Life

Eithne Shortall: It’s not easy being a grammar pedant

We may not have asked for this job, but we are going to do it all the same

Eithne Shortall. ‘Aware of how obnoxious it can be, I like to keep my grammar policing to my family WhatsApp group, but God help me if I should write “hear“ when I mean “here“’

While most of us eagerly await the approaching seasonal change, spare a thought for those who will suffer. I’m not talking about the people who cannot stand the heat and light, but rather about the grammar pedants. For with summer comes renewed talk of “staycations”, a bugbear that seems to have leapfrogged ‘literally’ for sticklers everywhere.

The term ‘staycation’, a portmanteau of ‘stay’ and ‘vacation’, became mainstream about 20 years ago. Its popularity originated in ...