I like jello and shadow puppets when the earth tilts to the equinox.
Mark Hel prin?
He’s a looser.
Sorry, I meant Romani ite domun.
If I had the malicious nature I would post some of my essays from students in my basic economics class. This would end all debate on the quality of instruction in the English language in the contemporary United States. Some of them (not all, I hasten to add) must be seen to be believed.
I have only one I really hate: I only have one I really hate.....
I saw this graffiti in Warsaw a couple of years ago. It means "Pedaling Ban!", a little too literally illustrated, mere words would have sufficed, because in Polish the word "pedał", that is "pedal" is a common name for a pederast, which has unfortunately been replaced in the U.S. and elsewhere by a synonym of the word "cheerful".
I always appreciate those who are waiting with baited breath, because I can ask them what they’re using for bait!
But I digress.
If you'd been in one of my freshman English classes, you'd have known better than to try to get away with a sentence fragment.
Having been published myself, let me say this is in no way the fault of the author. During a deadline discussion, 20 some years ago I received this sage piece of advice and have never forgotten it: Your job is to be creative. Submit your rough drafts and let the copy editors deal with it from there.
Your premise that your favorite author’s book was edited by a professional editor is probably wrong. To reduce costs most of the publishing companies have cut out “line editing” positions, relying on the author’s use of spell check in their submissions to do the job. NOT!
But you are correct in the basic argument that we have become a society that no longer teaches or enforces “standard English.”
As a college teacher of writing, I have seen at first hand the downward spiral of literacy in writing skills.
But I knew that war was lost when I read a Houston Chronicle editorial about “loosing” the Iraq war.