The German Grammar Vandal

I’m very happy to post this next entry.

One of my readers, Christina — better known in the comments as “junior alien” – has been reading this blog for quite some time.  She is from Germany and she’s a fan of the English language, especially of the errors found in advertisements and street signs.

So, what did she do?

She started the German version of The Grammar Vandal — Sprachvandali.  Check it out!

I know a little German — and he’s sitting over there!  Badum-ching!

Seriously, though, even after living with a German girl for almost a year and traveling to the Jungfrau region of Switzerland, my German is limited to danke schoen, prost and lederhosen.  (Thank you very much, cheers and funny traditional German garb for men.)

Check it out!

Thanks to Christina for reading my site and being lovely enough to create her own grammar blog!

Denounce vs. Reject

What do these words mean to you?

These words have been in the news in the U.S. quite a bit in the last 24 hours.

I will post a discussion on this tomorrow night.  (I’m about to fall over with exhaustion.)

Start thinking!

New Mexico Errors

Here are two of the pictures that I took in Las Cruces, New Mexico:

The company is called Bilt-Wel.  Yeah, it’s a proper name…but you know it irks you!

The only time the words “old fashion” should be used is when referring to pantaloons, shoulder pads or other outdated items of couture.

Single ladies!

Are you single?  Female?  In Boston?  Looking for a guy around the age of 26?

You may be in luck.  And from the looks of his quotation marks, he may be British, too!

Back in Massachusetts!

I’m back from New Mexico!  Here are a few things that I learned on my trip:

• White Sands National Monument is unbelievable.  If you visit the state, you must visit this place!  It’s sand — technically, gypsum — but it looks like snow!  Check it out:
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• I noticed that most of the rural landscape looks just like the scenery in No Country for Old Men.  A few days later, I found out that the movie was filmed primarily in New Mexico!
• If you are a RENT fan, or even if you’re only slightly familiar with the show, you will have the song ”Santa Fe” stuck in your head for the duration of your visit.  (It didn’t help that we also stayed at a Holiday Inn, or that it began to snow on our last day…)

I’m glad to return to the blog.  Thanks for your nice emails during my time away!

I also made sure to catch the latest debate.

Yikes.

Escaping for a while

I’m off to New Mexico for a week, and I am taking a break from absolutely EVERYTHING.  I’ve never had a whole week off from my job (and I’ve been there over a year and a half), so this is extremely overdue.

I will be escaping work, drama and my overscheduled life — and I hope to escape the bronchitis and ear infection that I’ve been fighting off for the past few weeks.  I am exhausted and sick of being sick all the time.

That means that I’m taking a break from the blog as well.  I won’t be posting until I get back, but I will probably be taking plenty of pictures of grammatical errors that I see as I road trip from Albuquerque to Las Cruces and back up to Santa Fe.

Have a great week!

Bravo asks Project Runway fans:

From tonight’s episode of Project Runway: 

What do you think of Rami’s draping addiction?

A) Enough draping already!

B) Keep draping Rami!

Option A won with 72% of the vote.

I would like to see Rami covered with draping, though.

This is too good not to post immediately.

My friend, Chris, whom I met in college, is getting his Ph.D in mathematics.  That’s a pretty far cry from most of my readers.  (Actually, maybe it isn’t and I just don’t know it — are any of you math people?)  Even so, he sent me one of my favorite submissions yet.

I admired his Facebook status (“Chris should have majored in miracles.”) and he sent me something hilarious.  It’s not grammar-oriented, but it’s amusing language.

This comes from a long math report, so it looks like it’s legitimate and not a joke.  Check it out:

Love it.  Love it.  Love it.

It would be so different if we added a comma….

I love this.

Source: “Good Grammar Is Hot” group on Facebook, posted by Corynne H.

Can you spot the error?

This was one of my favorite Super Bowl commercials this year.  The song will always remind me of the Brood and drama club cast parties, everyone head-bopping in unison. 

But can you spot the error?  It’s brief, but there.

AGTV: Talking Tenses

This is a really great grammar question that I received from reader Linda.  Here it is:

Hello, Kate,

My friend and I disagree over the use of “went” in the following excerpt. The speaker is talking to a person in Milwaukee.

“So, I was hoping that, if you had the time and were willing, you would show me around the city if I went back there for a few days? Or is that a lot to ask? I know I would be in good company,” he added hastily.

To my ear, it sounds better to say “if I came back there for a few days,” since the person he’s talking to is already there. Is one or the other correct? Or does it matter?

Thanks!

Linda

When I read this, I thought back to high school French class.  Whenever we worked on our “si clauses” (the grammar to use with “if, then” statements), they would always say, “Paris, France Is Cool.”

If Present, then Future.

If Imperfect, then Conditional.

If she does meth, then she will scratch her face away.

If she did meth, then she would scratch her face away.

(And you wonder where they get the expression “methface.”)

Oh, man.  I just reread the question and I’m realizing that what I just wrote was completely irrelevant.  I thought this was going to be about “if, then” statements.  Okay.  Apologies.  I’m going to leave it up, because I think it’s good grammar material.

Both the words came and went are the past forms of the verb.  Because of that, I think either word could be used.  I’m assuming that the character originally came from that city.  You could also use returned if the character is originally from there.

It doesn’t matter where the person to whom the character is speaking is currently located.  You could come or you could go.  It’s up to you.  However, because you’re using the word back, I think that the word went sounds better than came.  If he originally came from the area, you could also use returned and drop the word back.

So, I was hoping that, if you had the time and were willing, you would show me around the city if I returned there for a few days?

Thoughts?

Thanks, Linda — and thanks especially for using the comma after the word Hello!  I love to see that!

Unopposed or unapposed?

Check out this image that I saw in my college newspaper, the Fairfield Mirror:

It’s not 100% clear, nor is it when you blow it up to twice its size, but I’m pretty sure that that says unapposed.

We all know that the Fairfield Mirror is no stranger to unbelievable errors, even spelling errors in front page headlines on the top of the fold, but I thought they were making more of an effort.  (I was going to link it, but apparently WordPress never uploaded that entry from blogger, so check it out on the Mirror’s Web site.)

Does that look like unopposed or unapposed to you?