Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson for July 18, 2015
Transcript:
Phoebe: Marigold, how come you don't use more contractions? Marigold: Do I not? Phoebe: Not really, You say "cannot" and "do not" instead of "can't" and "don't." Marigold: In unicorn lore, apostrophes bear a CURSE OF DEATH. Phoebe: For real? Marigold: Of course not. I just enjoy talking fancy.
rpmurray over 9 years ago
Contractions are the devil. Ask any woman in labor.
Pedmar Premium Member over 9 years ago
Never use apostrophe’s to make plural’s of word’s.
strangeanimal over 9 years ago
hmmm, interesting little sprout
WaitingMan over 9 years ago
My pet peeve is people who dont understand the proper use of apostrophe’s.
cocavan11 over 9 years ago
Since grammar is the topic, why use “how come” when you mean “why”? Also, I hope WaitingMan’s use of <’s> to pluralize “apostrophe” is intended to be ironic.
David OBrien over 9 years ago
@WaitingMan: Can I quote you on that?
Stellagal over 9 years ago
It is not just apostrophes, unicorns would never think of saying things like “wanna” and “gotta”
Ermine Notyours over 9 years ago
My teacher told me: “Don’t use contractions.”
Comic Minister Premium Member over 9 years ago
Oh boy.
Stephen Gilberg over 9 years ago
I like having a main character who uses no contractions, too.
Marscaleb over 9 years ago
I love how Marigold looks in panel 3 so very very much.
sjsczurek over 9 years ago
With all respect for learning, schooling, proper grammar, et cetera, I’m going to submit what I know will be considered blasphemy or something of that sort.
I say that the word “ain’t,” which we’ve been told since early elementary school is wrong, improper, and everything else bad, is a natural contraction for “am not.” Think about it: you don’t say “I are not ready,” you say “I am not ready.” I know that you can (and are “supposed” to) say “I’m not,” but I submit that “I ain’t” is a logical and, by its use, a natural contraction of “I am not.” And I stand by this, so go ahead and draw and quarter me. I ain’t going to back down.
scyphi26 over 9 years ago
What the grammar nazis typically overlook is that language is not static; it is continually evolving, always has and always will. Therefore, what they see as “degradation” I see as simply “change into something new.” And change isn’t necessarily a bad thing, y’know.
Plus, from a writing perspective, using these little “quibbles” in language that cause such issue helps to give a character, well, character. Like how Marigold here does not use contractions when what we’re used to are frequent use of contractions. That’s part of her character. You get the idea.
BRI-NO-MITE!! Premium Member over 9 years ago
A couple of months ago Marigold DID use a contraction and I pointed it out. She said “mustn’t”.
Kark_The_Red_Canadian_Dragon 7 months ago
Hmpf! I would’ve guessed that she was a fan of Data from Star Trek: TNG fame. :P