There’s really no rest for a person with a grammar stick up her butt. I’m just bothered by so many things. Of course, putting my peeves out into cyberspace is stupid because
(1) I’m sure to make mistakes too, inviting fist-shaking and cries of “Hypocrite!”;
(2) grammar rules evolve;
(3) I often abandon grammar rules for the sake of voice [see asterisks]; and
(4) who the hell wants to read a blog post about grammar anyway?
(Watch that not stop me!)
In addition, I follow certain British rules that American grammarians would consider incorrect. For example, from the last post: My girlfriends and I have this game we call “Gross Crush”. See, I have the quotation marks before the period because the game is not called “Gross Crush Period”; it’s called plain old “Gross Crush”. But American publications punctuate it thus: …this game we call “Gross Crush.” Quotation marks after the period.* I hate that.
But more importantly, really, Katy Perry? (Yes, I’m about to critique a Katy Perry song.) ‘Teenage’ is a compound word. You know how to hyphenate a compound word?** Between the two words that make it up.***
You sing:
You Make me Feel like I’m living a tee- Nage DreamA girl who is 13 to 19 years old is not a tee/nager. She’s a teen/ager.
Ugh, and there’s a house in my neighborhood where the Bailey family lives. They have a sign out front:
The Bailey’s House
I mean, come ON. That sign clearly states that one person lives in that house, and that person calls himself The Bailey!
Who’s with me? Want to share your favorite grammar peeve?
P.S. I’m filing this one under Ask the Avid Bruxist. Nobody asked, but I really think y’all**** should have.
*Sentence fragment
**Missing helping verb ‘do’
***Sentence fragment
****Variant of ‘you all’
i know the rule about the quotation marks preceding the period, but i just haaate how it looks. Therefore, i break the rule. i also write online (unless it’s work schtuff) in all lowercase . . . as the daughter of 2 editors, i kinda annoy myself sometimes . . . but, apparently, not enough to stop. ;-)
I hate the use of quotations marks for emphasis. Mike’s Tire and Auto “Discount Brakes!”
Ooh. I completely agree with you on the grammar in Katy P’s situation, but from a voice coaching point of view, “Tee Nage” is correct! It’s all about vowel-consonant flow. When a word (even a syllable) ends on a consonant and the next word (or syllable) begins with a vowel, we hold/lengthen the vowel sound and move the ending consonant to the beginning of the next syllable or word. Come to my studio to learn more. ;)
I, too, am a grammar bitch. (See what I did with those commas?) I feel your pain.
Every year, I receive holiday cards from The Guinn’s and other singular possessive people and it drives me batty. Disagree with you regarding the quotation mark situation. I follow Associated Press style, and punctuation goes inside, baby. Looks weird any other way, once you get used to it.
Cristina, I know I’ll never be able to win over the AP, but I’m going to keep fighting the good fight. I figure, the Brits had the language first; I’m going to follow their lead. And think about it this way, what if it was in a question? Like: Do you know the game “Gross Crush?” It just seems wrong to have the question mark inside the quotation marks. The name of the game is not a question.
Tammy, OK, you’re the expert…but tee/nage still sounds really dumb to me.
You know I am totally with you on this. We could talk for hours…
i personally dont believe in grammar or punctuation for that matter stream of consciousness writing is where its at it makes the reader really have to work to gain understanding heck quite frankly people are lucky i spell things correctly teehee
For the record, the Amy just above who doesn’t believe in grammar or punctuation is a DIFFERENT AMY. Evs! You have to sign in as something else, or people will get confused!
Oops sorry that was a John Jacob Jingleheimerschmidt moment still not punctuating though