Misadventures in Relative Pronouns

[bronze_ribbons]

I may be the proofreader in the house, but the Beautiful Young Man is no slouch in the grammar department. Last week, I handed Michael Jackson's Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch to a friend planning a tasting party. Out fell my copy of a pamphlet from Edinburgh titled "Distilleries Which Welcome Visitors 1999."

The BYM scowled: "You'd think they'd have caught that before going to press."

Me: "Actually, it's correct usage in Britain."

The BYM: "Is not!"

Me: "It even says so in The Chicago Manual of Style."

The BYM shot me a look of outraged disbelief. When he realized I really wasn't kidding, he mumbled something rude into his Pimm's Cup.

The realms in which he's truly notorious, however, are those of movie continuity and automotive detail. For me, the classic BYM-as-audience moment remains the time I overheard him howling "Goddamn crack-smoking Disney motherfuckers!" at a baseball movie (it showed a car headed the wrong way down a street somewhere near Arlington Stadium).

Comments

[qe2.livejournal.com]

Once I got the whole that/which thing straightened out in my own mind - which happened rather late in my life thus far - I immediately began to be bugged by the UK version. Illogical, but then that's minds for you.

[mechaieh.livejournal.com]

It's still not second-nature for me, but I also caught myself misusing "lay" a minute ago. Lately, the one that makes me grind my teeth is "good" vs. "well" (i.e., "How are you?" "I'm good." I keep wanting to reply "for what?" or "for whom?" and that is NOT NICE AT ALL, especially considering I didn't get schooled on that myself until my mid-twenties).

[qe2.livejournal.com]

It's still not second-nature for me, but I also caught myself misusing "lay" a minute ago.

A common one. May/might comes up a lot, too - indeed, people seem to be afraid to use "might", which I don't entirely understand (I've not researched it, but none of the in-person authorities I've consulted thus far know of a no-might rule).

Lately, the one that makes me grind my teeth is "good" vs. "well" (i.e., "How are you?" "I'm good."

Heh. Guilty. You get that one a LOT in the South, I think.

I keep wanting to reply "for what?" or "for whom?" and that is NOT NICE AT ALL, especially considering I didn't get schooled on that myself until my mid-twenties).

*nods* Exactly my issue with that/which. It's the grammar version of shadow selves.

[ky-expatriate.livejournal.com]

Is it just me, or is Single Malt an awfully adult drink for Michael Jackson? I thought he preferred wine in Coke cans.