Sunday, November 13, 2011

PSU Weekend

Just back from Penn State. Very emotional weekend, very mixed feelings about what it all means. Can only say that the acts Jerry Sandusky committed are beyond heinous, and inexcusable. But the world seems to want every Penn Stater to pay for his sins. While the university has not handled every aspect of the situation perfectly, I think they are getting their act together, and the leadership and culture will undergo profound change in the very near future. It's already started. In the meantime, I hope those in charge will be given the time and consideration needed to effect those changes, and they will not resort to extreme measures, such as shutting down the football program or taking down the statue of Joe Paterno.
     I may have more to say about the weekend -- and the whole scandal -- in a later post.

Your Faithful Servant -- Always on the Alert
     As always, I was on the alert for grammar gremlins during my trip with son and grandsons to Happy Valley. On the way up we saw a sign advertising "Busses for your next excursion." I'm sure the sponsors of that sign didn't mean what it says. Busses, you see, are kisses (buss is the singular). Buses, on the other hand, are large vehicles. 
      Then, on the way home, I heard a Fox radio commentator talk about a running back who carried the  ball many times during a game. He called the player the "bell cow" of his team. Now, he may have actually meant bell cow -- which is the lead cow of a herd and is called that because she has a bell around her neck. But I'm pretty sure what he meant was "workhorse," which of course means a hard worker. This is the second time I've heard the term used by a sportscaster in the last month, so I could be wrong. But these misconceptions have a habit of proliferating among jock commentators, much in the way that "mano a mano" became "mano e mano" for many of them some time ago. Next time I hear the expression, I'm going to try to check with the speaker.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Busses" is ok in British English - see http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/busses

Bob Yearick said...

Dear Anonymous: That's fine, if we were in England or one of its conolonies. Then quotation marks INSIDE periods and commas would be acceptable too. BUT THEY'RE NOT, BECAUSE WE'RE IN AMERICA!
So, let's go with the good ol' Amurican spelling -- and punctuation sequence.
Thank you!!

Bob Yearick said...

And by the way, that's colonies, conolonies. I think those are Italian pastries.