The Gentle Readers of Liberty’s Torch are no doubt aware that I have an...odd sense of humor. However, even the most cynical among you might not have anticipated its most recent manifestation.
I was at morning Mass just a little while ago, listening to Father Charlie sermonize about the Parable of the Good Fish, when I heard him commit a blasphemy. What? Yes, a Catholic priest, my very own pastor, spoke scandalously, right from the pulpit! Well, I knew I had to say something about that. So I approached him after Mass, wearing my most solemn expression.
With one look at me Father Charlie knew at once that the subject was grim. “What is it, Fran?”
“Father,” I intoned, “as a priest you’re aware that to violate one of the really serious Commandments imperils one’s immortal soul. Thou shalt not murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not serve red wine with fish or wear white after Labor Day –” that got a start out of him – “yet what did I hear this very morning, from your own lips!”
His eyes widened as I paused for effect.
“ ‘Someone has gone out of their way to help you’ –? Really, Father?”
When he’d ceased laughing – it took a while – I grinned and said “I edit as well as write, you know.”
Yes, friends, Pronoun Trouble afflicts even the Catholic clergy. Watch for signs of it in your parish. Remember always: Eternal vigilance is the price of gender!
(Bruce Jenner's notions notwithstanding.)
Fran, you are my favorite pedant! You are grammatically correct, of course.
ReplyDeleteEvery so slightly off-topic:
As far as style goes, I could never stand it when my former boss dictated, for example, "he or she" in a letter, when a simple "he" would have sufficed. He claimed he was a feminist.
Linda P.
Bronx, NY