Grammar Nazis
posted: 2001-02-24
There are certain occasions when a fairly harmless phrase is misconstrued out of all proportion. Every Saturday I am host to a resort full of critics, who like schoolteachers go through my paper with a fine tooth comb and pick up every little misinterpreted phrase or saying like a group of, to use the term ìGrammar Nazisî.
On Thursday night the Blue bar hosts the Ski Val quiz night. For eleven weeks now the same questions have been asked to an ever-changing crowd of punters. Last week Tim(Ski Val) felt the pressure of the job get to him when he asked the following question ìWhich English word is plural when you add an ëSà but not when you add a second ëSà î The Answer is of course Prince, Princes, Princess. On hearing the answer one of the quiz group complained then the answer was sexist or biased against some gender group. The usually tolerant Tim finally snapped and called the heckler a ìGrammar Naziî. Of all the words to use how wrong he was to use these.
The first problem was that she didnÃt hear the word ìGrammarî so all she heard was Tim calling her a ìNaziî. And yes, you guessed it she was German. In a scene that could only be bettered by Basil Faulty going on about the war to some German guests only to retort to the remark ìWe didnÃt start itî ìYes you did you invaded Poland!î