so this panda bear walks into a bar . . .

my favorite part of the old federal court management report that i had to read for my work as a law clerk was don ferguson's "grammar gremlins." without uncle don's insights, how else would i have ever stopped obssessing about the dwindling use of shrank, as in shrink, shrank, shrunk; is the past tense of "plead" pleaded, plead or pled; is there, pray tell, such a word as "gotten"? (and should i have placed that question mark inside or outside the quotation marks?) well, i don't know if donny boy is around any more, but thanks to my friend brian birkey for recently recommending what promises to be a similar page-turner: lynne truss' eats, shoots and leaves: the zero tolerance approach to punctuation. i now commend to you (and brian, if he's still reading) npr's interview w/ her on morning edition today. sounds like a woman after my own heart, although i do like the dash, and i'll just keep right on posting on my weblog sans capital letters, thank you very much! (actually, the latter has been taken under consideration for amendment)