Monday, June 4, 2012

More pedantry

I pulled this note out of Toby's bag this morning. This is so bad, don't you think? Is it so very hard, before printing something and sending it to all year five parents, to get someone else to look at it? Just the heading?


I think it makes me so mad because it comes from the school, if only from parents, not the teachers (I would have to take action if a teacher was behind it). Thankfully, the two children in the room when I read it, knew at once what was wrong with it. I do find it odd, though, that it should upset me while the form I received yesterday just made me smile indulgently.


Sari organises the Muddi markets and what will be the Muddi empire (slight exaggeration perhaps?). Maybe she wasn't sure if it ought to be 'stockist' or 'stockest' so decided to put both the i and the e in. The result , of course, is an application form to become something no woman wants to be. I can accept that I won't be the tallest or leanest. I am over the fact that willowy is not an adjective that applies to me, but I do not want to be the stockiest, thank-you very much.

Somehow, Sari's larger-than-life personality and the fact that she talks even more than I do, makes her creative spelling and, indeed, written language quirks, seem endearing. And we are going to apply anyway.

3 comments:

  1. hahaha! over the "stockiest" NOT the "your" - I'm so pedantic I even punctuate my texts! Mind you, when you children were all at Barker, some of the teachers weren't too good at shall we say the Queen's English?

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  2. Sadly most of the notes we receive from school have errors in spelling, punctuation or dates. It drives me crazy because it's an educational institution!

    But I do love the stockiest. Is there a prize, perhaps, for the stockiest stockist?

    xxx S

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  3. I CANNOT stand the lack of attention paid to our poor friend the apostrophe and the dependent contraction family. It irks me greatly when "you're" becomes "your". Just read it through, people! Rah!! I completely understand your frustration on this issue, though 'stockiest' has to be a rather amusing slip-up :-)

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