The army of volunteers that keeps Wikipedia running is comprised mostly of men, many of whom are often obsessively devoted to its upkeep. One such man is Bryan Henderson, known on the encyclopedia as Giraffedata, who would take strong issue with the way he's introduced here.
Boston magazine has a lovely summary of a Twitter incident from last week, in which someone responded to an MBTA train delay announcement by attacking the transit agency's choice of words. The T had written:
Robin Thicke has tried to move on from the controversy over "Blurred Lines," releasing a smash-hit plea for his wife to take him back (54 copies sold in Australia!), but Thicke's biggest hit is still right in the sweet spot for a Weird Al parody. Replace the naked models with sexy punctuation and the possessiveness…
A FiveThirtyEight poll that I choose to consider definitive finds that 57% of Americans do prefer to use the Oxford comma. The Oxford comma is popular, beloved, and correct. Its opponents are crude, unpoetic and awkward. [Pic: Shutterstock]
Kesha Sebert has successfully completed rehab for eating disorders, and she says she's come away from the experience feeling "blessed." She's also come away from it as The Artist Formerly Known as Ke$ha, dropping the dollar sign in favor of a much more Google-friendly "s." Way to think about yr SEO, gurl. That's…
This week's New Yorker contains an essay, currently available in the print edition only, by Roger Angell, about what his life is like at the age of 93. It is full of well-wrought observations about loss and mortality and sex and the abundance of existence but it also keeps an eye on the contemporary, as in this…
The New York Times has used "nondescript" to describe 76 different office spaces in recent years, according to this thoroughgoing analysis by a grumpy anti-cliché grammarian.
Ta-Nehisi Coates has a blog post up about Lupe Fiasco's anti-Obama rant with the headline, "My President is Whack." Though we hold Ta-Nehisi Coates in high esteem, we must interject here: no, My President Is Wack.
Old Navy just started a line of T-shirts for its Superfan Nation collection that emblazons professional and college sports teams' logos on their cheaper than cheap shirts. The problem? They all have a simple grammatical error.
Today we shook our heads at a woefully grammatically incorrect T-shirt, inciting, as always with our grammarian commentariat, much furious sentencing typing. Including the following comment, a veritable rogues gallery of common grammatical errors.
Wet Seal is selling a T-shirt that reads, "If Your Single, So Am I." We've all been known to make typos, but didn't the company check the shirt before manufacturing thousands of them? Not that illiterate teenagers care either way.
In an attempt to construct a witty cover, Newsweek seems to claim that Obama isn't president. Jonathan Alter's article explores and debunks the network of conspiracy theories surrounding the president. But the cover lines' kind of affirm one myth. D'oh.
Have you ever gone into a Starbucks and cursed their fake "Venti, Grande" size names? Sure. Gimme a "Large," amirite? And have you ever had police remove you from Starbucks for arguing about bagel-related grammar? Anyone? One lady has!
Rihanna's new neck tattoo says "rebelle fleur," the French words for "rebellious" and "flower." Unfortunately, adjectives usually follow the noun in French, so "rebelle fleur" is actually just gibberish. Click to enlarge.
Researchers found that some native English speakers were unable to understand the sentence "The soldier was hit by the sailor," indicating that grammar may not be "universal." FYI: It means the sailor (boats) hit the soldier (tanks). [Science Daily]
Remember your i-before-e's, people: Twitter has a growing subculture of scolds who are retweeting your grammar gaffes and spelling slips. They've taken down John Cusack and now they're coming for you.
What does Yahoo's new style book offer that you can't get from your old AP Style Guide? Tips on search engine optimization and the "on-screen placement for a top story." Welcome to the glorious future of language.
Snoop Dogg has been banned from entering the UK for three years, because he used "insulting words" whilst being pushed around by police in Heathrow airport. One positive side effect: The WSJ now gets to translate the mysterious Snoop language.
We all know that New York Times fake trend stories are annoying because they are 1) fake, and 2) trend stories. But do not neglect their third worst quality: many are terribly written. Allow us to show you.
As Jason Linkins says: "Wow. Before Law And Order: SVU rips this headline, they will need to edit it."
