{"id":31269,"date":"2021-10-20T06:00:32","date_gmt":"2021-10-20T11:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=31269"},"modified":"2021-10-20T06:00:32","modified_gmt":"2021-10-20T11:00:32","slug":"new-book-daily-heralds-grammar-moses-commands-readers-watch-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2021\/10\/20\/new-book-daily-heralds-grammar-moses-commands-readers-watch-words\/","title":{"rendered":"New book from Daily Herald's Grammar Moses commands readers to watch their words"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Jim Baumann<\/p><\/div>\n

Every Sunday Jim Baumann, the mild-mannered managing editor of the Daily Herald,<\/a> slips into his waggish alter ego as Grammar Moses to remind readers why they need to speak, write and think carefully.<\/p>\n

Now he's ready to throw the book at them.<\/p>\n

Eckhartz Press,<\/a> the Chicago-based publishing house led by Rick Kaempfer and David Stern, just announced the release of Grammar Moses: A humorous look at grammar and usage.<\/a><\/em> The 169-page paperback is available for pre-order now. (Here is the link.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"\"

Grammar Moses<\/p><\/div>\n

Along with a compilation of Baumann\u2019s favorite columns over the last six years is a trove of internal memos to the Daily Herald staff that gave rise to his popular weekly feature in print and online.<\/p>\n

Baumann, a second-generation suburban journalist, grew up in Arlington Heights and attended Prospect High School. After graduating from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign he joined the Daily Herald as an intern in 1983. He's been managing editor since 2012.<\/p>\n

On the eve of his first book's publication, Baumann shared a few well-worded thoughts on the importance of clear communication, his play-on-words homage to American folk artist Grandma Moses, and why it bugs him when people mix up \"their,\" \"there\" and \"they\u2019re\":<\/p>\n

Q.<\/strong> How did an occasional memo to the staff morph into a weekly column in the Daily Herald?<\/em><\/p>\n

A.<\/strong> I was talking to Eileen Brown, our head of marketing and promotion at the time, and she came up with the idea. I wasn\u2019t sure anyone outside our walls would be interested, let alone that such a column could be sustainable. So you have her to blame for what it\u2019s become.<\/p>\n

Q.<\/strong> Where do your ideas come from?<\/em><\/p>\n

A.<\/strong> A journalist is always observant, always listening. When I hear or see something that is either funny or irritating, I know I have something to work with. And, yes, I realize I just ended that last sentence with a preposition. So sue me. When you\u2019re passionate about something \u2013 and when you are under pressure to produce \u2013 it just comes to you.<\/p>\n

Q.<\/strong> English teachers must love you. Do ever hear from any of them?<\/em><\/p>\n

A.<\/strong> Often. I think former English teachers are my sweet spot. Why? Because they spent their careers trying to teach kids good communication skills and they see a lot of that work undone today. I also try to counsel them that language evolves so their work is not for naught. Wait, can I say \u201cnot for naught\u201d?<\/p>\n

Q.<\/strong> Why should the average person care about proper grammar?<\/em><\/p>\n

A.<\/strong> When you write to someone or talk to someone, you want them to understand you. Right? That\u2019s why we invented languages. That\u2019s why we invented frameworks for employing those languages. You can torture them only so much before they don\u2019t work for you anymore. For me, it starts with clear communication.<\/p>\n

Q.<\/strong> Have you always been a grammar nerd?<\/em><\/p>\n

A.<\/strong> That\u2019s a hard no. I was a math and science nerd. My worst test scores were in English. I was a deer in headlights in speech class. I couldn\u2019t parse a sentence to save my life. So, naturally, I pursued a career in journalism and ended up writing about grammar.<\/p>\n

Q.<\/strong> When it comes to grammar and usage, what\u2019s your personal pet peeve?<\/em>
\n\u00a0<\/em>
\nA.<\/strong> A couple things really get under my skin. To have any facility with grammar you need to be a critical thinker. Does \u201cMe and her went shopping\u201d make any sense? Take out the \u201cher.\u201d I think the least skilled of us knows \u201cMe went to the store\u201d sounds like something an unfrozen caveman might say. What\u2019s more bothersome to me is how people who understand grammar and mathematics twist their messages to make you think you\u2019re buying something better than it really is.<\/p>\n

Q.<\/strong> What made you come up with the name \u201cGrammar Moses\u201d?<\/em><\/p>\n

A.<\/strong> I love art. I could spend days in the Louvre, the D\u2019Orsay, the Rijksmuseum, the Art Institute of Chicago. Just ask my long-suffering wife. So Grandma Moses is on my radar. What an inspiring painter. It seemed natural that I\u2019d steal her shtick.<\/p>\n

Q.<\/strong> Have social media and texting contributed to the decline of good grammar?<\/em><\/p>\n

A.<\/strong> We all have back space buttons on our computers and phones, so why don\u2019t we use them? I understand that social media is casual and that texting is even more so. But I\u2019d think choosing from their\/there\/they\u2019re wouldn\u2019t be too difficult. The whole world can see on Facebook that you can\u2019t put together a sentence. I just don\u2019t think too many people worry about that.<\/p>\n

Q.<\/strong> How did you choose the columns for the book?<\/em>
\n\u00a0<\/em>
\nA.<\/strong> I can count on two hands the number of columns I\u2019ve skipped over six years. Clearly, I don\u2019t have a 1.000 batting average. There have been some clunkers along the way. So I spared you having to read them again. I chose the funniest ones and the ones that addressed the biggest problem areas. I also chose the ones that had the best contributions from my pen pals.<\/p>\n

The column is really a conversation with readers, and without that interplay there would be no column and certainly no book. I write a lot about music, and I\u2019ve pointed out that the best greatest hits albums always have a new song or two. That\u2019s the reward for the constant fans who\u2019ve bought all the other albums. So I lead off the book with a smattering of the internal staff memos that were the precursor to the column.<\/p>\n

Q.<\/strong> Will reading your book make people smarter?<\/em><\/p>\n

A.<\/strong> I can\u2019t guarantee it, but I sure hope so. I\u2019m confident it\u2019ll make you smile. What I can guarantee is it won\u2019t make you any less smart.<\/p>\n

Q.<\/strong> Are you as funny in person as you are in the book?<\/em>
\n\u00a0<\/em>
\nA.<\/strong> I\u2019m a laugh riot, Rob.<\/p>\n

(This blog operates under an agreement with the Daily Herald.<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Tuesday's comment of the day:<\/a> Kar Uchima:<\/strong> Viola Spolin's \"theatre games\" influenced everyone who attended Columbia College and DePaul for theatre. Second City, Organic Theatre, Steppenwolf all had actors who are still working all over film, TV and stage who had the benefit of this amazing training. She left her incredible mark.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every Sunday Jim Baumann, the mild-mannered managing editor of the Daily Herald, slips into his waggish alter ego as Grammar Moses to remind readers why they need to speak, write and think carefully. Now he's ready to throw the book at them. Eckhartz Press, the Chicago-based publishing house led by Rick Kaempfer and David Stern,... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31269"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31269"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31274,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31269\/revisions\/31274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}