There are all kinds of pedants around with more time to read and imitate Lynne Truss and John Humphrys than to write poems, love-letters, novels and stories it seems. They whip out their Sharpies and take away and add apostrophes from public signs, shake their heads at prepositions which end sentences and mutter at split infinitives and misspellings, but do they bubble and froth and slobber and cream with joy at language? Do they ever let the tripping of the tips of their tongues against the tops of their teeth transport them to giddy euphoric bliss? Do they ever yoke impossible words together for the sound-sex of it? Do they use language to seduce, charm, excite, please, affirm and tickle those they talk to? Do they? I doubt it. Theyre too farting busy sneering at a greengrocers less than perfect use of the apostrophe. Well sod them to Hades. They think theyre guardians of language. Theyre no more guardians of language than the Kennel Club is the guardian of dogkind.

About This Quote

About Stephen Fry

Stephen Fry was a 20th-century English actor, comedian and presenter. Sir Stephen John Fry is a British actor, broadcaster, comedian, and writer. He began his career on the sketch comedy series Alfresco (1983–1984) and the sitcom Blackadder (1986–1989), before gaining recognition as part of the comedy duo Fry and Laurie alongside Hugh Laurie, appearing together in A Bit of Fry & Laurie (1989–1995) and Jeeves and Wooster (1990–1993). Read more on Wikipedia →

More quotes by Stephen Fry

Related Quotes