The Language Perfectionist: The Columnist Settles a Dispute

By Don Hauptman
Recently, a grammatical point made in an essay posted on a friend's website generated a spirited disagreement from a reader. My friend asked me to mediate.

The essay told the story of a student who was rebuked by his teacher for saying "He is taller than me." The teacher sternly told him that the sentence should be "He is taller than I."

The reader insisted that "me" is correct, or at least not wrong.

Both the reader and my friend wanted an "authoritative source" for my answer. So I turned to my favorite style guide, Garner's Modern American Usage by Bryan A. Garner.

Garner begins his discussion of the question with this comment: "Traditionally, grammarians have considered than a conjunction, not a preposition...." Thus, the teacher was correct and the sentence should be "He is taller than I." A word is implied, though not stated: "... than I am."

In linguistic circles, this matter has had a surprisingly contentious history. Garner recognizes the contrary position held by a few mavericks who defended the use of "me." But he concludes, sensibly: "For formal contexts, the traditional usage is generally best." And he notes that even in informal writing, the alternative can appear awkward.

In the story, the teacher pointed out that no one would say, "He is taller than me am." That's a handy device to remember the officially sanctioned way to structure such a sentence.

But if you think that sounds too stuffy, just include the missing word: "He is taller than I am."

How to be Passionate

Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, was all about passion.
He had a passion for life.
A passion for his work.
And a passion for his family.
Can we learn something here?

Area Tabletopics Contest Champion TM Chandran

Our Area Tabletopics Contest Champion TM Chandran. Come and give your full support during the Division Contest to be held in early April.

Interview by Diana Legro with World Champion Speaker Darren LaCroix

Listen to this interview with 2000 World Champion Speaker Darren LaCroix. He will give you some pointers on how to master your public speaking.

http://www.speakingsuccessinternational.com/DarrenLaCroix.mp3

The Language Perfectionist: "Say What?!" Funny Misunderstandings

By Don Hauptman

A mondegreen is a phrase that has been misheard and thus misunderstood, usually with humorous results.

Here's an example: A TV commercial claiming that a car was carved from "a single block of steel" was heard by a viewer as "a single glockenspiel."

Another example: A 2008 news story about newly released Nixon-era tape recordings reported that a transcriber rendered "Mao Zedong" as "Nelson's tongue."

Children are natural mondegreeners. Over the years, untold numbers have dutifully intoned "Jose can you see," "I led the pigeons to the flag," and "To the republic, for Richard Stans."

One mondegreen subgenre is especially popular: the misheard rock music lyric. Among the most frequently cited examples:

• "There's a bathroom on the right" for "There's a bad moon on the rise." (Creedence Clearwater Revival)

• "The girl with colitis goes by" for "The girl with kaleidoscope eyes." (The Beatles)

• "'Scuse me while I kiss this guy" for "'Scuse me while I kiss the sky." (Jimi Hendrix)

Many of these song lyric mondegreens have been collected by a writer named Gavin Edwards and turned into a series of funny books. And numerous websites are devoted to garbled lyrics. One of the more popular -- kissthisguy.com -- immortalizes the Hendrix blooper.

The word mondegreen is itself a mondegreen, created by American writer Sylvia Wright. Here's the story.

In a 1954 article in Harper's magazine, Wright said that, as a child, she misunderstood two lines of a 17th-century Scottish ballad. The lines were: "They ha'e slain the Earl of Moray, / And laid him on the green." But she heard them as: "They ha'e slain the Earl of Moray, / And Lady Mondegreen." Noting that "no one else has thought up a word for [such bloopers]," she coined the term mondegreen.

Caution: No official authority exists to authenticate mondegreens. Some are probably invented by pranksters and passed off to the unsuspecting as the genuine article. Laugh at your own risk!

Port Dickson Toastmasters Club Next Meeting 9/3/2010

Fellow Toast Masters and Guests:

Competitions! Celebrations!Fellowships! All in one day!

The winners of our club level competitions:

Speech contest : Capt Khalid
Table topic contest : Robert Tan

They will be representing us to the area level on 4th Mac.

Roles On 9th Mac 2010:
TOE : GT Singam,ACB
TTM : Donna Kat,ACB
TTE : Chua Eu Chieh, CC

Humour : Donna Kat,ACB

GE : Valentine,TM
LE : Chandran,TM
AC : OPEN
TK : OPEN

Speaker 1: Harold, TM
Speaker 2: Lee Kah Tor,ACS
Speaker 3: Sukumaran, CC

Evaluator 1: Role Open
Evaluator 2: Role Open
Evaluator 3: Role Open


Kay Ku
Secretary
Port Dickson Toast Masters Club

Strategic Discussions on How to Win the Area Contest

DTM Robert Tan, ACB Amy Siew, ACB Donna Kat, ACS Lee Kah Tor and TM Chandran having a serious discussion and evaluation on how to enhance Capt Khalid's speech to try to win the Area International Speech Contest to be held on the 4th March 2010.