Classy city council meeting…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrBaV5MvX_4&feature=player_embedded

I was reading my daily nerd stuff on google reader and came across a nerdy post that only nerds find interesting. The title of the article is “Whom Should I Say Is Calling.” It’s a post at thedailywtf and part of a feature of the blog where people submit the little peices of nerd that make them say WTF in their daily routine.

Perhaps, those of you that possess greater skills then I are already judging the poor grammar in the title of the article, but then again… you’re still reading my blog… so you clearly aren’t a grammar warrior. In any case, the message board for this humble article lit up. The subsequent nerd battle was glorious.

Here is are some highlights.

AT:

Voodoo Coder:

Leo:

Voodoo Coder:

ih8u:

NSCoder:
The Real WTF is the misuse of ‘whom’ in the title.

Can we drop the grammar check? I do this too — quietly. I think it’s fun to constantly be testing my mad grammar skillz. It’s like the interweb is Cato to my Inspector Clouseau.

However, I don’t prance around showing off my knowledge.

Seriously…as soon as I read the title of this article I thought “Well crap…whether it’s correct or not, there will be a group of insufferable know-it-alls who will point and laugh to show how sharp and witty they are”

Seriously, ya social mutants: It is intrinsically rude to point out grammatical errors. I am aware that the internet is not at the apex of courtesy, but for chrissake…the grammar checks are getting a little ridiculous around here…

I’d say it’s intrinsically rude to use terrible grammar, myself.

You’re right. If I presented an article in a forum such as this, where the readers are notorious for their knowledge of syntax, it would be incredibly rude of me to not at least attempt some semblance of proper usage and spelling.

However…it is just plain wrong to go on about correcting trivial and common errors. This is as bad as correcting a fragmented sentence or a split infinitive in everyday conversation.

Moreover, the corrections are not being done to educate, or save the writer from embarrassment. They are made with a smug tone to make the correcter feel a little better than the writer.

It is becoming an annoying cliche around here, not unlike the CAPTCHA at the bottom of a comment.

It may, perhaps, be rude to point out grammatical errors in an email or off-the-cuff forum posting. However, the comment here was directed at the author of an article posted for consumption by thousands of readers of a for-profit online publication. It’s not unreasonable to expect the authors of these articles to comprehend and follow the basic grammar rules of their chosen language while mocking the language abuses of others.

Anon Ymous:

snoofle:
Ok folks, simple grammar rule for who/m:Insert “he” or “him” at the first point after who/m where it makes sense. If “he” makes sense, use who; if “him” makes sense, use whom.
Whom [Should I Say (He/Him) is Calling]? –> he –> Who

Whom is it?
Whom [is it (he/him)]? -> him -> Whom
Whom Should I Say is Calling?

Your second example is incorrect.

Correct:
Who is it?
He is it.
It is who?
It is he.

This is an example of predicate nominative, in which the nouns on both sides of the verb are nominative.

A problem can sometimes arise when the two nominatives each take a different form of the verb. In these cases, the verb should agree with the subject (who or what the sentence is directly about).

Correct:
It am I.
I am it.

Incorrect:
It is I.
I is it.

Nerds will be nerds. For more nerdiness, or to taunt nerds, go here.

According to Reuters (hat tip to Gizmodo), a goat is in detainment in Nigeria after allegedly having committed armed robbery. The goat, formerly a man, apparently performed some kind of magic to transform itself from a man to a goat.

Police in Nigeria are holding a goat on suspicion of attempted armed robbery.

Vigilantes took the black and white beast to the police saying it was an armed robber who had used black magic to transform himself into a goat to escape arrest after trying to steal a Mazda 323.

Stay with me.

This goat-man clearly isn’t the magician he wishes he could be. Otherwise, the man would have turned his pursuers into goats, or perhaps turned himself into a larger beast. Perhaps a mecha-goat. Goatzirra, if you will. However, the goat-man is clearly playing his cards right. The lesser trained would have thought that the goat is certainly not to blame, since the goat is in jail, having apparently avoided nothing by becoming a goat, and since the goat has not re-formed itself back into a man the goat is clearly not a man at all, but rather a simple goat. This goat is playing it’s cards like a true champion. Surviving the next few weeks as a goat, until the courts find that, under the same reasoning aforementioned, the goat is not a man, and without opposable thumb and legs capable of manipulating the pedals of a Mazda 323 cannot possibly be guilty of the allegations, at which point the man will immediately reform as such and declare his victory over ‘the man’.

[UPDATE]:

Goat community reaction to this news is terrible. One demonstrator, locked away in a Canadian zoo, hung itself, presumably upon hearing about the detainment of the Nigerian goat-man. I can only assume that this goat hung itself in demonstration against the unlawful detainment of goats across the globe. Habeus Corpus rights are widely recognized for humans, but generally do not apply to the goat population.

Ok Ok Ok… Neal Boortz readers, please forgive me… but he’s on a friggin roll.

This is just too hilarious. Those who know me well know that I think local news is shallow, exploitive, deceitful garbage. If you are ever in the same room as me when the local news is on, I miss no opportunity to belittle the reporters and make fun of their ridiculous stories. Oh the fun.

Is it just me or does it seem like anything that “normal” people do in their daily lives that seems even remotely cool is destroyed the very moment it is referenced by the local news station. Well… I just don’t think I could ever fist bump anyone ever again. Not after seeing this.

Well there’s one thing that “doctor” is right about. If they are fisting (I feel dirty) in public, they are definitely “physically bonded together.”

The full news clip…

Thanks Boortz! I’d give you a virtual fist bump… but… you know the “high five” doesn’t get enough respect today. So.. High five to ya Boortz!

Is that even local news??? Who cares… it seems that lately pretty much all new is about as professional as backwards Kentucky local news stations. No offense intended to the relatively civilized and classy non-local-news Kentucky people.

I think the human brain is fascinating. There are so many little things that just don’t make any sense about it. For instance. We all enjoy music, right? Even the most musically challenged idiot loves music. But why can’t everyone judge, even on the most basic level, what music sounds good and whats sounds like cats being scraped on asphalt?

Anyways… try reading the following paragraph, in which very few words are spelled even remotely close to their correctly spelled brethren.

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulacity uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervery lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig, huh?

And now. A short psychological study.