An Excellent Spoonerism

A spoonerism is when you exchange the first letters of two words. An example that I use: Bappy Hirthday. Here’s a good one:

Makes sense, right?

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I’ll let the grammar nazi, Mike Peterson, do the talking today. Here’s the comic, an unsigned New Yorker item:

“Whoever drew it, it got a chuckle, but it also got a flinch for something unrelated to the point of the gag.

“While I try not to be a grammar nazi, those signs bug me. There are rules about speculation against fact — Tevye sings “If I were a rich man,” not “if I was a rich man” — and the signs should read “Drive as if your child lived here.”

“Dagnabbit.

“I like the concept, but I correct it in my mind every time I go past one, and they’re everywhere.”

https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2023/05/25/csotd-the-dagnabbit-files/

First the comic:

Did he mean boarders or borders?

• Boarders are folks who rent property. In other words, the ban doesn’t apply to people who live on a reservation.
• Borders are the boundarys of your property. In other words, the ban doesn’t apply to anyone within a reservation

So what do you think? Was that a typo, or was he being humorous?

I’ve mentioned “only” several times in the past (go use the search box to the right). Putting an adverb at the end of a sentence can make the adverb’s antecedent tricky to chose.

“Tired of taking things seriously” does not mean the same thing as “seriously tired of taking things.” I recommend you put your midifiers as close as you can to what they modify.

This is especially true of verbs that change the vowel rather than just adding a suffix. What’s your answer to the question in panel 2?

What other tricky verbs come to mind?