Wednesday, May 3, 2006

The S.I. Dialect Stands Trial on SILive

We're hoping that she's kidding here, but the rest of SILive is usually so devoid of irony that we can't be certain. We do know, however, that Strunk and White would be rolling in their graves (not at the author, but at the fact that such an intended audience existed) if they read "To Correct and Serve," the April 25th post from SILive's own blogger Island Girl. The post provides direction on English language blunders peculiar to the Staten Island dialect, in itself a pretty good thing. But when I stumbled upon this post I had to do double- and triple-takes of the featured blunders, and I think you'll see why when you read them.

Among my favorite horrors are her admonitions not to confuse "pacific" with "specific"; not to append an extra "ed" to the word "looked," as in "You lookDED good in that dress last night" (I can't say I've ever heard anyone do this, but I might like to some day); not to affix an 'N' to the word "atrocious" as in "your abuse of the English language is Natrocious." We appreciate the injection of irony, Island Girl, and hope you don't think we're ribbing you here, because we're not.

You can read all the "blunders" and savor the depravity here.

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