Over at Mike Gilleland's blog, Laudator Temporis Acti, a hilarious entry on guttural versus visceral. It's always funny watching people betray their ignorance. If you're not sure about whether to use a given term, stick to what you know. Trying to sound educated when you're not is generally bad policy.
—Dean Wormer, "Animal House"
Back when Bill Maher hosted a show called "Politically Incorrect," he once had on a female guest who couldn't pronounce heinous. She said, "Hey-knee-us," which Maher found hilarious. He even mocked her pronunciation a couple times after her blunder, but I think the lady was too obtuse to catch the mockery.
And to be fair, Donald Trump, king of the ungrammatical tweet, once tried correcting Cyndi Lauper on "Celebrity Apprentice." Lauper had said she "felt bad" about something, and Trump tried correcting her by saying, "Badly. You felt badly." Nope: Lauper was correct because feel is a linking verb that takes a predicate adjective, like most verbs about the senses.
This smells nasty. (not nastily)
That tastes delicious. (not deliciously)
That sounds right. (not rightly)
Some dumbass might argue, "But what about, 'I feel well'? Well is an adverb!"
No, in that instance, well is an adjective that is the opposite of sick, genius.
He plays well. (adverb modifying plays)
Don't be like Dumb Don. Or the Duchess of Sussex referenced in Mike's post.
2 comments:
This is the first time I've seen such a confusion between "guttural" and "visceral." It makes me sad. I am now going to cry viscerally into my pillow.
I was slow to realize that the Duchess of Sussex was none other than an Amurrican: Meghan Markle.
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