Grammar and such and such

Squirrelmungous is really disappointed that I, quite blasphemously, questioned his grammatical skills in a previous post.

In fact, bad grammar is a bit of a bugbear of his, so let's look at some more of the things that get on his tits... for a change.

For a start, saying 'I will try and do something' is completely nonsensical. You will, in fact, try to do or say or whatever. This is grammatical laziness of the highest order, though unfortunately everyone seems to do it nowadays. Even Alan Bennett, we are ashamed to report, sigh.

You might think Squirrelmungous is being a bit anal here, or is even, dare one say the word, wrong!

But if we think about it for a second we can see that, as always - being omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and all that - he's got it bang on. Let's look at an example, shall we? Here's a common use of the type of word usage in question:

"I will try and complete that work tomorrow."

In this context 'try' has exactly the same meaning as 'attempt' or 'endeavour'. The speaker is saying, in essence, that he/she will do their best to complete the task, but cannot be sure that they will be succesful. But, if we replace 'try' with either of these two alternatives we can see that the sentence loses its desired meaning;

"I will attempt and complete that work tomorrow."

"I will endeavour and complete that work tomorrow."

If the above sentences mean anything, they are basically saying that the speaker will attempt the task and then complete it, in which case the word 'attempt' or 'endeavour' or 'try' is rendered meaningless, because the task will be completed.

Only by replacing the 'and' with 'to' will the sentence make grammatical sense and the meaning be clear.

Ok' so let's all try and get this right from now on.

FZZZAP

Ow, fuck. Bloody lasers.

Squirrelmungous wants us all to try to get this right from now on and, as an incentive, has permitted me to post a morale boosting image by way of thanks in advance. Admittedly, this is more of a morale booster for his male followers rather than the laydeez, but ho hum.