Wednesday, June 20, 2018

SHANE'S EXCELLENT NEW WORDS: We have every right to swear at that f**king end-of-sentence preposition rule.



"Swearing seems to activate a different linguistic circuitry than the normal speech loop."

The three-minute video is surprisingly exhaustive, and you may wish to use ear buds in sensitive environments -- or just say "fuck it."

Swearing often abets "putting the boot in" (in Great Britain, to "attack another person by saying something cruel, often when the person is already feeling weak or upset"), but what about that preposition placement, anyway?

Where the ‘No Ending a Sentence With a Preposition’ Rule Comes From, by Dan Nosowitz (Atlas Obscura)

Where the ‘No Ending a Sentence With a Preposition’ Rule Comes From
It all goes back to 17th-century England and a fusspot named John Dryden.

THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF INDIVIDUAL rules for proper grammatical use of any given language; mostly, these are created, and then taught, in order to maximize understanding and minimize confusion. But the English language prohibition against “preposition stranding”—ending a sentence with a preposition like with, at, or of—is not like this. It is a fantastically stupid rule that when followed often has the effect of mangling a sentence. And yet for hundreds of years, schoolchildren have been taught to create disastrously awkward sentences like “With whom did you go?”

The origins of this rule date back to one guy you may have heard of. Of whom you may have heard. Whatever. His name was John Dryden ...

1 comment:

Iamhoosier said...

That was(wait for it)fucking great.