# Grammar Rant In The Extreme **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 11, 2008, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-rant-in-the-extreme/437143 "2008-02-11T12:17:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-rant-in-the-extreme/437143/21 "2008-02-12T15:16:54Z")
Aside from this, what else you got? \ Sigh. Tis sad and all, but I have become resigned, if not bludgeoned into insensitivity re this issue. Just this morning, on NPR, a woman(an election official) from Maryland (speaking of people who became confused about SuperTuesday and showed up at polls that were not open) said, “…indicative by their going to the polling places”. My car lurched for just a second, but I plowed ever forward… ---
**Author:** ![jacquilynne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/67e7ee/32.png) [@jacquilynne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacquilynne)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-rant-in-the-extreme/437143/22 "2008-02-12T16:08:18Z")
[QUOTE=Cartooniverse] funtionally illiterate [/QUOTE] Are you kidding? Or do you not know what functional illiteracy means? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-rant-in-the-extreme/437143/23 "2008-02-12T16:35:31Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > My car lurched for just a second, but I plowed ever forward… You must have been driving a Prius. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-rant-in-the-extreme/437143/24 "2008-02-12T17:56:43Z")
[QUOTE=Cartooniverse] Oooh you snarky little McSnark Snark. Luckily I’m fond of you. See here, young lady. I’ve been a vidiot for 28 years. Seen em come. Seen em go. The fact that this person works for an institute of high education and is funtionally illiterate might be amusing except for the fact that it’s TRAGIC. [/QUOTE] While it’s a very poor piece of writing overall, it’s very, very far from “functionally illiterate.” For all its stylistic faults (which are many) his errors never obscure meaning, which is more than you can say for a great many people. If he were an English teacher, this letter would be cause for concern, but for a course that has little to do with writing, I don’t see it as such a big deal. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-rant-in-the-extreme/437143/25 "2008-02-12T19:09:05Z")
Of course there’s something wrong with the letter. They left out some important details: > [@](#): > > Please to contact our representative with your address and a facsimilie of your driver’s license and passport (to verify your identity),the name and address of your > bank, > as well as your bank’s routing number and your banking account number so he may mail to you > a checque for $500,000 (five hundred thousand) US dollars, which you may then deposit in any bank > of your choice. Once you have deposited the checque, please notify us by email. We will then withdraw the amount of $350,000 > (three hundred > fifty thousand) US dollars or 70% (seventy per cent) as our share. The rest, $150,000 (one hundred fifty thousand) US dollars, or 30% (thirty per cent) is yours to > keep as reward for providing us with your bank account for safe-keeping of the funds. Again, please tell > no one of this communication as my partners are high government officials who by law cannot invest these > funds > and wish not to draw attention to themselves. Thank you greatly for your assistance in this > matter. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-rant-in-the-extreme/437143/26 "2008-02-12T19:41:44Z")
[QUOTE=jacquilynne] Are you kidding? Or do you not know what functional illiteracy means? [/QUOTE] Yes I was kidding. **WotNot** , I know I’m supposed to be feeling the bitter blade of irony pressed against my jugular. You’re right, it is purview. –hangs head in shame-- Damn. I’m not worthy !!! ---
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-rant-in-the-extreme/437143/27 "2008-02-12T19:54:00Z")
[QUOTE=jacquilynne] [QUOTE=Cartooniverse] funtionally illiterate [/QUOTE] Are you kidding? Or do you not know what functional illiteracy means? [/QUOTE] Ah, but he didn’t say “functionally illiterate”. He said _ **funtionally** _ illiterate, which is a totally different thing. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-rant-in-the-extreme/437143/28 "2008-02-12T20:03:55Z")
[QUOTE=MrSquishy] Ah, but he didn’t say “functionally illiterate”. He said _ **funtionally** _ illiterate, which is a totally different thing. [/QUOTE] He puts the “fun” in “tionally”! ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-rant-in-the-extreme/437143/29 "2008-02-12T20:12:47Z")
[QUOTE=Cartooniverse] **WotNot** , I know I’m supposed to be feeling the bitter blade of irony pressed against my jugular. You’re right, it is purview. –hangs head in shame-- Damn. I’m not worthy !!! [/QUOTE] Well, you’d obviously abased yourself enough, so I wasn’t going to say anything… but damn it, it’s been rankling: I’ll have you know that I’ve kept my 30-inch waist for the last 25 years thanks to genetic good fortune, moderate exercise and chronic nervous stress. At no time have I had to resort to any form of Bantingism to reduce my weight, and I resent your characterisation of me as “diety”. Harumph! Right, lads – what’s the Iron-o-meter showing so far? Two typos and a malapropism? Is that enough or should we see what else we can shake loose? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-rant-in-the-extreme/437143/30 "2008-02-12T22:44:36Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] malapropisms (“aside from”) [/QUOTE] What’s wrong with using “aside from”? ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-rant-in-the-extreme/437143/31 "2008-02-13T00:19:04Z")
[QUOTE=WotNot] Right, lads – what’s the Iron-o-meter showing so far? Two typos and a malapropism? Is that enough or should we see what else we can shake loose? [/QUOTE] Oh I hate you all !!! 😃 –shakes fist-- I’ve got MORE IRON WHERE THAT CAME FROM, BUCKO ! Perhaps a glass of wine. Yes. That might be best. ETA: Thank you for the props, **jjimm**. You put the prop in malapropism. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-rant-in-the-extreme/437143/32 "2008-02-13T00:40:20Z")
Hey - wait - I went to Purdue, and I writes gooooooood! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-rant-in-the-extreme/437143/33 "2008-02-13T11:09:28Z")
[QUOTE=GuanoLad] What’s wrong with using “aside from”? [/QUOTE] “I’ve wrote all of this to say that we also teach the art of steadicam, of which I, aside from my boss and mentor Bill Callison, am the sole instructor for educating these eager students in this technique.” In my world, “aside from” means “excluding” or “despite”. (“Aside from that, Mrs Lincoln, did you enjoy the opera?”) So what does the sentence actually mean? “…I, despite my boss… am the sole instructor…” Does this mean that Bill is actually an instructor too? In which case the letter writer is in fact only the sole instructor if his boss is hypothetically eliminated from the picture. In which case, it’s a misleading statement. Or does he actually mean “in addition to”? “…I, in addition to my boss… am the sole instructor…” Well, that’s nonsense too. Either it’s: “I am the sole instructor…” in which case he doesn’t need to mention his boss, or: “Apart from my boss… I am the only other instructor…” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-rant-in-the-extreme/437143.md?page=1)