The SunBreak
posted 02/01/11 12:02 PM | updated 02/01/11 12:02 PM
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James and the Giant...Grammar Nazis at Ignite (VIDEO)

By Michael van Baker
Editor
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James Callan, content strategist, trivia guru, and former photo editor for The SunBreak, sets you straight on how to deal with grammar nazis. 

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in very bad taste
i dislike prescriptive grammarians as well, but could you please set me straight on how to deal with a far more severe crime, that being people who equate anal-retentive grammar prescriptivists with those responsible for genocide?
Comment by Scott2011
4 days ago
( --1 votes)
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Are we better or worse ...
... than people who equate rude soup vendors with those responsible for genocide?

In all seriousness, I thought for a long time about whether or not I should use "grammar nazi" in the speech. In the end I went with it because it's a really common, easily understood term, and in a five-minute speech easily graspable wins the day.

At one point I had a slide where I said that grammar nazis were not real Nazis any more than they were real grammarians, and that the term should really be saved until someone invades the grammar Sudetenland. Then I realized just how short five minutes is and killed it.

Usually, though, I prefer "peevologists" or "peevers," which I'd have used if it weren't an inside-baseball term. Also, there are no pictures of Captain America punching out peevologists to illustrate my talk.
Comment by James Callan
3 days ago
( +1 votes)
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