I am "...dangerously addicted to correcting mistake people", to quote Michael Chabon.
(Even though, to my knowledge, we've never met.) I spend a considerable amount of time bemoaning
the fact that fewer and fewer Americans can speak proper English. (Not to mention that they elected
an illiterate president, or got it close enough to get him appointed.) I have a firm belief that the world
would be a better place if no one ever used "literally" strictly for emphasis.
(e.g.: "[The Supreme Court] literally burned the midnight oil this week" - a phrase uttered
on National Public Radio, of all places.) It used be a very useful word for distinguishing
from idioms and ambiguous turns of phrase. Take this recently heard phrase for instance -
"You have to go in there and literally kiss their feet." In the olden days,
(two years ago) this would have been clear, but now you don't know whether to get down on your
hands and knees, or be just be very, very nice to them.
On the other hand, people don't use the word sesquipedalian enough.
It's so beautifully self-referential - how can you not love it?
I use it every chance I get - the weird looks are worth it.
It's often said that I live a life of allusion. OK. I'm the one saying it, but it's still
true - even before Mystery Science Theater 3000 made it hip, I'd been making references to
literary, cinematic, or other sources. Sometimes they're quite witty - even less frequently are
they even recognized.
Something about patterns in general fascinates me. I'm always looking for coincidences
and matches - it doesn't take too great a stretch of the imagination to say that I'm
trying to find order in the chaos that is life.
