Capital Idea

You know, I can't really blame them. At least until this country moves into the 21st century and gets fully behind telecommuting.

Tot Mom Update

Casey Anthony did not work at Universal Studios. Universal Studios is a filmmaking operation near Los Angeles, roughly 2,519 miles from the Orlando home of the mother of the missing Caylee.

She may not have worked at Universal Studios Florida, or the Universal Studios theme park in Orlando, either, but that's the place people are talking about when they keep saying "Universal Studios."

I feel better now.

Another Grey Area

Why use the preferred spelling when an alternative one fits your layout better?

Fewer 'Less' Complaints, Please

"Sir, do you have 10 items?"
"I have less."
"Great -- come to this line, then."

Did the man say "I have less items"? No. He said he has less. It could mean less than that, or less stuff or it could simply mean less. Be the annoying stickler if you like and criticize him, and the signs, if they say "less items" or "10 or less items," but "less" is a perfectly good concept and a perfectly good word on its own, and "10 items or less" is perfectly fine. Don't go inferring a supposedly implied word to create an error so you can criticize it.

I have plenty to complain about at the supermarket as people park their shopping carts in the middle of aisles and pay with checks in the 21st goddamn century; I will not be joining the chorus of fussbudgets insisting that signs be made silly and pedantic.

David Foster Wallace, 1962-2008

I never met David Foster Wallace, and he was much cooler and more successful than I'll ever be, but I always felt a certain kinship. He was almost exactly my age (two months younger), and we shared a love for tennis as well as a passion for language. A couple of links:

A clip about a usage peeve from an interview with Bryan Garner.

An essay about descriptivism vs. prescriptivism.