence with a preposition.

-Dookus the grammar nazi :)

[zx22778a]

34. Or, as Winston Churchill said in a similar situation

"That is the sort of nonsense up with which I shall not put."

[orwell]

2. ?

Forgive my ignorance, but what is a "Canadian Press style" book. I have heard of references in other posts to style books and I was curious.

Thanks in advance.

O

[Westegg]

3. It seems to involve a misuse of commas and ellipises.

Beyond, that I couldn't tell you. ...

[HEyHEY]

25. It's the book of how you are supposed to write for a Canadian paper

What to capitalize, how to write numbers...etc.

ANd actually it forbids use of ellipises

[orwell]

32. Thanks

I'm not so good with rules...

Thank the Goddess for spell check...

O

[RebelOne]

24. It's probably the Canadian version

of The Associated Press Stylebook.

[TXlib]

4. Ve haff vays of making you punctuate...

[TrogL]

5. "But" is a conjunction.

[TrogL]

6. "these" is plural, "town" is singular

when I leave these town

[HEyHEY]

26. If you guys want me to take the time to make my posts perfect

I will, but then I WILL become the worst grammar nazi ever to terrorize DU...so you best Back off.

[Liberal Christian]

36. Why would you NOT want to take a moment

to make sure your posts are grammatically correct and spelled correctly?

Roll eyes if you will, or chalk it up to my being a former English teacher, but I simply don't understand why someone who knows how to do something the right way would do it the wrong way for everyone to see.

[TrogL]

41. Go for it

[TrogL]

7. Commas rock!

Thankfully my copy...

[TrogL]

9. and are useful for clarity

she did circle, once again things

[Book Lover]

8. Is she on staff?

Or is she just a loon of the street who brings in the "corrected" paper?

Myself, I would just present her with the book with a note along the lines of, "You do so much work (evidenced by the papers you bring in all the time) on your own time that I am certain your copy is practically all worn out. Here, please, take this copy, use it, and be well."

Are you sure you want to give her your copy of CPS?

[HEyHEY]

27. Yeah, shes just a citizen...

I'll give her my copy it's 20 bucks but it's worth it.

[Book Lover]

40. Now's *that* is out of line

If the paper is so poorly edited, why does she read it? Sheesh... I'd suggest we hook her up with the copy editing listserv; she could post there and be ridiculed into oblivion...

[Liberal Christian]

44. Why is it out of line to expect a newspaper

to use correct, standard English? It's bad enough that signs in stores, ad copy, and other forms of writing for the public often exhibit egregious errors, why should we tolerate the same thing in journalism, a field in which clarity of expression and "getting it right" are supposed to be important?

How can I trust that the information is correct if the grammar and mechanics are faulty?

[TrogL]

45. I'm shocked at the number of errors on the CNN scroll

The captioning I can understand, the guy's typing faster than he can think, but you'd think they'd put a bit of effort into getting the scroll right.

[Book Lover]

46. You are absolutely correct

There is no excuse for a newspaper to regularly use bad grammar, misspellings, etc. I was talking about this woman's boorish behavior, though. Typos will slip in; to have someone not on the payroll hunt them out, highlight them, and call your attention to them, rudely, on a regular basis, well, that's just not right.

If this woman is so obsessed with finding grammatical errors, she should take a few editcetera classes and do it for a living. As you so rightly point out, it is a job that needs doing.

[TrogL]

10. I'm used to sentences containing primary verbs

A letter that says something to the point of "You are a rude person, and I don’t give a shit if you have an english degree this is journalistic writing, which you know nothing about."

[TrogL]

11. So which is it?

Thankfully my copy was all very clean.

Was it entirely clean or was it only very clean?

[ScreamingMeemie]

12. I think it's grate..and you should make it a real long run on sentence

that will have her head spinning until she thinks its going to pop off her neck and roll down the hallway and take the elevator down never stopping once even...

**grammar mistakes made on purpose!!

[THUNDER HANDS]

13. question

Shouldn't this copy editor person have a style guide on their desk when she's going over stuff?

If she doesn't know journlistic style, why is she there?

[TrogL]

14. so is she a member of a political party?

that stupid grammar nazi

It's the Nazi party. To distinguish those people who have a thing about grammar, they are generally referred to as a "grammar Nazi", or to follow strict General Semantics, a 'grammar Nazi'.

[TrogL]

15. All?

THE PAPER ALL HIGHLIGHTED

The entire paper? Every word?

What would be the point?

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. For all the pedants in this thread

may I recommend "Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation" soon to be published in America. It was the bestselling book in the UK over Christmas.

http://btobsearch.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?sourceid=00395996645644787198&btob=Y&AR=Y&cds2Pid=371&ean=9781592400874

[Westegg]

23. I'm gonna buy that book! Thanx!

The English language is in a constant state of flux (all languages are, I suppose, but English is mine), and I truly appreciate that fact. Because t'was ever thus. English needs to grow and change, with relevancy and broad communication as its ongoing goal. But slang is one thing; grammar another. When I read novels such as "A Clockwork Orange" or "Riddley Walker," I luxuriate in the way that these great writers have creatively imagined the vocab of the future. When I come across (far too frequently) bad grammar on the www., I rebel. I get mad. Because the violation of the fundamental laws of grammar undermines the message of the writer. And that don't serve no one.

[TrogL]

17. Your book?

Then I’ll enclose a copy of my Canadian Press style book

You wrote the book?

You're photocopying copywrited material?

[HEyHEY]

28. I mean MY book

I'll send it to her I don't care it'll b worth the money to insult her

[TrogL]

18. Names of countries and their associated languages are usually capitalized

an english degree

[ScreamingMeemie]

19. TrogL is losing it...

;)

[TrogL]

22. Good one

:evilgrin:

[HEyHEY]

31. TrogL- I know all this but I couldn't care less when posting

okay.

[TrogL]

20. Under what conditions is berating "proper"?

I will properly berate her

[HEyHEY]

29. Under these conditions smartypants

[YellowRubberDuckie]

21. Was it shit like comma placement and stupid crap like that?

I remember people griping at me when I was editor of my school newspaper including my english teacher. Then when I got to college and was working as a layout editor, we'd have people come to the editorial board meetings and freak out about stuff that they knew nothing about. So, I can comiserate.
Duckie

[HEyHEY]

30. Well, she only mark two of my stories

Once because I forgot to capitalize a creek's name, and once becuause I didn't capitalize head in "Head Chef"

However, she should have circled the chef part because it should not have been capitalized.

Most of what she circles is things like numbers for instance in CP style any number under ten you write out, over ten you use the actual number. So in an sentence like

"There is one 14-year-old" SHe would circle and get mad we weren't being consistant/. .

[Habibi]

33. Oh, geez

This has to be one of the funniest, wittiest threads I've read here lately. And your last post just brought tears of joy to my eyes!

[HEyHEY]

35. Are you serious?

Are you making fun of my lack-luster grammar here

[TrogL]

42. Yes

:evilgrin:

[Rabrrrrrr]

48. TrogL, your posts made me laugh out loud!

I think it's wonderful you didn't correct everything in one post, but offered a separate post for each error. :-)

"You wrote the book?" LOL!

:evilgrin:

:cheers:

[YellowRubberDuckie]

38. Don't you have security there?

Keep her out of your office.
Duckie

[YellowRubberDuckie]

39. Damn enter button...

Hit Post twice. sorry.
Duckie

[Az]

37. Sux Syntax

Eschew obsfuscation!

43. let's hear it for Chomsky's grammar rules

As long as it communicates, it's ok.
Grammar is in constant flux.
One man's bad grammar is another man's good grammar.



I'm a proofreader by profession at the moment in a law firm, so I know all the stinking rules but the hell with them!!!

double quotes or single quotes for emphasis? Who cares?

comma inside the quote mark or outside? all depends who you ask, the British say one thing, the Americans say another....

etc.

[Shananigans]

47. Hey Hey...

you are a rockstar!

[HEyHEY]

49. And now...my above plan will be executed

bwahahahaa!