Wonted;  Editer!!  Send, rèsümé too: the Seatle times’

Here’s an excellent example of a comma gone bad.  By putting the comma after “day,” what they are stating is that the happy lady said she wanted to go back to college, but she only said it on one particular day – not before that day, and not after that day.  Granted, on that one day she said it always, but it was only for that one day.  Had the comma been after “said,” it would’ve made a whole lot more sense.

Sure, commas can be wily, and people misuse them all the time, and the world continues to spin.  But here’s the thing:  This is an advertisement in The Seattle Times for one day college courses sponsored by The Seattle Times.  You would think that a Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper would have somebody on staff who knows how to use something as basic as a comma.  And what does that say about the quality of a University that doesn’t know basic grammar?  I mean, would you take your car to a garage that doesn’t know the difference between a screwdriver and a wrench?

From the Sunday edition of The Seattle Times, September 7, 2014, page A18. 

Gird Your Loins

This is a great cliché meaning to steal oneself for the worst.  People have seen fit to cover their loins for, well, just about ever.  (gird (up) your loins)  And with good reason.  But how tightly one covers her or mostly his loins is a question of fashion, and perhaps the weather.  But if you are going to represent with your homies, it’s probably not going to be good if your pants fall down right when you’re getting ready to throw down.  Therefore, you had best tighten your belt, or gird (which means to tighten) your loins (as in loin cloth).  This is also the origin of “girdle.”  (gird)

Work Cited

“gird.”  2014.  Vocabulary.com.  01 Sept. 2014.  http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/gird

“gird (up) your loins.”  2014.  The Free Dictionary.  01 Sept. 2014.  http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/gird+loins