Please don’t take offense at the title. My sister just saw Team America for the first time and has been singing the songs. Everybody Has AIDS is a RENT-inspired show tune that opens the film.
My dad sells hearing aids up in Saugus (Know someone who can’t hear? He’ll hook you up!), and he was recently featured in the Lynn Daily Item. I loved the piece because one line reads, “McCulley scoffs at the idea.” “You scoff!” my sister and I yell at him.
It’s been up in our house for a while, but I hadn’t noticed the egregious grammatical error in the headline until a few days ago:
It’s hearing aids, not hearing aides.
Yikes.
It just amazes me at how many errors there are in headlines. Aren’t those the most vital parts not to mess up? And aren’t there supposed to be at least two editors who check it over?
Weird.
I apologize for the lackluster entries lately (though I am loving the discussion on the prom post). My inflamed ribs are quite painful — I haven’t been able to take a genuine deep breath since last week — and the only way to escape the pain is to stand, walk or lie down — anything but sit. Working all day is bad enough, so I’m trying to minimize my time seated at the computer. I’m getting better, though.
I also have two pieces of news.
First of all, I made the biggest purchase of my life — a new computer. It’s a laptop, and it’s actually my first laptop! I’m a writer and it’s my first laptop! That’s crazy….
Secondly, I just finished one of my first freelance editing projects. I edited the quarterly newsletter for a nonprofit government organization in Washington, D.C. It’s fantastic.
The Grammar Vandal 
I believe the song title is actually “Everyone Has AIDS,” but I wonder: are “everyone” and “everybody” interchangeable, or is one used for a specific situation while the other to its own situation? Seems like one of those further/farther type of questions.
(Know someone who can’t hear? He’ll hook you up!), and he . . .
You don’t need an upper case ‘K’ for ‘know’ do you?
When I was at school we were rigidly instructed that you never have a comma before ‘and’ too. Has convention changed to using both commas and conjuctions concurrently as clauses shift?
I am quite offended by the title of your post!
“… the Pope has got it and so do you!
AIDS, AIDS, AIDS, AIDS, AIDS, AIDS, AIDS, AIDSAIDSAIDSAIDSAIDSAIDSAIDSAIDSAIDSAIDSAIDS!”
When I was at school we were rigidly instructed that you never have a comma before ‘and’ too. Has convention changed to using both commas and conjuctions concurrently as clauses shift?
A comma belongs before the conjunction joining two independent clauses; in this case, what Kate wrote is perfectly correct.
Regarding your inflamed ribs – have you seen a homeopath? Before you dismiss homeopathy as some weird, new age, alternative course of medicine, keep in mind that it has been a highly regarded healing art in Europe for decades (centuries?)…
I’m holding a good thought for your speedy recovery!
Thanks for the advice, Anon — I didn’t even think of going homeopathic! I am feeling much better — today, I’ve been consistently taking deep breaths for the first time since last week. It’s fantastic.
As for everyone vs. everybody, dlipkin….innnnnteresting. I think I might write on that later if I find some good reference material.