I am The Grammar Police
Welcome back!
Recently someone commented that my blog posts employ proper grammar. This is due largely to the fact that while I was learning to speak my mother was very careful to correct improper grammar and then explain why, for example, it was okay to use “who” in one sentence but you must use “whom” on another. This is why I know that one would say “To whom do these HDMI cables belong?” instead of “To who do these HDMI cables belong?” Who am I kidding? I’d just say “Whose HDMI cables are these?”
Anywho(m)…
I recently ran across a blog post someplace where the author used the phrase “without further adieu.”
Pardon me? “Adieu” is a French word meaning, “goodbye”. Why would you say, “without further goodbye”? Maybe, just MAYBE someone might say, “without further goodbyes” and then leave the room, but I doubt it.
The phrase is actually “without further ado” and it dates back to the time of Shakespeare. The word “ado” means, essentially, “fuss”. For example, In 1600, Shakespeare published a comedy called “Much Ado About Nothing”. It was NOT titled, ‘Much Adieu About Nothing”. The title means “Much fuss about nothing”, not “Much goodbye about nothing”.
Which makes more sense to your ear: “Without further goodbye”, or “Without further fuss”?
I really wish people would THINK about what they’re writing and what little sense it makes sometimes. That one phrase had me so distracted that I really couldn’t concentrate on reading the rest of the post.
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