The Elements of Style
A little context: The summer of '13 has been hot & rainy in Michigan, with consecutive days of sunshine in short supply & high humidity in sticky abundance. Sometimes it has seemed as if it will rain forever. I had occasion to motor through downtown Grand Blanc to-day & espied the following emblazoned on the sign in front of Holy Family, the Catholic church in the center of town: "Heavenly forcast: God will reign forever." I had occasion to turn around & drive past the sign heading in the other direction & there it was again, forecast misspelt as "forcast." Had I not been driving, I might very well have put my head in my hands. As it was, I shook my head in sadness. The cheeriest side of me is trying to be glad that reign was spelt correctly (as opposed to the misuse of rain or rein), but it's not enough.
On a similar note, the last time my father ran for the Republican nomination for the House of Representatives in 2010 (our district is so reliably Democratic that the Republican nominee is merely an irritant, an attenpt to keep the crooked local Democrats honest—or less dishonest), his campaign manager had printed up several hundreds of trifold pamphlets that promised my father would, if elected, "reign in spending." The campaign manager was mortified when I gently pointed out to him that he'd clearly meant the trifold to say "rein in spending;" I never brought the misspelling to the candidate's attention.
As a last note on spelling & grammar, allow me to present the following slightly ribald cartoon illustrating why the Oxford comma is not optional. (I should add Eats, Shoots & Leaves to the book queue.)
Courtesy Comrade Coquettish, who speaks English with an intoxicating Russian accent but not the stereotypical malapropisms.
The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, "Coming to America" from …Have Another Ball (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: As true to-day as it ever was:
"A short skirt,
A Gimmes shirt,
A Jones soda,
Ain't life grand?"
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