Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for July 10, 2013

You have a point, Rat.

Want to have fun on this date, Bob? One word: Swap.

Here is an interesting clip on grammar police. Enjoy::http://www.upworthy.com/stephen-fry-takes-a-firm-stance-on-grammar-he-doesnt-go-the-way-youd-think-2?g=4&c=upw10

Many people these days do not understand the rules here.

“Jake and I got a ride to the store with Bob.”

But it’s: “Bob gave Jake and ME a ride to the store.” Not “I”, which is a mistake that seems to get more common every day.

Aha…..I just realized that Pastis may have used incorrect grammar to deflect attention from a substandard (for him, anyway) strip.

Bump Bob’s bald pate boldly, Rat! Be a big brave boy! Bravo!

Whack-a-rat!

Try the croquettes and the crudités, then eat a beef tenderloin, extremely rare. Then ravish the wife, the other female, a waitress or two, and scare the other guy away.Just a thought to take your mind off grammar nazis on a strip that has crocs.

Times have changed. We never had “couples dates.” We went out for dinner with our friends—with people we actually wanted to spend time with.

Dang! and I’s speaks englush.

I’m sure Stephen knows his grammar. Bob, however, is a casual speaker. @Odd Dog (Steven Fry) has it right – we should avoid critiquing the language skills of genuine creators, particularly by those amoung us who cannot do the same (yet seemed to be able to figure out what they meant).

English major? Hardly. It was my weakest subject, and I only completed the 9th grade. Actually, I went through the 10th, but flunked that year……… due to my failure in English.

‘It is not “Me am going”’Whie nott? Eet sound OK too me.

We be ballymog lipflapping da’ lingomean.

Read what I just wrote. “Well” is an adverb. “Good” is an adjective. Adjectives cannot be used to modify verbs (which is what “go” is) — that’s what adverbs do. Therefore, it never goes “good” because it can only go “well.”

This isn’t the first time for the lousy grammar in this strip. It could be deliberately worded in such a way as to make a point about the character, or to sound “funny”. But in this day and age when apparently few of us actually paid attention in English class, who can tell? So that presents a problem for humor based on bad grammar. To those of us conscious of how bad grammar makes us appear to others, if the joke isn’t particularly funny, it just comes off as stupid and uneducated.

Why are you all correcting Stephan’s grammar? Bob is the one mutilating the Queen’s English.

Poor Bob… He’s always the one in the strip getting pummeled… Now he’s getting pummeled by the readers for his poor English grammar…

"Any regular Joe (or Bob) will bludgeon the language in this manner."Agreed, jeff. Bob is not going to talk like an English-major nerd! Even I don’t! :-)

Why do people need to boost their own ego by stepping on others? What a bunch of douchebags!! Let’s see… is douchbag a noun or adjective… who cares!!

@Alexikakos

“’Twas womble mig muh slithy toves mak gyre mig gimble tik muh wabe…. etc.”

Yeah, but Lewis Carroll did make his poem conform to the rules of grammar:“’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves/ Did gyre and gimble in the wabe” . . .

Today’s comments are a great example of why all grammar police should be taken out back and shot. They have no idea what they’re talking about and talk just for the sake of talking, adding nothing of value or merit. Only attempting to detract from the work of others.

what a mallet-dy

But it’s neighbor Bob talking..not Stephen, and why should we expect HIM to have perfect grammar?!

“I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream”…wasn’t that the title of a sci-fi novel?

Neighbor Bob should try swinging.

@Odd Dog — thanks for sharing that link. Love it.

I teach English, and ‘none’ comes up a lot. ‘None’ is actually an indefinite pronoun, and you can use it as plural or singular, depending on your subject.

The honour is all Rat’s!

LOL xxx

So Pastis is committing grammatical errors when him has Larry speak, but not when him has Rat speak. Maybe him’s writing dialogue to reflect the way people speak. Neighbor Bob is an uneducated lout and speaks like one. At least that’s what me thinks.

If you think this language is off. Watch I am Weasel.Listen to his buddy the baboon. Who writes his R backwards.He is I R baboon. Kids just roll out of their laughing at him.Its funny. That’s why Carroll wrote the stories and dialogue that way. To have some fun and break the rules.

Well, Stephan, it seems that the majority of posters here prefer proper grammar over humor. You know what that means: NO MORE CROCS! Cuz dey no talks da English gud!

Pedants need to be pendulated. Get a rope. There is no good reason to expect cartoon characters to speak like Edwardian scholars. Would you exact such metrics on Huck Finn?

You people need to learn your graymmar..

Heaven help us when the grammar freaks hear the Crocs.

Which is worse, pointing out someone’s error, or letting people remain ignorant?

In a nutshell.