Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller

?fh=eb2293e37dc72e7f9e28b535d1f57ec0

Comments (44) Jump to Comments Form

  1. ARF2

    ARF2 said, 23 days ago

    The grammar was getting too “MySpaced” out.

  2. MatthewZD

    MatthewZD said, 23 days ago

    I guess grandpa could handle “google” and “twitter” but this was the straw that broke the camel’s back??

  3. grapfhics

    grapfhics said, 23 days ago

    it was too hackneyed, trite and overused.
    What are his plans for “do”, the substitute verb.

  4. MILLARDGUY

    MILLARDGUY said, 23 days ago

    I DON’T GET IT ? DUH

  5. Hugh B. Hayve

    Hugh B. Hayve said, 23 days ago

    That’s would be extreme, because advertisers are doing a good job of killing the internet all on their own.

  6. richardelguru

    richardelguruGenius_badge said, 23 days ago

    if verbing proper nouns gets him riled then I fear for poor Shakespeare’s safety.
    Why it out-Johsts Johst !

  7. pawnraider

    pawnraider said, 23 days ago

    I wonder what Danae would have done? Or better yet, WWDD-What Would Danae Do?

  8. pearlandpeach

    pearlandpeach said, 23 days ago

    I’m with Grandpa. “grow the company” drives me crazy along with others of that ilk. This cartoon is a perfect example of why english teachers tear out their hair.

  9. ronaldmundy

    ronaldmundy said, 23 days ago

    A great attention getter in the classroom though.
    Pull this off and no one will look up from a book
    again.

  10. Destiny23

    Destiny23 said, 23 days ago

    Next, let’s shoot all the idiots who use adjectives when they should use adverbs. Only a moron would say “Drive safe” or “Eat healthy” or “Shop local”.

    (The phrase “Drive safe” always makes me think of the line from “Airplane II”, “Get them down, and down safe!” At which point a safe falls from the ceiling…)

  11. dianecliff

    dianecliff said, 23 days ago

    Grammar geeks unite! It appears that nearly everything is being turned into a verb these days.

  12. brewwitch

    brewwitch said, 23 days ago

    One of the worst ad slogans I have heard:

    “Think Different”

  13. Richard

    Richard said, 23 days ago

    Drive carefully, you only have one *.

  14. WetMogwai

    WetMogwai said, 23 days ago

    Brewwitch, you just demonstrated why that is one of the best ad slogans ever. You’re still talking about it after all these years. The grammar error makes it memorable. Also, assuming they used it that was for poetic license, I think it flows better that way. If there were more words, the ‘ly’ might be more important.

  15. tsimehcla57

    tsimehcla57 said, 23 days ago

    FACT CHECK (remember them, I might snark, if I was so inclined). Apple computer ended up fielding many questions about what their ad agency had in mind.

    From the Apple web site:

    Question: Are you aware that “Think different” is bad grammar? You should say “Think differently”!

    Answer: Although some might want “different” to perform as an adverb in this phrase, complete with an “ly” ending, Apple and its advertising agency intend it as a fanciful category, just as we might say “Think yellow,” “Think change” or “Think playful.”

    Here’s an illuminating quote from an interview with George Gribbin, legendary copy supervisor of the Young & Rubicam advertising agency and creator of the ungrammatical but highly successful slogan “Winston tastes good like a cigarette should”:

    “The American language is a good, salty, homespun, colorful language. And it is that way because of the vernacular. There’s just nothing like pieces of the vernacular in advertising, or in any other kind of writing. It’s not just using the vernacular, it’s using the color of the life around you in a fresh way.”

    Think vernacular.

    Think different.

  16. Ji2m

    Ji2m said, 23 days ago

    Kudos, Grandpa…

  17. Strodgers

    Strodgers said, 23 days ago

    People have been throwing “Frisbees” around for decades despite Frisbee is a Named product and there are other disks to toss around. I think, however, it’s worse. So if you excuse me for a while, I’ll Think INside the box for a few minutes.

  18. TimeTraveler

    TimeTravelerGenius_badge said, 23 days ago

    God help me if he ever sees leet speak or texting shorthand.

  19. dsom8

    dsom8 said, 23 days ago

    Some Facebook users would like to put Facebook out of its misery after their latest change.

    Nouns into verbs, and verbs into nouns, is just part of the linguistic redundancy of the English language. It’s nothing new. But still harsh on the ears, particularly when it bespeaks laziness or aggrandizement of thought.

  20. ArthurAllen

    ArthurAllen said, 23 days ago

    All he did was shoot the screen. You could still use an external monitor.

  21. Jim

    Jim said, 23 days ago

    Shoot it again , I think it’s still Twitterin’ !

  22. JanCinVV

    JanCinVVGenius_badge said, 23 days ago

    Edwin Newman is spinning in his grave!!!

  23. johndh123

    johndh123 said, 23 days ago

    can we forget Howard Cosell “Tell it like it is” ?
    ah….memories

  24. Kim

    Kim said, 23 days ago

    I thought it was a hilarious cartoon…..

  25. Miganiya

    Miganiya said, 23 days ago

    LOLLL at Jim!

  26. johnnydoc5

    johnnydoc5 said, 23 days ago

    I still think the worst thing is using the acronyms when typing (or testing) I can’t figure out what half of them even mean. I have figured out what “lol” means.

  27. Potrzebie

    Potrzebie said, 23 days ago

    Gramps is a right-winger NRA nuT!

  28. bmonk

    bmonkGenius_badge said, 23 days ago

    pawnraider said, about 6 outcries ago

    “I wonder what Danae would have done? Or better yet, WWDD-What Would Danae Do?”

    You could internet it as: www.DD.net.

  29. performergirl

    performergirl said, 23 days ago

    On the contrary dsom8.
    The English language can be a beautiful thing. Sadly it is the American Language that is gaining great redundancy.

  30. Guilden_NL

    Guilden_NL said, 23 days ago

    So Grampa smoked it because he was disgusted with Grammar? I guess 50 years with the old bag finally caused him to break.

  31. Trebor39

    Trebor39 said, 23 days ago

    Used to think “lol” meant “lots of love”. Now I have no friends.

  32. AKHenderson

    AKHenderson said, 23 days ago

    Going postal on the Internet.

  33. Ushindi

    UshindiGenius_badge said, 23 days ago

    In Herb Caen’s day, it meant “little old ladies”. That was a few years ago, of course.

  34. treered

    treered said, 23 days ago

    that from a generation that gave us SNAFU, MAD, and FYI? I’m sure he’s verbed enough nouns in his time.

  35. artisanx

    artisanx said, 23 days ago

    So, are you all taking this too serious or too seriously?

  36. invisifan

    invisifanGenius_badge said, 23 days ago

    Grammar’s bad enough – I hate when they start abusing the words themselves, such as when a commercial claims their soup is made with “real ingredients” …

  37. fbmce

    fbmceGenius_badge said, 23 days ago

    I’m sure we’ve all heard of ’ Virgin Wool ‘,
    (where the sheep ran faster than the shepherd),

    but what is ’ Virgin Vinyl ’ ?

  38. cmugnier

    cmugnier said, 23 days ago

    This is why the Academies of language in France and in Spain have such difficulties with coming up with “new” authentic words to keep American English from contaminating their precious language vocabularies …

  39. somebodyshort

    somebodyshortGenius_badge said, 23 days ago

    fbmce What about extra virgin olive oil

    trebor39 I like your version of lol much better. Widh it had been the standard.

  40. gigizee

    gigizee said, 23 days ago

    Hey, richardelguru
    Hamlet and Nazi literature reference are a bit beyond a comic reader…too clever for your own good!
    :-))

  41. funnyreader

    funnyreader said, 23 days ago

    Sorry, but I have to facebook out of here…!

  42. pbarnrob

    pbarnrob said, 23 days ago

    Brings to mind Bucky Fuller, when he wrote the essay I Seem to Be a Verb

  43. pschearer

    pschearerGenius_badge said, 22 days ago

    The cross-pollination of verbs and nouns in English is one of the language’s strengths. Without it we could neither talk the talk nor walk the walk.

    Once at work (work/work) I was chatting (chat/chat) with two young Brazilian co-workers who were thrilled (thrill/thrill) to be in America practicing (practice/practice) their English. (Okay, that’s enough verb/noun pairs.)

    We were discussing a software error for which I had to submit a bug report called a UCF. When I said I was going to UCF the problem, the two Brazilians were absolutely excited that English could do that since Portuguese didn’t allow it.

    As for the influence of English on other languages, here are some words I have heard recently on German-language TV newscasts on Deutsche Welle: Fitness; Airline; Hobby; Tricks (as in helpful hints); Lobbyist; Service (as in customer service); Highlights (meaning a summary, not hair coloring); Skyline; Skylight; Last-Minute; Flirt (both noun and verb with added -en); Worst-Case-Scenario (my favorite); and the almost universal Okay.

    English isn’t perfect, but it sure beats having to memorize grammatical gender (as in German’s male Pencil, female Pen, and neuter Girl).

  44. lpcdrich

    lpcdrich said, 21 days ago

    fbmce - Virgin Vinyl is vinyl that is free of recycled material. It is/was common practice to grind up old records and add that to the pressing compound. I own some albums that have bits of ground-up labels in them. Obviously, it affects the sound.

    With regard to turning nouns into verbs, it is always jarring the first time you hear one. I still cringe at “growing” a business, but I’ll bet that there was a time when no one would have said “I’m going to hammer a few nails” or “carpet a room.”