Wasn’t it a odd on Tuesday when President Obama, who is usually the smoothest of the smoothies, had that little stutter step during the oath? (Wasn’t his fault, natch, but still, it’s the only glitch I recall in the ceremony. In fact, when you watch it you see that inquisitive twinkle in his eye as he gazes at Chief Justice Roberts. He clearly knows what the problem is, clearly knows that it’s not appropriate to correct the guy giving you the, uh, presidential oath of office in front of ten kerjillion people, then clearly figures, what the hey, better keep marching–it’ll get sorted later.)
So take look at this Op-Ed piece from the Times. As an admitted grammar snoot, I confess to “correcting” split infinitives in manuscripts I’ve edited over the years (and I’ll probably still avoid them mulishly in my own writing–take that, Mr. Pinker!), so I read it with a smile–and maybe a dash of defensiveness, who doesn’t love a hoary old shibboleth or two?
The piece is an interesting rumination on language and what our own Kevin Keating calls “correctitude.” I do admire the way the writer links picking a relatively obscure and to (normal) people inconsequential grammatical nit to the idea that a person’s relationship to language can be predictive of their leadership. Here’s hoping, anyway.
(I’m Laurie and I’m a wordaholic. There. I said it. And I’m not ashamed.)