Grammar Nazism – Splendid Isolation

…and so say all of us. What you should do, Gentle Readers, is not tarry here pondering such weighty grammatical sins; rather, you should speed over to Mr. Ishmael’s to see the rest of his excellent rant about, well, everybody. (He had me at “That Albino Cunt Johnson”, a.k.a, the soon-to-be-ex-BritPM, but it’s not the only gem.)

Invective at its very finest.

Pronouns

June 17, 2022 Kim du Toit Grammar Nazism, Gratuitous Chick Pics

Read these two headlines — the first using standard pronoun terminology, the second the woke version — and see which one is more comprehensible.

So… being sexually exploited caused Doug Hutchison to get breast implants too? I am SO confused…

Here are the objects in question, by the way:

I report, you decide.

Speed Bump

May 27, 2022 Kim du Toit Grammar Nazism

In an otherwise good article, American Greatness‘s Edward Ring states:

But the exception proves the rule.

It is a statement that makes no logical sense. Any exception to a rule actually disproves the rule, as a moment’s thought will show, because a rule is that which applies to all relevant circumstances. If there are any exceptions, it’s not a rule but a guideline. (/Captain Barbosa)

So where did this contradictory statement come from? Originally, the verb to prove came from the Latin word probere, which means to test. And yes, that was the word’s original meaning, for example when one “proves” (or tests) a mathematical theorem by subjecting its hypothesis (or theory) to a multitude of conditions. If all the conditions generate the same outcome, the hypothesis/theory becomes a theorem (or rule), and its “proof” means “having been tested”.

I’m probably wasting my time on this, because the phrase has become nigh-ubiquitous, and seldom called into question except during angry rants like this one.

For me, though, it’s still a speed bump.