Grammar is not just a pain in the ass; it’s the pole you grab to get your thoughts up on their feet and walking.”
Stephen King On Writing p. 121
I kind of like grammar. I like the structure of it, and I like analyzing it. It’s even interesting when I discover I’ve been doing something incorrectly for years. True, I have an English degree, and I teach English (and frequently I’m the grammar expert on staff), but occasionally there is still a surprise.
Last week, Diana Gabaldon posted a selection of her latest work in progress (My Own Heart’s Blood, book 8 in the Outlander series) which included the sentence, “I saw the seriousness that underlay the laughter…” I had to study that for a while.
Underlay- a noun- is the padding that goes beneath carpet. The form of the word we most frequently use is the adjective ‘underlying.’ So, whence cometh ‘that underlay?’ At first glance, I thought it should be ‘that underlaid the laughter,’ but Diana has corrected my grammar before, so I pondered.
Following the lay, laid, laid vs lie, lay, lain model, I realised the verb is to underlie, and therefore the simple past tense must be “Yesterday he underlay the principle with a moral lesson,” and that “Previously he had underlain the principle with moral lesson, until he didn’t any more.” It still doesn’t sound right, but frequently correct grammar doesn’t.
Good thing someone is keeping an eye on us, and providing an excellent grammatical role model.
More importantly, thank heavens for brilliant editors!
How about you? Have you had any grammatical epiphanies lately?
Shawn L. Bird 
A rose by any other name… January 5, 2013
Tags: identity, name
I’m still thinking about names…
When I was in Junior high I was known as Shawna, because one teacher in elementary couldn’t get it that my name was SHAWN and that ended up on my records. By the end of high school, I had finally gotten Shawna off all my records.
At our high school reunion this summer, a class mate said, “Your name tag says ‘Shawn.'”
“Yes.” I agreed.
“This yearbook says Shawn,” he said glancing back to the copy Ralph had brought along.
“Yes.” I was on the yearbook committee. I made sure my name was spelled correctly. I also did the calligraphy on our diplomas, so it’s correct there, as well.
“But we always called you Shawna,” he said, looking down on me with confusion.
“Yes.”
“Did we have it WRONG all those years?” His eyes were wrinkled in dismay.
I laughed and said, “Yes.”
He gave me the most sincere look of mortification and said, “I’m so sorry!”
I laughed and told him it was quite all right. The kids I hung around with all knew my name. I wasn’t to concerned about the rest of them, to be honest.
Then I went to Finland, and there they call me either “Soon” (rhymes with ‘phone’) or gave me the Finnish name “Sanna.” When I introduce myself in Finnish, that’s who I am. In French I’m “Jeanne.” In Italian I’m “Gianna.” My doctor calls me “Shawnee.” I am all those people, and all those identities. Each one is essentially the same, but a little bit different. A different language for communication, a slightly different attitude.
So far, I don’t use a pseudonym with my writing, though I imagine eventually I will.
What is your experience? Have you been known by different names? Are you exactly the same, depending upon your name?
Share this: