"Serving" you since 1973...

If you know me, then you know that I am a bit of a language -scratch that - Grammar freak. Grammar is at the core of many of my pet peeves.

As an example, just this morning, I was listening to the radio on my way in and, lo and behold, one of the personalities said, "irregardless." Honestly... once and for all... IRREGARDLESS is NOT a word. Just use your language skills to figure it out:

ir = not or without, (e.g. irregular - meaning 1 a : not being or acting in accord with laws, rules, or established custom)

regard = : attention, consideration (e.g. - regarding the question at hand...)

less = without

Put it all together - erroneously - and you get a combination that is a double negative and for all intents and purposes (a saying that will be noted later), is of no meaning.

Next item on the soapbox... while out at lunch today, I saw an example of misused quotation marks. I know that we forget the rules of grammar and language over time, but I honestly thought this was one of the easier punctuation marks to remember. Clearly, I was wrong.

(Note: to reduce confusion, I am refraining from using quotation marks around the sign wording)

The sign reads :

"Serving" Breakfast and Lunch since 1953. "Kids" eat free.

Do you think they mean that some people would call what they do "serving" while others think of it as "ignoring?" Or that someone eats free and, if I were to go there for lunch with my mother, I could eat free? (I am her kid, after all) I call my dog, Smokey, my son... does that mean they'll feed him too?

I'm not the only one driven insane by quotation marks...Check out this site: http://www.juvalamu.com/qmarks/

Finally, for this entry anyway, (For you, Gigi, and because I noted it above) a hint for all. Please know your cliche' and its meaning before use. I had a manager that would massacre the cliches. After every bloody (meant in the way of massacre, not of British cursing) use, my co-worker and I would cringe, laugh and repeat.

A couple of classics:

"Bleeding like a stuffed Pig" (how much can a stuffed pig bleed?) and "For all intensive purposes" (we didn't work in a hospital, but perhaps useful for the pig).

Now that I think about it...I'm glad he never used "Balls to the Wall."