KLEM TV: Viral Version

As read on Drudge...just change the word "AIDS" to "coronavirus:"

As for Drudge's "150 Million Americans Could Get Infected" headline, keep in mind his* choice of modal verb: could. Not will. Not may. Not even should. Could.

Has anyone else noticed the weird struggle going on to name the current virus? Coronavirus is out; covid-19 is in. Wuhan Flu is definitely out because it's "racist." I'm reminded of the struggle to rename ISIS under the Obama Administration; they always insisting on ISIL. They needed to spread out the Islamic state to include the whole Levant and not just Syria. Porqué? Just trying to connect dots here.

Lastly, as for the "he said Xi said" origin of the virus -- I suspect that a careful analysis of molecular signatures could solve this were I more a molecular biologist than a chemist.
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*Does anyone even trust Drudge since he sold out? Does he even write his blog??

Weather's Here - Wish You Were Beautiful

Don't click on the video if you don't care for the song. I put the video up for its cover art start page.

Something weird happened on the WH lawn yesterday. But don't worry, I think Presidents have immunity from the Immolation Clause.

The Lyin' Of The Senate Sleeps Tonight

So, the Elizabeth Warren narrative is that she was barred from reading Coretta Scott King's letter to Strom Thurmond regarding the fitness of then US Attorney Jeff Sessions for an Alabama Fed Circuit judgeship.  The narrative fits right into the meme that Warren was buffeted during Black History Month. That's not actually what happened though. Here is the full C-Span record:


Warren harangued Jeff Sessions for a full 13 minutes before reciting a personal tirade authored by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy. During Warren's first twenty minutes, she repeating made use of the active voice to state conjecture as established fact.* Readers of this blog and my shadow blog, El Pollo Real, will realize that a personal pet peeve of mine is our language's loss of the subjunctive mood as a clear way to separate fact and fantasy. This is an egregious example. Back to the lyin' of the Senate.

It was Kennedy's words -- not Coretta Scott King's -- which caused Senator Cardin to issue the first fair warning. Kennedy's use of the phrase "disgrace to the Justice Department" (18 min 30 sec) was what set off the Senator. You can hear him clearly raise this point at the (24 min 22 sec).
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*Quite early on in her recorded harangue, Warren calls one of Trump's executive orders "unlawful, unconstitutional, and deeply immoral."  That is not prescience on Warren's part -- that is outright prejudice -- a prejudgement of a matter which may well be decided against her wishes in a higher court.

The Truth Is Subjunctive

Overheard at Althouse:

October 3, 2016 

If fat-shaming is wrong...... what about basement-living-shaming and barista-shaming? 

Posted by Ann Althouse at 1:39 PM 85 comments 

The first word "if" is the giveaway that what follows is hypothetical and not factual. But Althouse used the indicative mood for the verb, giving credence to the premise: "fat-shaming is wrong."

Now re-express the idea in the subjunctive mood:

If fat-shaming were wrong...

... what about basement-living-shaming and barista-shaming?

My version may sound stilted and dated -- but it should! The premise should be cast with doubt because it is a tenuous premise. 

Can you see how the Althouse/indicative mood helps you to accept the premise? 

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*Our word "shame" is cognate with the old Germanic word for "pudenda." Link

KLEM TV

"Heard it through the bovine" at Lem's:

Evi L. Bloggerlady said... 

Guess who sits with Colin Kaepernick? 

September 3, 2016 at 8:36 PM

The link goes to a blogpost reposting this perennial "Man For All Seasons" favorite:

link

Now, I want to analyze this scene in terms of Hillary and not Colin Kaepernick.

And go he should if he were the Devil himself until he broke the law. 

That's a beautiful use of the subjunctive mood---something that is disappearing in our modern language---but I digress. Hillary you see, has broken the law in the eyes of many. That is the whole point of why she is worse than the Devil in this election.

Who's A Nazi Now?

link

An 11-year-old British student corrected Justin Bieber's grammar:

In the song, you can be heard - on a number of occasions - stating 'If I was your boyfriend': here you have clearly used the subjunctive mood incorrectly.

The correct lyrics should, in fact, be 'If I were your boyfriend'.

This is a very common mistake made by the general public today; however, if role models (and popular singer/song-writers) such as you cannot use it, why should we make the effort to study and use such grammatical forms correctly?' link

KLEM FM

link in case the video don't load

Pay attention to the story. Does it bother you that the narrator can't conjugate the verb "to be"  correctly?

We was drivin' up Grapevine Hill passin' cars like they was standin' still

It doesn't really bug me. My dad talked that way. It's authentic vernacular.

What does grate on me is the increasing use of "was" for "were" in the subjunctive mood. Especially among the twittering classes.

"If I was rich, I would do ____."

 Plenty of famous people construct their wishes exactly that way. Just try googling "If I was" (with the quotation marks) and the names of celebrities. You'll be surprised.

KLEM FM

link in case the video doesn't load

I'm so tired of people getting the subjunctive mood wrong (triggered elsewhere).

Say what you will about the "Woodstock Generation" -- at least Robert Hunter knew his subjunctive mood. I count at least four instances of correct usage in his lyrics for "Ripple."

Lyrics after the break