Stamping Out Quotation Mark Abuse

My good friend and former roommate Josh sent me this article on correct and (most importantly) INCORRECT use of quotation marks. Most of my friends, family, and colleagues have heard me go off on my rants about the sloppy, lazy, irritating, and fundamentally wrong ways people (ab)use quotation marks. That includes, of course, the dreaded air quotes. This trend is my biggest grammatical pet peeve, which is saying a lot. The author of this article links to a couple of amusing blogs devoted to exposing the horror.

The burning hatred for this phenomenon was sparked by my 10th grade history teacher yelling at our class for writing about the "American Dream" in our papers. I think he even threatened to dock us points for using quotation marks in that manner. By the time I got to college and declared my English major, I dare say I equaled his passion.

In tribute, this one's for you, Tom Pearce.

NOTE: I tried to be funny by using quotation marks around the header for this post, but my fingers wouldn't let me do it. It's just that wrong.

The Reversible Raincoat

Good article from Slate about the cliche of the moment in political speeches: the reversible raincoat, more formally known as antimetabole. This device has produced such gems as "We were elected to change Washington, and we let Washington change us" and "In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers. And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change."

My take? The device as used in this election is gimmicky and tired-sounding. As the article points out, the candidates today are likely trying to echo other politicians who used the reversible raincoat to create memorable and somewhat more powerful statements (Bill Clinton: "People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power;" JFK: "ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country;" Churchill: "Let us preach what we practice—let us practice what we preach.")

Thanks to the Kate, my favorite fellow English major and crusader against cliches, for the link.

English Fail Blog

Gotta love a hilarious grammatical mistake...or 600. This blog highlights some of the best, which will make you laugh, cry, or stare hard at the screen till you finally get it and feel like an idiot.