Collective wisdom …

And we wondered what our blog topic would be today. It never seems to fail … something interesting comes up.

Today, on Twitter, we got the question (via a follower’s tweet):

“Does anyone know what the collective for ‘authors’ is? Grammar geeks, I need you!”

This sent us running for our copy of the fabulous book: “An Exaltation of Larks or, The Venereal Game” by James Lipton, which is, by most measures, the authority on collectives. Once we turned the cover, we were, once again, in deep; off and running, figuratively, in our own little collective world.

This book is delightful. We highly recommend it for those who enjoy a good play of words. And, these entries can be put to practical use too.

As a tribute to the great Dr. Lipton, we offer some additions to this ever-growing list of collectives. We begin with one that we invented because we did not find the answer to today’s original question …

A composition of authors.

And so, here goes:

• A schedule of planners.
• A class of trainers.
• A quota of sales reps.
• A pool of typists.
• A service of customer agents.
• A circuit of engineers.
• A board of chip designers.
• A club of golfers.
• A string of gift wrappers.
• A cut of hairdressers.
• A cell of inmates.
• A cord of bungee jumpers.
• A package of UPS drivers.
• A cue of pool players.
• A clue of detectives.
• A deck of carpenters.
• A pad of stenographers.
• A capsule of pharmacists.
• A tablet of scribes.
• A mess of marines.
• A gang of oneupsmen.
• A ledger of accountants.
• A set of screenwriters.
• A patch of menders.
• A pack of hikers.
• A register of cashiers.
• A league of SCUBA divers.

Enjoy, and feel free to add your own.

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Hot topic …

Recently, we called out an error in a TV ad and online catalog for Hanes t-shirts. The mistake we pointed out is “… a collar that lays flat…” in the voice over, and “Lay Flat Collar” in the product description.

Please see our post: Just wait’ll we get our grammar on you …

We fired off an email to the copywriter (at the ad agency) who wrote the spot for Hanes. We thought you might like to be privy to the response we received from the ad’s author:

“I appreciate the catch. But I have to say that we knew what we were doing when we sent it out the door. The product had already been named. And, honestly, grammar doesn’t mean much in advertising. What sounds better is more important. And the ‘Lie-Flat Collar’ doesn’t sound too hot.”

Now, this is too bad. Even though we have mentioned the incorrect use of lay in our Lost causes? post, it doesn’t mean we’re going to let the subject lie.

We disagree that grammar doesn’t mean much in advertising. We have more faith in consumers than to expect them to tolerate poor grammar. And, while we do agree that what sounds better is important … for all of our fans who think good grammar is “hot,” we disagree with the statement that “… the ‘Lie-Flat Collar’ doesn’t sound too hot.”

We think it’s a shame that there are those who promote poor grammar and perpetuate the nerve-grating sounds of these language rules broken, especially in advertising to a public audience.

What are your thoughts? Take our poll:

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