Myths About The English Language - Part 2

May 27, 2009
Interview with Patricia T. O'Connor, author of Origins of the Specious: Myths and Misconceptions of the English Language

www.grammarphobia.com  

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Mike Carruthers:
Do you remember hearing in school that it's not correct English to end a sentence with a preposition?

Patricia T. O'Connor:
As in "I'm all tied up, I can't come today I'm all tied up" - it's a ridiculous myth that we have to sometimes stand sentences on their heads to avoid it.

Patricia O'Connor & 
Stewart Kellerman

Patricia T. O'Connor, author of the book Origins of the Specious: Myths and Misconceptions of the English Language

That was a belief of Latinism because in Latin, sentences don't end in prepositions but in English they do. If you have to write a really awkward sentence in order to avoid something then it's not natural English.

Do you know where the word "jeep" comes from?

A lot of people think that the word "jeep" comes from the army designation "G.P." for General Purpose - that it's a pronunciation of "G.P," and that's incorrect. It comes from the name of a cartoon character named Eugene the Jeep who was introduced into the Popeye cartoon strips in the 1930's. Eugene the Jeep was a little fuzzy guy about the size of a dog who was very popular. He was the Snoopy of his day.

Some people contend that it's not proper English to say "drive slow" - that it must be "drive slowly". Patricia says, "Not true."

"Slow" has been a legitimate adverb for centuries. Not all adverbs have to end in "ly" so it's a myth that you can't use "slow" as an adverb.

To hear the complete unedited interview, click here.