It’s that time of the year again: National Grammar Day. T-shirt from Dennis Baron’s site:
You can check out the NGD site here. Since the occasion started, in 2008, it has tended to move from the kind of supercilious snarkiness that Baron pillories (in which celebrants are invited to contribute instances of what they see as violations of “grammar”, like apostrophe abuse, and to generally toss peeves around) to a more nuanced view.
Still, like most scholars of grammar, I would like to see more people celebrating the intricacies and wonders of the morphosyntax of languages and fewer focused on the hobgoblins of the advice literature. So mostly I take this day to delight in the birth of Opal Eleanor Armstrong Zwicky, seven years ago today. (Off to a family celebration within the hour. Right now I’m musing on when someone passes from being a little kid to just being a kid.)
March 4, 2011 at 5:28 pm |
I think it’s when she tells you, “I’m a kid, not a little kid.” (Speaking of peeves.) Or — who knows — “I’m a girl.” Hope your celebration was delightful; I remember 7 (my daughter’s and stepdaughter’s, not my own) with great fondness.
March 4, 2011 at 6:24 pm |
Make that “Its National Grammar Day” and I might buy one.