{"id":51846,"date":"2015-07-24T18:15:29","date_gmt":"2015-07-25T00:15:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/07\/24\/the-grammar-police-are-nothing-new.html"},"modified":"2015-07-25T09:43:16","modified_gmt":"2015-07-25T15:43:16","slug":"the-grammar-police-are-nothing-new","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/07\/24\/the-grammar-police-are-nothing-new.html","title":{"rendered":"The Grammar Police are nothing new"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Witherspoon was President of Princeton in the late 18th Century, educator of, then later Revolutionary colleague with, the Founding Fathers. <\/p>\n

He was also a stickler for grammar, as this article notes, documenting the "errors in grammar, improprieties, and vulgarisms" that Americans were adopting in their distance from the Mother Country, decrying constructions like "notifying" a person and referring to two choices as "equally as good," or how in the Middle States they used the vulgarism "once in a while," or how "accomplished" was (gasp) starting to be used as an adjective. <\/p>\n

And, of course, there was this horrifying misuse of a perfectly good word:<\/p>\n

"I was quite<\/i> mad at him, he made me quite<\/i> mad. In this instance<\/i> mad is only a metaphor for angry. This is perhaps an English vulgarism, but it is not found in any accurate writer, nor used by any good speaker, unless when poets and orators use it as a strong figure, and to heighten the expression, say, he was<\/i> mad with rage."<\/i><\/p>\n

And when it came to dictionaries, he wasn't thrilled with Samuel Johnson's ground-breaking effort, given that it actually described so many of these improper uses and therefore lent them credence. <\/p>\n

(Witherspoon's detailed complaints start here: https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=uOq7j78iQHIC&pg=PA458<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Sometimes I know the feeling, Mr Witherspoon. Sometimes I know the feeling.<\/p>\n

Originally shared by +Karen Conlin<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

From the 18th century, a voice in the wilderness decrying the usage of "mad" to mean "angry" and the abomination of the construction "once in a while"<\/b><\/p>\n

via Steven Pinker (@sapinker) on Twitter<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n
\n<\/a>
\nPrinceton Alumni Weekly: That Was Then<\/a><\/span>
\nFrom a 1787 letter by John Witherspoon to St. George Tucker about Witherspoon’s ideas on education: “In the College the Trustees chuse the Teachers & make the Laws & the faculty execute them. In the School I have the Sole Right of chusing the Teachers & directing every thing that is done in it.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Witherspoon was President of Princeton in the late 18th Century, educator of, then later Revolutionary colleague with, the Founding Fathers. He was also a stickler for grammar, as this article notes, documenting the "errors in grammar, improprieties, and vulgarisms" that Americans were adopting in their distance from the Mother Country, decrying constructions like "notifying" … Continue reading “The Grammar Police are nothing new”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts","category-writing-and-language"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":49143,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/04\/grammar-police.html","url_meta":{"origin":51846,"position":0},"title":"Grammar police","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 4-Jan-15 12:11pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Your grammatical humor for today Originally shared by +Michael Anderson: Grammar police #punday #pundaysunday #jailhouserock \u00a0 View on Google+","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/grammar%2Bpolice.gifimgmax%3D660.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/grammar%2Bpolice.gifimgmax%3D660.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/grammar%2Bpolice.gifimgmax%3D660.gif?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":30863,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/10\/25\/20-common-grammar-mistakes-some-of-which-arent.html","url_meta":{"origin":51846,"position":1},"title":"20 Common Grammar Mistakes (some of which aren't)","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 25-Oct-12 9:06am","format":false,"excerpt":"Some of these are grammar mistakes (or clarifications). Some are arguable misuse of words (though word use is always changing). \u00a0Some are personal preferences and affections.So here are three meta-rules about grammar and grammar mistakes:1. The purpose of grammar (and spelling, etc.) is to communicate clearly. If the communication is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27026,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/03\/10\/is-a-grammar-mistake-that-everyone-makes-actually-a-mistake.html","url_meta":{"origin":51846,"position":2},"title":"Is a grammar mistake that everyone makes actually a mistake?","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 10-Mar-12 11:13am","format":false,"excerpt":"Okay, don't get me wrong -- I'm as rules-based and anal as any Lawful Good snot could be about things like grammar. I offer up grammar suggestions to a variety of people, often unsolicited, and it's only a sign that otherwise I'm generally a nice guy (and that my suggestions\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27557,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/25\/beware-the-grammar-police.html","url_meta":{"origin":51846,"position":3},"title":"Beware the Grammar Police!","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 25-Apr-12 7:18am","format":false,"excerpt":"Okay, I'll admit to being a pedant over a lot of these sort of things -- though it's usually in conjunction with business writing (where grammar errors actually convey unwanted impressions, rightly or wrongly). The essay is worth reading through to the end, as it actually gets into prescriptive vs\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40481,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/01\/08\/grammar-police-and-hiring-decisions.html","url_meta":{"origin":51846,"position":4},"title":"Grammar Police and Hiring Decisions","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 8-Jan-14 7:03am","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't go so far as to give people grammar tests, but I will say that proper grammar and spelling on resumes and cover letters plays something of a gatekeeper role in the hiring process for me. \u00a0After all, if you can't avoid or check-spot-correct such problems on such documents\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49742,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/04\/a-grammar-day-quiz.html","url_meta":{"origin":51846,"position":5},"title":"A Grammar Day Quiz","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 4-Mar-15 8:11am","format":false,"excerpt":"Not surprisingly, I got a pretty high intense score on this one.http:\/\/www.grammarly.com\/blog\/2015\/celebrate-grammar-day-with-this-fun-quiz\/\"You may drive your friends and family nuts, but you would make Strunk and White proud. You love enforcing rules just about as much as you love the rules themselves. For you, grammar truly is one of life's greatest\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Pedants%2BGrammarian.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Pedants%2BGrammarian.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Pedants%2BGrammarian.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51846"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51876,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51846\/revisions\/51876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}