Sep 30, 2009
A fake conversation in which I miss the point because I get hung up on the word whom.
Like this post?
Paul Miller:
It is perfectly natural to pray, God, please help whomever’s house is on fire.
Me:
Nooooo! Whomever is never natural.
(Miller’s quote from A Praying Life, 123)
* * *
Related:
- I bought a copy simply because they axed 80% of the ridiculous word, “whom.”
- More and more smart people are forsaking the idea that they shouldn’t be singular.
- When someone’s apologizing, it’s a good time to put away editorial fussiness.
* * * * *
LOL
As a linguist, I know what you say is true. As someone who grew up around “proper” English and grammar Nazis, “whomever” is a natural as dill pickles, and I actually get irked when “whoever” is substituted. The same way my husband gets irked when I pronounce the “l” in “salmon.” (That’s how you say it in Texas, dang it!)
This made me laugh. I am the same way. The one I get hung up on is using an apostrophe to pluralize numbers (ex. 1970′s). Several places still endorse this as the preferred way. It irritates me to no end.
I like the new picture.
I thought you said that you were going to delete an post that made reference to Hitler or his Reich. Wouldn’t “grammar Nazis” qualify?
I patted myself on the back that I noticed the new picture.
Lowell
even the color of your new pic matches the color scheme of your blog. now THAT’S some savvy blog design. ;-)
That is wrong, Abraham. Very wrong. ;-)
Whomever they were waiting to see, they seemed very excited.
But: I’m gonna kill whoever ate my wife.