I'm tolerant of language foibles so long as clarity is not compromised. I way off in the descriptivist camp lobbing rotten eggs at the prescriptivists.

But we all have our irrational pet peeves. Nukular bothers me not at all. But I want to drive a stake through the heart of people who pronounce illegal like it is a new dotcom (e-legal).

Second, I tell Lani to talk to the hand whenever she gets annoyed at me for saying I did something "on accident" instead of "by accident." And yet I'd consider joining the Taliban if they promised to stone people who say they "itched " when they mean they scratched. "Because of a mosquito bite I itched my leg until it bled," such a person might say and I go off in search of rocks.

Yes, completely irrational

Hey Paola!

Didn't you have the guy who invented WD-40 speak at one of your classes a year or two ago?