Remember Burns & Allen?

“Say goodnight, Gracie,” says George.
“Goodnight, Gracie!” says Gracie.

Apparently, the literacy rate isn’t any better at the Associated Press.

The use of automated spell checkers and Short Message Services (SMS) have made a large percentage of our youth functionally illiterate. Poor spelling and stunted vocabulary aside, the lack of proper punctuation is often even more detrimental when attempting to convey information and ideas.

I can’t find any fault at all with this one. In fact, it’s so brilliant, I’ll bet the teacher gave this kid an A — for Asshole!

English is a very complex language with many subtleties. In addition to being modified by adjectives, nouns can also be modified by other nouns. In certain instances, the incorrect usage of nouns can lead to rather embarrassing, or even dangerous, conversations.