10.21.08
Baseless grammar
I’m rooting for the Philadelphia Phillies in the upcoming World Series for any number of reasons that have nothing to do with logic, such as the fact that Shane Victorino is my Fantasy Baseball League center fielder. Philly might also supply an important outfield position in my Fantasy Language League: the out-of-left fielder, given a catchphrase that has quickly surfaced as something of an unofficial slogan of the team: “Why can’t us?”
As explained by Yahoo sports blogger Kevin Kaduk . . .
The slogan was taken from a grammatically-challenged sports radio caller — yes, I realize that is redundant — and it has already grown so large that Scott Van Pelt reportedly dropped it on Sports Center last night [Thursday, 10/16.]
Such cultural phenomena lead—of course!—to T-shirts, which I’m quick to point you toward not because they promote inevitably-bad sports grammar but because proceeds are going to a good cause.
I can now imagine a Philly player coming to the plate—bottom of the ninth, two out, one man on—and thinking, “Why can’t us?” And after he wallops the walk-off home run, he circles the bases, taunting the opposing pitcher with the classic “All your base are belong to us!”
Which, I kid you not, is the name of my Fantasy Baseball League.
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and 
. Feel free to 
Well, why can’t us? « Talk Wordy to Me said,
October 21, 2008 at 12:20 pm
[...] it. But I didn’t realize that grammatically incorrect could unite a city until today, when Bill Brohaugh of Everything You Know About English Is Wrong pointed to this Yahoo story: The slogan was taken [...]
Lisa Christiano Rose said,
October 22, 2008 at 11:11 am
Hi there,
My mother and I love to proofread (I get paid to do it; it’s a sport for her). I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors on Hallmark cards, signs, company letters, etc.
Here’s an email I got from my son’s 6th grade teacher:
“I’m trying to make my class as similar to the other AVID classes so that their is consistency for the students as they move up through the program. Planners need to be filled out everyday even if their is no homework in which case they write “none”. Hope this helps let me know if you need more information.”
AAAAAHHHHRRRR. This is frightening to me. I see this all the time in emails from my kids’ teachers. It’s no wonder kids graduate without learning adequate English.