Legal Commentary

How intimidating is it when one of your students is quoted in the local campus paper saying: "Powerful people should use their words carefully. . . When people mispronounce things it conveys a definite impression to people[?]"  Not terribly -- unless your student is also the creator of a Facebook group, "I Judge You When You Use Poor Grammar," that has over 200,000 members, has garnered press attention from the New York Times, sells its own T-shirts, and may give rise to a book deal.  Ill definitely have my spelling and grammar to watch when Im teachering.

The student, Sharon Nichols, also has her own entertaining blog, Thank You Ma'am, which is worth a visit.  (May I add: 356 posts in 2006?  Here at Prawfs we need about ten times the number of people to make half that number!)  I would add that it is just slightly unnerving, and a shock to my self-image (whether a good or a bad one I'm not saying), to read one of my students observing that I apparently have "a PIMP cane," which Ms. Nichols is dying to trick out.  What can I say: like most mack daddies, I shop for my canes in the medical assistance section of RiteAid.