Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Alas, even my favorite digital cartoonist…

…has fallen to the enemies of good diction.

Ann Telnaes, Political Animation cartoonist for The Washington Post, has a very astute eye, and I recommend her insight even when I (rarely) disagree with her point.

That willingness to embrace her philosophy does not, however, extend to her occasional gaffe, in my opinion, regarding diction and the representation on the page thereof.

In today’s animation, Telnaes depicts President Obama’s signature slogan, “Yes We Can” re-written as “Yes You Should Of.”

Once again, Correct-Man points out that the vocalization of the abbreviation of the verb have is something like “uhv.”  In other words “’ve” has the same vocal attributes as “of.”  So it is more correct to write “should’ve” from a phonetic point than “should of.” 

Telnaes, you wonderful person, ya shoulda known better.

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