Cute fix: Grammar!
This is a photo of my colleague, Jeff Barg, who is the managing editor of Philadelphia Weekly. He is gazing fondly upon his nephew, Samuel, who was born just a few months ago. (Side note: Jews aren’t allowed to name a baby after a person who is still alive; it’s considered bad luck. So if they want to pay tribute to a relative, they have to wait till the relative is dead. This means the names often seem kind of old-school. God forbid I should want to name my baby after a grandparent — their names were Yetta, Eddie, Manny and Bloomie. No matter what happens, in a world of Dakotas and Britneys and Harpers, “Yetta” will never be cool.)
So that’s the Cute Fix. I am breaking all the Cute Fix rules by posting a photo of a human being because Jeff, with whom I have a brother-sister-get-on-each-other’s-nerves-but-love-each-other-anyway relationship, has started a GRAMMAR PODCAST. Is that not the coolest/nerdiest thing on the planet?
The podcast is an adjunct to his PW column, the Angry Grammarian — a column I thought was completely insane. Who, other than me and Jeff and readers of Copy Editor Magazine — would be interested in the proper use of semicolons? Lots of people, as it’s turned out. And the podcast goes one better. It’s totally awesome.
Check it out here! (Scroll to the bottom of the page for the link.)
liz | 12:50 PM | Uncategorized
Ah, don’t be too sure about Yetta–there’s a cartoon kid character on “Clifford” named “Jetta,” so a whole young generation is growing up hearing that name–not too far off from Yetta…
(Jetta is kind of a bratty character, but not unredeemably so. She’s the poodle’s owner on Birdwell Island.)
Angry Grammarian sounds great, thanks for the tip.
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