Friday, February 22, 2008

Grammar Does Matter

A friendly story for our grammatically-challenged conservative friends, Mickey and John.


Harry is getting along in years and finds he is increasingly unable to perform in bed. He finally goes to his doctor who tries a few things but nothing seems to work. Finally, the doctor refers him to an American Indian medicine man who happens to have an office around the corner.

The medicine man listens to Harry's description of his ailment. He tells Harry, "I can cure this." He throws a white powder into a flame. There is a flash and billowing blue smoke. Then the medicine man says, "This is powerful medicine. You can only use it once a year. All you have to do is say '123' and it shall rise for as long as you wish!"

Harry asks, "What happens when it's over, and I don't want to continue?"

The medicine man replies: "All you or your partner has to say is '1234', and it will go down. But be warned, it will not work again for another year!"

Harry rushes home, eager to try out his new powers and prowess. That night he showers, shaves, and puts on his most exotic shaving lotion. He gets into bed, and lying next to his wife, Joyce, says, "123." He immediately becomes more aroused than anytime in his life, just as the medicine man had promised.

He turns to his wife and touches her on the shoulder. Joyce, who had been facing away, turns over and asks, "What did you say 123 for?"

And that, my friends, is why you shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition.

4 comments:

  1. What post was written by this gentleman? He does not have access to Whallah.

    Besides, why should we allow anything from you to be printed when you don't identify yourself?

    You're a coward.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Speaking of people that end sentences with propositions McBride must be on vacation she hasn't posted a thing for a week. Has to go to the library and check out a joke book to fill the void.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Distinction needs to be made. It is perfectly acceptable to end a sentence with a proposition as in, "Ya wanna?"

    It is in the ending with a preposition that the error lies as in, "Whatcha wanna do it on the table for?"

    See?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Despite what you have been told, there is nothing wrong with ending a sentence with a preposition.

    From dictionary.com:

    Can I ever end a sentence with a preposition?

    The word preposition (examples: at, in, of, to) is so named because such words normally precede the position of their objects in a prepositional phrase. Some people then took this definition to mean that a preposition always had to come before its object and could never end a sentence. Latin has a rule against ending a sentence with a preposition, but English has no such rule.

    ReplyDelete