I agree with Stephen Fry on Grammar

[andrewducker]

Don't know how I'd managed to not see this before.

Comments

[matgb]

I hadn't seen it either, I both agree with Fry and love the animation, very nice.

I always wince when I see people try to 'correct' things like less/fewer, what's the point? Is the meaning clear? If yes, it's not a problem.

[andrewducker]

I was also amused by this one, which riffs on "Grammar Nazis" and "Inglourious Basterds", but isn't embeddable:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4vf8N6GpdM

[dalglir.livejournal.com]

Lol!

[dougs.livejournal.com]

It is a delight listening to him talk about things he cares about.

[dougs.livejournal.com]

(and moving that preposition away from the end of the sentence would destroy the rhythm and poetry of the comment)

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

It's easy to see why Stephen Fry is popular on twitter - the way he is able to get so angry about other people doing minor things* appeals to the sort of person who also gets angry about minor things. And that sort of person is very, very common on the internet.

A very clever friend of mine observed (on twitter ironically) that Stephen Fry, Professor Brian Cox and Ben Goldacre make up the 'holy trinity' that stupid people follow on twitter in order to look clever. Mr Fry has this habit of making an argument not with rational thinking, but by proving that he is clever and that therefore he is right. So for example, in this presentation, he name-drops the likes of Baudelaire (Do you know everything there is to know about Baudelaire? Do you even know who Baudelaire was, you grubby little man? Well I do, so clearly anything I say is right and anything you say is wrong.)to make his case on English grammar.

As it happens, I think he's right on language and grammar, but I disagree with him on punctuation. Which presumably makes me some sort of demi-pedant.

One final thing: I find that particular technique of having words flash up on screen while someone is talking very naff and overused.




* And here, he is getting angry about the minor thing of people getting angry about a minor thing.

[skington.livejournal.com]

The problem here is that the animation doesn't actually fit the rhythm or the emphasis of the audio. (So annoyingly so that I scrolled down to avoid the distracting animation.) See the What does Marcellus Wallace look like bit from Pulp Fiction as an example of how to do this stuff properly.

[andrewducker]

I have massive problems concentrating on words without pictures. I cannot do radio well at all. So this kind of thing is a godsend for me.

[fearmeforiampink]

I've been planning to do another kinetic typography thing, after my last effort got a fair few views. But I can never pick something to set it to.

[andrewducker]

At some point you'll be inspired. _That_ will be the right time!

[fearmeforiampink]

Heh. Good point.

I may end up doing it for Unlock Democracy, when they start new campaigns, making videos for that. At which point, I've got both a decent brief, and someone else writing and speaking the words in question; both of those will make it much easier to work with.

[spacelem.livejournal.com]

I stopped paying attention to the flashy script. It is noted in presentation theory that when people hear and see the exact same set of words, they don't take either in as well. It is far better to talk the words, and give pictures to reflect them -- hence why Andrew's previous video link was so much better.

As for the content... well I disagree on some cases. I don't mind verbing nouns, or splitting infinitives, but apostrophes sprinkled everywhere, misuse of their/there/they're, to/too, and of/off should not be so prevalent: those parts of language are simple and basic, and really should be within everyone's capabilities to use properly.

Also using the words "insure" when you mean "ensure", and "loose" when you mean "lose" are are really annoying. I don't see why that makes me a pedant or a stick-in-the-mud.

[eatsoylentgreen.livejournal.com]

my linguistic teacher said the same, he's quite right

[innerbrat]

There's a fine line between the pedantry he's talking about here and true misunderstanding - as I experienced when a real misunderstanding of the word 'genuinely' (in context I took it to mean 'literally') resulted in my receiving of a similar lecture, in which my misunderstanding was dismissed as my being obtuse and 'prescriptivist'. (I was also informed that misunderstanding is the fault of the listener, not the responsibility of the speaker.)

I agree completely with Mr. Fry that understanding is everything, although I do wish more people would actually communicate rather than talking at people.

[andrewducker]

I'd say that understanding is generally the responsibility of the speaker, but that I don't mind them speaking the way they want to, as long as they're happy to either say "I wasn't talking to you, so your misunderstanding me is not my problem." or are happy to keep trying to explain to me until I understand.

And I think I'd take "genuinely" to mean something at least close to "literally" most of the time.

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

facebooked.

You are on jolly good form :)

[andrewducker]

Thanks!

[dalglir.livejournal.com]

Love it. Especially, the bit about interviews and examinations. Quite right.

[dalglir.livejournal.com]

In my final years at school, I used to get summer jobs. Just casual, cash in hand stuff. But one summer, bored of fruit and veg picking, planting and packing, etc (it was Kent) I registered with a local employment agency to see if I could get any office temp work. It was my first encounter with a form that said 'delete as applicable'...

And so of course I made way through the form... Deleting all the things that applied to me...

[andrewducker]

See, that's the kind of thing they should teach in schools!