Barking Yourself
I was once - I say “once”, it’ll probably happen again - confronted by someone questioning my use of the word and at the start of a sentence.
When I questioned why the position of this little word caused a problem, the response was this:
My teacher at school always told me not to start a sentence with and.
Many of my teachers weren’t particularly clever. My English teacher often changed her mind to go with the general consensus of the class. I swear on at least one occasion she stole my answer and passed it off as her own. So forgive me if I don’t really care for what your English teacher taught you.
Sadly, a simple “fuck off” doesn’t satisfy people; you have to provide evidence. Fortunately I found some on the back cover of Bill Bryson’s Troublesome Words
The belief that and should not be used to begin a sentence is without foundation. And that’s all there is to it.
Thanks Bill.
The act of questioning someone else’s work is sadly commonplace. Long gone are the days when people were simply trusted to do a job well. Management consultants probably call it inclusivity. I much prefer interference. Or back-seat driving.
David Ogilvy sums it up brilliantly (as he often does).
Why keep a dog and bark yourself?
Thanks David.
If your goal is to knock people’s confidence and generating average work, keep opening your mouth. Otherwise, it’s probably better that people wonder why you don’t speak than why you bother to at all.
