I enjoyed The Virginian-Pilot article on Roy Peter Clark’s The Glamour of Grammar. Here are two of my favorite lines:
Clark says the words glamour and grammar “were once the same word and both refer to magic: Glamour ‘evolved from grammar through an ancient association between learning and enchantment. There was a time when grammar described not just language knowledge but all forms of learning….”
Who knew grammar had glam?
“One point Clark makes in ‘The Glamour of Grammar’ is that we learn our reading and writing skills everywhere, from textbooks to text messages. ‘Every writer should learn the requirements of mainstream American English, but so many powerful messages are communicated in nonstandard English.’”
Yep, there are definitely things that nonstandard English allow us to express that just wouldn’t quite cut it in standard parlance.
Clark says the words glamour and grammar “were once the same word and both refer to magic: Glamour ‘evolved from grammar through an ancient association between learning and enchantment. There was a time when grammar described not just language knowledge but all forms of learning….”
Who knew grammar had glam?
“One point Clark makes in ‘The Glamour of Grammar’ is that we learn our reading and writing skills everywhere, from textbooks to text messages. ‘Every writer should learn the requirements of mainstream American English, but so many powerful messages are communicated in nonstandard English.’”
Yep, there are definitely things that nonstandard English allow us to express that just wouldn’t quite cut it in standard parlance.
