He was an English major!

[LiberalEsto]

That explains everything.

Haven't you ever noticed that one-time English majors are a vicious lot, eagerly pouncing on other people to castigate their spelling and grammar mistakes.

I see their evil, nitpicky letters in the Washington Post's Saturday Free for All section and I shiver in fear. I'd hate to meet one of these lunatics in a dark alley. They all carry sharpened pencils. Their fingers are always poised on the "delete" button.

Not only that, but their numbers are steadily dwindling, and many English majors end up in loser jobs. It's no wonder that the pressures build inside their dark minds, causing some of them to explode in literate rage, their mouths foaming with past participles.

Never trust an English major, I say.

[AspenRose]

1. You forgot the sarcasm thingy.

Deserted Rose, English major and MSW candidate

[LiberalEsto]

3. Sorry

I majored in English too, and I guess I'm just a little excitable when it comes to hitting the "post" button. Nothing to worry about.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

14. You're assuming the post was meant to be sacrastic...

Jeff in Milwaukee
M.A. English, 1986

[Xenotime]

2. Exactly!

[Kerrytravelers]

4. Who was an English major?

[LiberalEsto]

5. The VT gunman nt

[whoneedstickets]

6. Yeah, and he went after engineers!

Probably tired of all those "what can you do with an English degree" jabs from those B.Eng bozos.

[Blue_Tires]

11. I was an english major, and i heard more than my share

from my 'friends' that went to Georgia Tech....

[lukasahero]

12. I'm an engineer with an english degree

Go figure.

[RC Quake]

16. Me too.

Small world. Goes to show you that an English degree is for more than wiping your @ss.

[lukasahero]

18. Ha! So there are a few of us out there. :)

Actually, on my current team of 5, there are 2 of us with English degrees. If nothing else, we write the best emails. :rofl:

Pleased to make your acquaintance, RC Quake.

[coalition_unwilling]

7. The pen is mightier than the sword for us unacknowleged

legislators of the world. I'm an English major in a loser job, btw, no benefits, no job security, bored out of my mind, etc.

[undeterred]

8. He was probably a member of the spelling police.

Spelling mistakes drove him over the EDGE!

[LiberalEsto]

10. Hearing * mangle the language

may have been a contributing factor. No true English major can listen to that illiterate blather and escape entirely unscathed.

[Mandate My Ass]

9. I was an English Major

and I just lost my loser job a few weeks ago. When are the police going to come and arrest me pre-emptively? I'd like to tidy up the place a bit.

[damntexdem]

13. So much for English-only regulations!

Now I'm even doubtful about ESL. ;-)

[Norrin Radd]

15. It would be beneficial to a major in English to include study of descriptive linguistics,

as opposed to the authoritarianism of prescriptive grammar.

Decriptive linguistics steered me away from becoming one of those fascist grammar/spelling-police bullies.

[Generic Other]

17. I am about to start spewing possessive apostrophe bombs at you

and comma splices and fragments and colons and ellipsises...

[LiberalEsto]

19. careful, both of you

or it's the RED PENCIL!

[Generic Other]

20. English majors make the best bartenders

Seriously.