Let’s see… there’s National Cheese Day on January 20, and of course National Iguana Awareness Day on September 8. So it’s only fitting that good grammar should get a day of its own, too. National Grammar Day has been proclaimed for March 4 by the the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar, an organization for those “who crave good, clean English—sentences cast well and punctuated correctly.” The group’s site sums it up this way: “It’s about clarity.” Martha and Grant are down with that. So here’s to National Grammar Day and also to the wise cautionary note sounded by Baltimore Sun copy editor John McIntyre about the danger of getting too curmudegonly about it all. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Celebrating Obscure National Holidays”
You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette.
Did you know that January 20th is National Cheese Day?
Or how about the fact that September 8th is National Iguana Awareness Day?
I wonder who decides this stuff anyway.
I don’t know. Maybe we’ll find out on National Committee Day.
Well, the reason I bring this up, Grant, is that it turns out that grammar has its own day as well.
National Grammar Day is March 4th, at least according to the Society for the Preservation of Good Grammar, or SPOG for short.
That’s an organization whose philosophy is, according to its website, there are huge problems in this world,
And then there are problems that can be solved by everyday people with red pens and a little moxie.
So here’s to National Grammar Day.
I have to say one thing, though.
All the copy editors I’ve ever known used a blue pencil and not a red pen.
Good point.
But, you know, did you see what John McIntyre had to write on the blog that he keeps for the Baltimore Sun?
He’s the copy editor there?
Yes.
He’s put it exactly like I would put it.
He said, I feel a tremor of apprehension at how the various mavens, snobs, snoots, elitists, prescriptionists, and precisionists,
Drunk with power at getting a day all their own, might comport themselves.
You and I, though, Martha, we’re going to behave, right?
Oh, yes.
We’re going to stick to our New Year’s resolutions.
Do you remember what those are, right?
We’re going to keep our blue pencils to ourselves?
We resolve to hold our writing and speaking to a high standard
While forgiving and forgetting the mistakes in the language of others.
I think you made that resolution.
I did.
I don’t remember doing that.
Well, you’re bound to, and I put it out into your name.
So here’s the other one that you’re upholding and you didn’t know.
We resolve to accept that we will make mistakes also,
And we resolve to learn from them and to learn to live with them.
All right. Well, anyway, if you’re curious about National Grammar Day, you can find out more about it at our website.
That’s waywordradio.org.
And in the meantime, if you have a grammatical pet peeve or you’re curious about the origin of a word or a slang phrase,
March forth to your phone and call us. The number is 1-877-929-9673.
You can also email us. The address is words@waywordradio.org.
