November 5, 2008 in Grammar Police Know what the ten most commonly spoken languages in the world are? I would have guessed English, followed by Arabic. And I would have been wrong.
Here's the actual breakdown:
1. Mandarin
2. English
3. Hindustani
4. Spanish
5. Russian
6. Arabic
7. Bengali
8. Portuguese
9. Malay-Indonesian
10. French
Useful trivia provided by one of my favorite bloggers, Maggie Mason.
November 16, 2007 in Grammar Police Which part of the brain is the one that stores all the memorized stuff like basic multiplication tables and the spelling of everyday words? Because I'm pretty sure mine is full of holes.
Yesterday, I had to really, really think about whether 7+5 equaled 12, or if I was totally crazy. I knew for a fact that 7+6 equaled 13, which made the moment that much more pathetic.
Then this morning, I was composing an email to a co-worker and forgot how to spell the word "integral". Instead, I kept typing the word "intregal" over and over. Which isn't even a word. And because Apple Mail kept flagging it as misspelled, I was convinced the program was malfunctioning. A quick Google search straightened me out, but now I'm not positive I haven't been saying "intregal" out loud to people who definitely know the difference between a real word and a made-up word.
TGIF.
July 8, 2007 in Grammar Police Theme song "Transformers, robots in the skiiiiiiiies" is actually "Transformers, robots in disguiiiiiiiise".
There are no words.
Ok, yes there are. They are FLYING robots. They are in THE SKIES, aren't they? Any stupid robot can don a costume, but how many robots do you know that can take to flight? My 20-years-strong version is clearly better. I will not accept reality today.
June 21, 2007 in Grammar Police I always thought it was "the whole kitten caboodle". Until like five years ago. Eventually I read it as "kit and caboodle" somewhere, and loudly accused the author of being an idiot until someone set me straight. And even then I didn't believe it. Do you know what finding out that there's no such thing as a kitten caboodle does to a person? I'll tell you what is does: it destroys them.
I'd be willing to bet that you remember Sara Lee's slogan as: "Nobody does it like Sara Lee", even though it's actually "Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee." Yeah, I know. I'd like to get into a physical altercation with the person responsible for that crap.
Oh, and just the other day I learned that it's "beck and call", not "beckoned call." Which actually didn't bug me at all. They both suck.
May 20, 2007 in Grammar Police 
I'm not sure which side of the fence I'm on when it comes to country drop-down menus. I admit that I feel a tinge of relief and am slightly less inconvenienced when the United States gets placed at the top of these menus, regardless of its rightful place in the alphabetical country list (the bottom).
And I get why drop-down menus are designed this way - the company providing the software or service is American, and/or the company thinks that the majority of its users will be American and wants to simplify the sign-up process for as many people as possible.
But when all the other countries (often with the exception of the United Kingdom) are in alphabetical order, doesn't it look a little arrogant to have the U.S. put first on the list anyway? You can''t really argue with alphabetical.
I wonder I'd be more bothered by this if I lived in, say, Uganda? Or better yet, Venezuela?
