Grammar Girl on Sarah Palin and Irony

[briangunn21]

People always use irony to mean a coincedence. Is that just a common mistake?

[tuberubering]

GG, you are the best. Great video. Thank you.

[jmatrixrenegade1971]

she should have said where the word "irony" comes from

[ianobetz]

Eh... Pretty boring. Find something else to do with your time than criticize a woman you pale in comparison to.

[CardinalRaker]

@ianobetz She wasn't criticizing Palin, she was using her as an example. Irony is one the hardest things to get right and she found a perfect example. It just happened to be Palin.

[bobpoptart]

Is irony grammar? Or was this video supposed to be ironic?

[tamaranicole19]

What is wrong with starting senteces with there are, it is, and there is? My Prof. says it is a weak opener.

[InvaderDeviLin]

@tamaranicole19 probably because "it" and "there" are vague, nondescriptive words... they could be replaced with words that more specifically represent your message

[InvaderDeviLin]

@tamaranicole19 the words themselves are non-descriptive. "it" and "there" don't refer to anything specifically... "there are many ways to start a paragraph." in this example, "there" doesn't really describe any location. where do the ways to start a paragraph reside? you're alluding to them existing somewhere but you don't specify what you mean by "there"... it's just a weak way to introduce a topic in a non-casual setting.

[InvaderDeviLin]

@tamaranicole19 better examples for that statement are "a paragraph can be started in many ways" for a technical setting and "you can start a paragraph in many ways" for a casual setting

[skanemermaid]

fucking awful American accent.

[oogrooq]

Alannis Morrisette, YOU SUCK!

[EddieSixString]

Even the Grammar Girl has a political axe to grind. :(

[madraven07]

Alanis Morisette - now that's ironic.

[cottonwhiskersuk]

You cannot pardon a turkey, since it has presumably committed no crime.

[professorM]

@cottonwhiskersuk

you don't need to commit a crime to be put in jail or have a death sentence.

[briangunn21]

@cottonwhiskersuk You cannot understand the joke, since you think too literally.

[jkthegoldeneagle]

To bend a phrase -"Isn' t it moronic"?

[ZigZagRodent]

Grammar are a communist plot and should be abolished.

ibid: Irony.

[ueberRegenbogen]

The notion of pardoning a single turkey (especially since it was probably very temporary) is an idiotic and cheap gesture—the sort of thing that nurtures disgust for PR and marketing execs. Perhaps staging the speech with the ongoing slaughter in the background (without or without Palin's collusion) was someone's way of saying "yeah right".

[nolaeast]

Great explanation but the music was a little too loud.

[DLHymes]

Grammar Girl rocks! This is a fabulous -- and vivid! -- illustration of your topic. Inspired. ;)

[magpie183]

The music is really distracting. It's too loud.

[Menounderwater]

Grammer Girl isn't a red head!?

[JagOnDaRoad]

Isn't it ironic that the background for your video is a major city, fed by countless turkeys. I'd like to thank farmers and corporate America for making it possible for me to eat without having first to go outside and lopp off the head of the bird I ate this week. It was quite a delightful meal. It's a shame that is life...wish it could be less brutal, but it cannot be. Just like thinking that the continual mischaracterization of Sarah Palin will stop. That's life. Brutal. uhhgh(think shivers).