Subjunctivitis

For the truly bored copy editor at work on the holiday weekend, you can brighten your evening by checking out the debate over this sentence. Language Hat has an especially adorable comment.

Here's the sentence:

Which is correct? Based on my facial expression right now, you would think I [were/was] excited.

Around the Blogs

I’ve been meaning to note the arrival of a couple of new bloggers, both ACES members. Kathy Schenck has been offering Words to the Wise for a couple of months. She was Johnny on the spot, noting National Dictionary Day on Tuesday, which, I admit, had escaped my attention, and she makes note of the word of the day feature at her paper, The Journal Sentinel.

And Mark Murphy, copy editor and published author, has just started Murphy’s Craw, which promises “Some whimsical wanderings through the worlds of words, writing, and old movies and TV -- along with selected short subjects.”

Also, Language Hat uncovers some good postings and sites, finding Free Rice, which provides a vocabulary quiz and donates rice, and a good posting about spelling, at OUP.

Thinking of Things

I admit that I always, always thought saying was, “If you think BLAH BLAH BLAH, then you’ve got another thing coming.” I know for a fact that’s what was said in my house as a kid, and usually carried a bit of a threat—something bad was going to happen if Action X was pursued.

Evidently, it’s “you’ve got another THINK coming.”
Over at Metafilter, a huge argument has broken out about the correct phrase. The two heavy hitters, Language Log and Language Hat have weighed in; the former has a posting just this weekend on the matter. I’ve borrowed his newspaper citation but go read his postings, then check out the argument over at Metafilter.

Don’t be deterred by the “.99999...=1” that is the original reason for the posting and pops up throughout the discussion.

Metafilter must have a lot of copy editors as members.