Shame on this Comic!
Comic artists and writers are (generally) pretty good with their grammar and spelling, so this one is (to me) especially shameful. First speech, last panel:
C’mon! They taught you the differnce between “their” and “they’re” (and “there”) back in sixth grade! Pay attention! You know the differnce, right???
Harrumpf.
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A Neologism
A neologism is a new word. This one is new to me, but it makes sense. Last panel:
I don’t think you need to be stuck in traffic for the word to apply to you, though, and I suspect it’s more common when you’re alone in the car.
Not Practicing What They Preach
One of my five main principles in writing is to be concise. (The name for the error of not being concise is to be pleonastic, which is a fancy word for “wordiness.”) So here:
And one type of pleonasm is being redundant, which is when the extra word or words mean the same thing as the word you actually need. Don’t do this!
A Good Example of a Bad Sentence
Well, maybe I should say a poor sentence. Last sentence in the comic. How would you make it better?
Okay, in my opinion, “from the agent” goes with “hiding,” so that’s where the phrase should go: “hiding from the agent in that cardboard box.” But wait! that implies that the agent was in the cardboard box!
Hmm. Both phrases could be interpreted to go with “hiding.” How would you rewrite the sentence?
A Journalism Joke
First the comic:
Also first: Do you see the error in the last speech balloon?
Technically “grafitti” is a plural (singular is “grafitto”) but the verb is singular. The verb should be “were.”