Grandad here!

From a colleague, Scary, but with a heart of pure marshmallow

I was once described by a student as “scary but nice. “
Quite happy with that.

I also had a teacher voice, they absolutely hated.

To whom (dative case, I think) do these shoes belong?
Despite being annoyed, I always made a point of being grammatically correct. ?

Marydoll

I am of the opinion that the Oxford comma should only be used for emphasis, Callistemon.

And the Cambridge comma should only be used on one day a year.

(Never begin a sentence with a conjunction.)

My own children feared my teacher look.
Chez nous we call that The Paddington Bear Stare.

I am of the opinion that the Oxford comma should only be used for emphasis, Callistemon.

Callistemon, how to split the infinitive with hilarious consequences.

I'm rather partial to a split infinitive, an Oxford comma and, a Cambridge comma.

Rufus, you learn some new everyday on GN. I thought he was only referred to Dr. Google, when referring to medical matters.

To boldly go, where no man has gone before
Spangler Now why does that remind me of a joke that probably would even go over your head!?
Not to be repeated here though! Too many teachers around!
Now, take care! I smell trouble!
Unless you've got a state-of-the-art predictive text app you could be passing out dangling propositions unknowingly which could lead to all sorts of breach-of-promise litigations if you don't measure up.
Btw; he's Doctor Google!
OoRoo

Blimey I never realised my preposition was dangling I m going to have a look when I get in the shower this morning
BlueBelle Well!?

I've been waiting for you to pick up the challenge of a bit of banter as you'd promised!
I'd love to happily have you to jokingly banter with!
OoRoo

Or as GD1 exclaimed “Don’t look at me like that, Granny!” Very useful thing to have in one’s armoury.

Spangler, snap!

My own children feared my teacher look.
My pupils and colleagues knew that if I had a rant about something, it didn't mean much, but when I became very quiet and just stared, they knew they were in deep trouble.

Mine too, tongue in cheek that is, but my humour often goes over the heads of others.

You are a teacher, you know how to assert your authority, it takes much skill. My headmaster inadvertently taught me a very useful lesson. He would have some miscreant standing in front of him, the headmaster wouldn't say a word. The miscreant would try to blag with a load of baloney. That's when the headmaster would allow his glasses to slide halfway down his nose and then napalm the miscreant with a stare that could melt a polar ice cap.

My working life has been in the distribution industry. The head honcho of some fifteen hundred or so potential miscreants. It was a very satisfying moment when I overheard someone say: "I !&$%ing hate it when he stares at me like that, over the top of his glasses!"

I actually don't rate Google very much, Spangler. You only have to use Google translate to learn that.
However, Google does serve a useful purpose.

As for Wikipedia, my pupils were never allowed to use that for research purposes.

PS. As we don't usually cross swords paths, you are probably unaware that my posts are often meant to be tongue in cheek. Not to be taken too seriously. ?
Frantically checks for errors.

Marydoll, for what it's worth, I do know that language is always evolving, if I had a mind to I could probably find a split infinitive or two in the works of The Bard.

As for Mr. Google, you might have read my comments about data harvesting on various threads. How I loathe that insidious practice. Mr. Google cannot gather up all my internet activity, profile me and sell it on because I use duckduckgo.com/?t=crhs

Scroll down on the home page and it reads: "We don’t store your personal information. Ever." That's good enough for me.

Glad to hear that Spangler. It was the fact that the example you gave, was exactly the same one Mr Google offered, which made me mention him.

I'm sure Mr McCardle will have also taught you that language is always evolving and what was once deemed unacceptable, may now be in common usage.

I have always found the evolution of language fascinating.

Marydoll Wed 11-Nov-20 07:49:04
Spangler, I'm afraid I have to disagree with you. (and your friend Mr Google)

Mr. McCardle actually, he was a very good English teacher. Note how I never use, so called, open punctuation. To me it will always be Mr. & Mrs. Abbreviations end in a full stop. Mr. McCardle was also responsible for my love of reading.

The kind of language up with which we pedants will not put.

Agree Marydoll.
“On hearing the latest developments I decided to instantly withdraw my statement “
“On hearing the latest developments I decided to withdraw my statement instantly”

First one sounds better IMO

Spangler, I'm afraid I have to disagree with you. (and your friend Mr Google) In a perfectly nice way way, of course! ?

For frustrated, wannabe authors, like myself, a split infinitive may be used for linguistic effect! ?.
The Infinitive police do not a have a leg to stand on, or should that be a leg on which to stand???? Take your pick.

Blimey I never realised my preposition was dangling I m going to have a look when I get in the shower this morning ?

Lucca

Well quite. It could cause you to seriously split your infinitive.

So you probably fainted when you first heard the soundtrack of Star Trek:
"To boldly go, where no man has gone before."

For the uninitiated, The infinitive is: "To go." Splitting it, "To boldly go," is a definite no. no.

Well quite. It could cause you to seriously split your infinitive.

I'm outraged! Staggered, in fact.
The last thing I want to see when I log on is a dangling preposition.