Grammar Goblins
Richard Treadgold | September 2, 2012
Listen to them!
Unmasking the imps that toy with our speech and
our writing in the guerilla war on our language
The University of Auckland’s Institute for Innovation in Biotechnology welcomed the conference with professor Joerg Kistler saying it gave New Zealand access to cutting edge knowledge.
via ‘Genetic terrorism’ claims as big guns of GM set to meet – NZ Herald News.
Ironic that in a story titled ‘genetic terrorism’ we see two examples of linguistic ‘terrorism.’
Farewell comma, welcome ambiguity
Did the institute welcome a conference with professor Joerg Kistler, or did the professor comment on it?
Bring back the hyphen
Sadly, access to knowledge of cutting edges will not increase cutting-edge knowledge.
No commas were hurt in this either:
http://eater.com/archives/2011/03/25/of-course-the-rachael-ray-cannibal-magazine-cover-was-fake.php
That’s great! As it turns out, not a proper editorial blunder, but nicely publicises the topic anyway.
Some literary misconduct too at Psychological Science and UWA:
NASA faked the moon landing — Therefore (Climate) Science is a Hoax:
An Anatomy of the Motivated Rejection of Science
Stephan Lewandowsky
University of Western Australia
Klaus Oberauer
University of Zurich and University of Western Australia
Gilles Gignac
University of Western Australia
99% surveyed disagreed that the Apollo moon landings never happened, so why the title?
Big questions over their claimed respondents should see this paper shredded and Lewandowsky’s reputation in tatters if UWA and Psychological Science have any integrity.
Yes, Lewandowsky appears to have difficulty not so much expressing the truth as identifying it.
Australian Climate Madness have some reflections on this here
And while we are at it, Simon@ACM has a good dig at my pet hate