Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for April 09, 2021

A certain cartoonist is upset by mistakes being pointed out in his strip.

I would make a good one of these guys

And that is a thing up with which Greg will not put.

That basement could also be rented to those commentators who on these pages amiably make fun of my every mistake in the English language.

Fairy tale trolls lived under bridges, maybe grammar trolls live under houses in basements? Trolls seem happy to be unhappy…

Greg is doing noble work.

They go to grammatrical school from where they grammatriculate.

Guilty as charged!

Greg would have a field day at GoComics.*

While learning French, I discovered that both formal and informal English exists. For instance, informal English allows a sentence to end with a preposition. And there really isn’t a codified rule to stop it. Go figure.

Okay, which reader pointed out one of Pastis’s errors when he was feeling particularly sensitive?

Good job, Rat.

here i always thought it was “grammarital”…

English is a fluid language. It’s drowning with rules.

I’m trying to figure out who DOESN’T tick Greg off…

My Grammar passed away years ago.

Aren’t Grammarians an alias race in Star Trek? In that episode with them they loved James T Kirk’s grammar and diction! Bones was jealous he was!

I don’t need light or heat, I have the warming glow of my own self-righteousness.

Just send him over to Larry the Croc. He’ll love the company. Heh heh.

Sent Greg to them cartoons, Yoda has…

Always have that “Grammacy” program then there is no problem!

Ill bee keepping a eye on yew four grammastickle misstakes from now on.

I get a kick out of grammar police who think comments on the net are comparable to PhD dissertations. The ones from non English speakers must send them into comas.

But “grammarical” isn’t a grammatical error, it’s a pronunciation error, moron (or a spelling error, but Rat is theoretically speaking).

Rat should have said “Thats” without the apostrophe. Even though that would sound the same to grammar-boy.

I never correct grammar on the internet, with one exception: When somebody corrects somebody else’s grammar. Then I’ll comb through the pedant’s post to find an error of HIS that I can correct. And there’s ALWAYS an error in their somewhere.

Ah, the grammar troll.

I’ve done that on occasion.

Apparently, Stephan has made a few “grammatical” errors and is now getting revenge on his critics.

Grammar nazis.

So why isn’t Greg a grammatician?

Grammar police can shovel it but they can’t take it! Arrogance and superiority can take a backseat…we have auto correct but sometimes it’s not so correct…the last thing we need is the grammar police….BOO HISS!

Grammar, Spelling, Capitalization – Do those things still exist?

First real out loud laugh today!

WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE WHO COMMENT IN ALL CAPS?

I, for one, are grateful to any corrections if, on example, someone seen an mistake in any comment I make. Its rare, but it happens.

We are easily enraged.

Make grammerical great again!

i have that one also in the deep recess of my mind and every now and then it pops up and makes me say something that i wish i hadn’t … whether grammatical or reasonable

If you ever want to know about some fact (and some more): just throw out something stupid on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or in the comment section of a related blog. The knowitalls will swarm in like flies to a rotting carcass in the sun.

Is that anything like “Conan the Barbarian”?

no one noticed that the grsmmarian corrected a spelling/phonetic mistake instead of actually grammar?

…in the deepest pit, without hope, without witness, without reward…

As our county grammarian I resemble that remark.

I learned grammar in school and would not have been promoted to the next grade without the skills appropriate for my grade. There was no participation reward, we had to work and earn the grades. Perhaps that wasn’t such a bad system.

This is so me! I am one of those people who corrects others’ grammar. Used to correct my wife, but I, um, had to stop.

I support Greg completely. There’s a big difference between “Let’s eat, Mother” and “Lets eat Mother”.

I would of commented hear, but you’re cartoon today was deleterious.

And the key to the basement is well and truly lost?

The rage keeps him warm.

That was rat being nice too

If Rat doesn’t like grammarians, he should be on Facebook where he’d be very much among his own kind.

My top grammar peeve is people using ‘s to form the plural of words. The only time it’s correct to do that is never!!!

and it’s fun enraging them!

Seems like a good reason to keep the door locked.

Oh yeah, that reminds me – I’m trapped in the basement. Send help.

OK, but that has nothing to do with grammar. At best it’s a malapropism, except that “grammarical” isn’t a word. Well, I guess you might say that it is, now, but as a form without a function (“meaning”) is not a “word”.

Should have rented it to Kelsey Grammer.

It puts the punctuation in the sentence, or it gets the hose!

Technically that’s a usage error, not grammar.

Grammarians are the unsung heros of the web.

I was brought up by a father who loved the English language, had an envious vocabulary, and was a stickler for good grammar. I minored in English and, for a few years, taught the subject. If I correct someone’s grammar, it’s because the former teacher in me just can’t help it. Do I have perfect grammar? No, but I do appreciate it when someone points out an error so I can correct it. If someone corrects your grammar, just say, “Thank you,” and move on.

“I do that just to enrage them.”

My mom was like that when my sister and I were in school. For some reason, she stopped correcting my sons when they were in 6th grade. Peculiar.

My current pet peeve is mixing ‘and’ and ‘to’. You’re not going to try to go AND do something (implying you’re doing two things, go and do) but you’re going to go TO do something (one act).

But, I’ll try and get over it. :)

Self-appointed and self-anointed prissy twit!

Beware, Rat! Hell hath no fury like a grammarian interred. By the Power of Good Grammar!

I only correct the trolls and willfully ignorant.

do they need food though?