I received this e-mail the other day with some funny tips on Proper English and writing from a good friend! I’m sure it has been passed around a lot, since it was fowarded to me and another 50 email addresses… Yes, he is one of those friends that just forwards stuff he likes. Never saying hello or ever writing why he is sending it. Well, other than writing in the Subject line, “you gut to see this”… OR ” this is really funny.” When reading it, I got a bit of a chuckle because I’m sure my writing resembles a lot of it.
I thought I would do a little research on this list to see if I could find out where it originated. After a number of different searches, I found 3 sites. One attributed the list to William Safire’s Fumble rules. “William Safire compiled these quotes in his October 7 and November 4, 1979 “On Language” columns in The New York Times.”