The War on Grammarians

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28900351/

Aside from purporting that good spelling habits and decent grammar are solely the custom of "nerds," this article treads further into the retarded by basically saying that people who correct grammar are somehow psychologically disturbed.

Or that we're all just upset about the economy.

I'm glad the article gave me permission to notice grammar errors at work, though. It's hard to help someone with their paper and simultaneously ignore a page full of comma splices.

I'm willing to bet that, given the subject of the article, the author and the editor both poured endlessly over their grammar. In my book, that's ironic.

I mean, after all, if we're just psychologically disturbed and angry about the economy, they really shouldn't worry about what we think.

Britney Spears's Book Deal

Britney's book deal is a getting a lot of flak in the writing world, and I really don't understand why.

£10 million is a damn big advance for a book, so I could see a jealousy angle - it's basically every fiction writer's dream cheque. But I didn't see writers crying bloody murder when Rowling got her advances from the Potter books. (Ok, yes I did, but not nearly on this level.)

I think it all boils down to a sort of disease that afflicts those gifted with language - myself included. We writer types like to think that our gift with language and words is a measurable and direct sign of our intelligence. It's easy to trick oneself into thinking that skill with words is the same as pure intellectual muscle.

So take Britney Spears - she's pretty much the average superstar singer. I'd go on a limb and say shes a gringa version of Shakira, except that her hips do lie. She's got that right mix of talent and luck keeps getting her record deals. She does dumb things in front of cameras because the media won't afford her a moment of privacy. Worst, my God, she's blond.

People do not associate intellect with Britney Spears - they want to write her successes off as dumb luck and point to her failures and say, "That's what should have happened in the first place!"

So when someone outside our elite circle of talent lands a book deal, it's downright insulting.

Rich, famous people get book deals. People need to deal with it and quit bitching like jealous little brats. The publishing industry has been groaning beneath the weight of a massive recession, and when someone famous looks to increase our capital, people scream "unfair!"

Her book deal will probably result in the capital needed to take chances on new authors. And whoever her ghostwriter is will be living high and well for a long time to come.

This book deal is fantastic news.