For crying out loud, I‘m middle class. I went to a school most people would call posh. But if I came home and said to my wife that I wanted a beverage, or asked her to pass the condiments, she?d punch me.

When I travel, I don’t need to be treated like Hyacinth Bucket. I want you to understand I speak like you do and that I‘ll understand perfectly if you say there‘sa kettle in my room. You don’t have to say there are ?tea and coffee making facilities?. —Jeremy Clarkson —The worst word in the language (TimesOnline)

I’m introducing my Intro to Literary Study students to the joy of grammar today, so I thought I’d better get my grammatical freak on, so to speak.