Friday, September 5, 2008

'Kick you in the nuts, boldly'

Hilarious send-up of grammar snobs at The Daily Mash: "Grammar pedants fewer interesting"

I especially enjoy that the article pokes fun at the edict that writers shouldn't split infinitives. An infinitive is the base form of a verb (e.g., "to run" or "to play"). A split infinitive is when a word falls in the middle of an infinitive. For example, "to run" is split when it is "to quickly run."

This is a rule of Latin grammar that was imposed upon English -- and since we don't speak Latin, most contemporary grammarians consider this rule a myth. (It's interesting to note that Latin infinitives weren't two-word combos like English ones, so splitting a Latin infinitive wasn't even possible.)